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If calling constituents "crazies" is a term of endearment, what would be an insult? On today's Morning Joe, John McCain refused to apologize to the thousands of Arizonans attending a Trump rally that McCain called "crazies." According to McCain, "crazies" is a "term of endearment" and a "term of affection." View the video here.

An MSNBC host walked back a statement he’d made Thursday when he called Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a liar after Trump called his bluff and challenged him to a wager. Not only did Lawrence O’Donnell take back his previous statement, he also said he liked the real estate mogul. The brouhaha began Thursday when O’Donnell appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and said “The Donald” had inflated his income figures in his Federal Election Commission financial statement. Trump immediately bet a year of his salary against a year of O’Donnell’s that he was right. That evening on his own MSNBC...

What does MSNBC's Alex Wagner have against stately Indian warriors? On today's Morning Joe, Wagner said it was "amazing" that anyone could look at the Washington Redskins logo and name and not find it controversial. This NewsBuster can understand the debate over the "Redskins" name. But the logo? Has Alex actually had a look at the logo? Could Wagner be confusing it with the Cleveland Indians' Chief Yahoo? Seriously, what could be more stately, grave and dignified than the Redskin logo? View the video here.

"People who think he's a joke and a fool need to be careful because by the end of the campaign, the joke may be on them." That's how Joe Scarborough summed up the surprisingly respectful analysis of Donald Trump's candidacy on today's Morning Joe. Introducing the segment, Scarborough suggested that if Trump sticks to a Perot-like populist message, he could get 15% of the primary vote. When Joe turned to Steve Schmidt, this NewsBuster expected the former McCain campaign manager and establishment Republican to dump on Trump. But to the contrary, Schmidt agreed heartily with Joe and went on to...

What does it say about Hillary Clinton that her campaign feels the need to artificially create supposedly real, authentic moments for her? On today's Morning Joe, Kasie Hunt observed that in this election cycle, "the demand seems to be for raw, unfiltered, real type of moments. I think that they're trying very hard to create that with her." Jon Meacham—seizing the oxymoronic irony—jumped in: "they're manufacturing it." Bingo. Nothing says raw, real and unfiltered like a moment manufactured by a horde of hacks, handlers and hangers-on. View the video here.

Freshman GOP congresswoman Rep. Mimi Walters has been on television pushing Obamatrade—appearing Monday on Morning Joe on MSNBC to do so—but her office admits publicly she hasn’t read the bill she wants to fast-track through Congress. Walters, whom Mika Brzezinski noted is the official “liaison” between House GOP freshmen and Speaker Rep. John Boehner’s leadership team, appeared on Morning Joe to push Obamatrade. Walters said: Currently, what we are working on is Trade Promotion Authority. That issue we expect to take up by the end of the month. And what Trade Promotion Authority, known as TPA, is it’s really the...

Mika Brzezinski just can't contain her liberal bias. On today's Morning Joe, Mika admitted that the the MSM has a double standard when it comes to reporting controversial things that Democrats and Republicans have done or said. Yet she promptly turned around and applied that same double standard to Bernie Sanders and Rick Santorum. Discussing Bernie Sanders having written in 1972 that women fantasize about being raped, Mika agreed that if Rick Santorum had written the same thing, the press would go crazy. However, Mika claimed that wouldn't be because Santorum's a Republican, but rather would be due to "his...

Is Al Hunt the most oblivious man in Washington, or was he just not telling the truth? On today's Morning Joe, lauding Bob Schieffer upon his retirement, Hunt actually said "I have no idea what Bob Schieffer's politics are." No idea? Really? Maybe Al hasn't been watching Scheiffer, but NewsBusters and its parent MRC have. Take a look at this link for a compilation of Bob's greatest hits on Republicans and his gushing praise of Democrats. Then come back and see us, Al, and let us know whether you now have an idea of Schieffer's politics. View the video here.

“Is he really the sole arbiter of what is right and just?” Referencing Barack Obama’s remarks at a recent forum aimed at addressing poverty, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough took exception to the president’s public indictment of a rival cable news network. Obama stated that Fox News Channel offers a “constant menu” of programming demonizing the poor as lazy “sponges” and “leeches.” Scarborough eviscerated Obama not only for his comments, but for the forum in which he decided to make them. “At a bipartisan summit, you decide to attack a cable news channel as the problem,” he said, “saying that [FNC...

Fire up the popcorn popper: this is getting fun. The MSM is reluctant to report it, but you might say that a trade war is breaking out among liberal Dems, and it's getting personal. A few days ago, criticizing Elizabeth Warren for opposing his TPP trade bill, President Obama said that “the truth of the matter is that Elizabeth is, you know, a politician like everybody else.” Yesterday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, also a TPP opponent, said that Obama had thereby been "direspectful" to Warren, suggesting he had been sexist. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said that...

