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On the overblown heels of “Dickgate,” which saw Time Magazine‘s Mark Halperin suspended from MSNBC for calling President Obama the wrong kind of “cocky,” conservative media watchdog Newsbusters has taken it upon itself to choke every verbal chicken that comes out of an MSNBC personality’s mouth. The latest culprit is Chris Matthews, who opined that the sight of US lawmakers “dickin’ around” over the debt ceiling is not inspiring confidence among world markets.

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On Sunday morning’s Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz and panelists Michelle Cottle, Matthew Continetti, and A.B. Stoddard tossed around Mark Halperin’s ill-advised phallic non-bon mot, and made some key observations. In Halperin’s favor, he was assured, even “egged on” by Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to go weapons free, but also that Halperin clearly premeditated the remark. It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission, as the saying goes. Halperin weirdly did both.

Lost in the din surrounding Mark Halperin‘s suspension from MSNBC over his remark that President Obama was “kind of a dick” during his Wednesday press conference is the fact that, Halperin’s intentions aside, the crack was not necessarily an insult. Liberals everywhere will point out that Republicans are the biggest bunch of dicks since the [...]