Seems that Joe Scarborough at MSNBC got into a bit of a twitter war with Markos Moulitsas over at DailyKos. The exchange is as follows:
JoeNBC: The Sestak story is as unbelievable a cover story as Nixon throwing little Checkers under the bus. A farce on it’s face. Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1. The press will let this laughable story slide.
That was too much horseshit for me. If there was someone who had ZERO ground to stand on whining about media bias, it was Scarborough. So I shot back:
markos: Like story of a certain dead intern. RT @JoeNBC: Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1.
Markos: But if you want to talk about bullshit “scandals”, @JoeNBC, there’s this one about Joe Sestak and the White House you might’ve heard of.
It degenerated from there.
JoeNBC: @markos Unbelievable. You have a long history of spreading lies suggesting I am a murderer. This is the 3rd or 4th time by my count.Markos: @JoeNBC, I’ve never suggested you’re a murderer. I’ve noted media hypocrisy in going after Gary Condit. But he was Dem. You aren’t.
JoeNBC: Anyone in media who interviews @markos, know that you’re extending your credibility to someone who regularly suggests that I’m a murderer.
Markos: A bit touchy, @JoeNBC? Links for where I accuse you of being a murderer please.
Well, after all that; Markos gets a e-mail from the President of MSNBC:
Markos,
Blog if you must, but here is my on the record statement to you which I ask that you print in full:
Yes, after I became aware of the ugly cheap shot you took at Joe on Twitter, I asked the teams to take a break from booking you on our shows for a while. I found the comments to be in poor taste, and utterly uncalled for in a civil discourse.
I’m hoping this will be only temporary and that the situation can be resolved in a mature fashion, but until then I just don’t know how one could reasonably expect to be welcomed onto our network while publicly antagonizing one of our hosts at the same time.
The DailyKos community has been among the most supportive of MSNBC, and we continue to appreciate that support.
Markos goes on:
I’ve criticized Chris Matthews before, sometimes harshly, and it never led to me being banned. This was not about criticizing some random MSNBC host, but about criticizing the network’s token conservative, a man who wilts in the face of the awesome power of Twitter and its 140-character limit. Morning Joe happens to be Griffin’s pet project at MSNBC. He’s staked his career on it, and as such, lets Scarborough call the shots — to the point of having its least successful host dictate the guest list of its most successful one.
Greg Sargent over at the Plum Line makes an observation:
It’s funny. I don’t recall the chief of MSNBC publicly banning Liz Cheney from appearing on the network when she cut an entire Web video “publicly antagonizing” Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews for allegedly being too frightened to debate her about terrorism.
Video in question:
Markos also observes:
That’s pretty much it. Had I criticized Rachel or Keith or Ed, nothing would’ve happened. I’ve certainly criticized Chris Matthews in the past, and nothing happened. I’ve got confirmation from one producer of a prime time MSNBC show that there isn’t any network-wide prohibition on Liz Cheney appearing on the air.
This is about Joe Scarborough, and the media double standard that allows you to criticize liberals all you want, but conservatives are off limits. Just ask Dave Weigel.
Update: MSNBC tried to talk me out of going public with this, between Griffin and another exec. But here’s the thing — neither Keith Olbermann nor Ed Schultz reached out. That spoke volumes to me, since they have my number, and I’m sure Griffin would’ve loved for them to intervene. But they didn’t. What’s that tell me? That they’re fighting the good fight from the inside and have zero interest in doing Griffin’s dirty work for him. They won’t be able to comment on this for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t mean they’re not engaged.
However, Jack Moss AKA MacRanger the owner of Macsmind Blog; who is a Republican, Says the following:
Markos (Screw ‘em) Moulitsas Zúñiga is whining that he’s been banned from MSNBC. So I emailed someone at the network I went to school with to ask if this was true. The reply.
“It’s bogus. He’s not ‘blackballed”, he’s old news, non-contributory and completely irrelevant to our focus. Nuff said”
I will admit, I am not overly a big fan of Joe Scarborough. He just the token Conservative over at MSNBC. I never watch MSNBC anymore; especially since they went hard left. I mean, some of the people over at Fox News annoy the crap out of me. But I would rather hear critical reporting of the President and his activities, then watch a bunch of hired hacks spout the talking points of the White House.
As for Markos, I have nothing but contempt for him, for this:
Let the people see what war is like. This isn’t an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush’s folly.
That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren’t in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.
‘Nuff Said. I mean, I was not a big fan of the Iraqi War. But…. Screw them? Sorry, no excuse. He’s an anti-American. Not to mention a dago prick… (that’s right, I called Markos a DAGO… because that’s what he is…. a prick)
Update: Fixed rather hilarious headline error…. banned Markos from his own blog?!?! WOW! Not enough coffee!
Update #2: You Know, now that McCain mentions it, this here is a rather funny Video clip from Morning Joe:
Between that and Joe dropping the F-Bomb on live air; that show does have some funnier moments.