A fiery Joe Scarborough on Tuesday denounced the media's double standard when it comes to investigating the scandal engulfing the Clinton Foundation's financial dealings. An angry Scarborough erupted "The Clintons have made $150 million over the past decade because of contacts they made during public service!" He described the typical journalist reaction as "Let's bow down before Bill and Hillary, because if we ask the same questions of them that we ask of every other politician, then oh, my God! We have crossed a line!" Scarborough's outburst was a result of Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski's skeptical questioning of Clinton...

On today's Morning Joe, ardent Hillary Clinton fan Howard Dean ran into a buzzsaw when he tried to defend her against serious charges of conflict of interest by going after the authors of the stories rather than the substance of the allegations. Joe Scarborough ripped Dean's "comic-book politics" and called his conduct "unbecoming." New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters accused Dean of maligning his fellow reporters, and Mika Brzezinski taunted Dean, saying "you can go on your little jihad against the author, but it's not going to change the facts." View the video here.

The second day of the New Hampshire Republican Party’s “First in the Nation” leadership summit kicked off Saturday morning with a speech from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman. As you might expect, the reception was lukewarm at first — especially when he tried to land a series of fratboy-ish jokes — but became much warmer when he talked actual policy and tried to stir the crowd into rallying around conservative principles for the 2016 election. But let’s run through his awkward jokes: Scarborough approached the stage to noticeably tepid applause (though, to be fair, this was the first...

For Iran, Mike? On today's Morning Joe, reliable Obama fan Mike Barnicle managed to keep a straight face while lauding the Iran deal as an "extraordinary feat." He did so despite poll numbers displayed showing that a huge majority of Americans don't think the ayatollahs will keep their promises. Let's see: sanctions lifted while centrifuges keep spinning and nuclear scientists beaver away in hardened, bomb-resistant facilities. Extraordinary, yeah. View the video here.

Much of today's Morning Joe was devoted to a discussion of Rolling Stone's failed journalism on the UVa story. Maybe Mika Brzezinski should look in the mirror: she began her interview of Wendy Sherman, the chief US negotiator on the Iran deal, by offering her "congratulations." Even Sherman herself had the sense to suggest that congratulations were not yet in order. In contrast, Joe Scarborough actually tried to get Sherman to answer an important question: how much advance notice of inspections does the deal give Iran? Sherman skated away faster than Apolo Ohno, refusing to answer other than to claim...

Last week, Newsbusters brought you "Stumped," as April Ryan struggled to cite a single foreign policy success by her super-fave, President Obama. In the best Hollywood tradition, this morning we bring you a sequel--Stumped II: Syria! On today's Morning Joe, lugubrious lefty Eric Alterman of The Nation mag was stumped when Joe Scarborough asked him what the US should do about Syria. After humming, hawing and a couple of false starts, Alterman asked how much time they had. Right, as if if only he had more time to expand on the nothing he had to say. Shades of that SNL...

Sometimes you just want to shake the TV and say "enough with the cutesy facial expressions, already: spit it out, Mika!" Morning Joe mavens will know what I mean: Mika Brzezinski has the annoying habit of letting a series of sighs, raised eyebrows and facial tics substitute for a clear articulation of her position on a given issue. There was a prime example of the phenomenon on today's show, when after rolling a clip of Bibi Netanyahu criticizing the prospective Iran deal, Mika announced that she would "reserve" comment, satisfying herself yet again with dramatic pauses, grimaces, etc. [see example...

CONNECTICUT TO BOYCOTT INDIANA OVER RFRA, FORGETS IT HAS ITS OWN By Emily Zanotti on 3.30.15 Presient Obama isn't the only person who has selective memory when it comes to voting for and passing a Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This morning, the governor of Connecticut, Dan Malloy, announced that he would be the first governor in the union to sign an executive order limiting state-sponsored travel to Indiana because of Indiana's ostensibly "discriminatory practices."

Mike Pence is a bigot, according to one of his fellow governors. “When you see a bigot you have to call him on it,” Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Story Continued Below Malloy, the incoming chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, on Monday signed an executive order banning state-funded travel to Indiana in response to a "religious freedom" law signed last week by Pence. Critics say the law, known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians; Pence insists it’s meant only to protect religious communities from government encroachment...

Not even a lifeline could have helped her . . . There was a telling moment on today's Morning Joe when Joe Scarborough challenged April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks to cite some of President Obama's foreign-policy successes. Ryan was reduced to replying "that's kind of tough. Hmm, that's a tough one . . . I have to really ponder that." View the video here.