The Morning Joe crew took a look at the fallout from — and the benefits of — using negative ad campaigns in presidential elections. The panelists agreed that Mitt Romney‘s success in the Florida primary was tied to his decision to “hit back” against Newt Gingrich‘s slew of negative campaign ads, both with his own ads and during debates.

Mad Money’s Jim Cramer was a guest on Friday’s Morning Joe and discussed the rebounding economy, gushing about Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner‘s role in getting things back on track. “I wish President Obama would say ‘I’ve got a great Treasury Secretary and he was so far ahead of the world.’ Tim Geithner did a lot to make our institutions stronger. That man does not get an ounce of credit. He’s one of the greatest Treasury Secretaries we’ve ever had! Look at Europe, They didn’t do what Geithner did. They almost took down the world. He’s a tough guy, by the way.”

On Friday’s Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch made a stirring observation about Occupy Wall Street, suggesting the movement needed a Kent State-like climactic moment. The provocative comment earned a deservedly derisive reaction from his hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski who chided and smacked Deutsch respectively.

Lately, I’ve really been feeling like we’ve been lacking in light, controversial fare to discuss on programs like the Today show and The View. Like, I know there’s all this drama going on in Somalia and something has been happening with debt and ceilings but it’s all just so… depressing. I can’t even think about it. You know what has really getting to me? This Huffington Post article I read about Sugar Babies.

On Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch was very pessimistic about the nation’s economic recovery and also about President’s Obama’s chances for re-election. Most on the panel agreed it will be challenging for the President as Joe Scarborough thought many are starting to get sick of Obama’s “cool detachment” and Mike Barnicle stressed that most Americans out on the street are truly frightful in this economy.

On Morning Joe, the panel tried their best to limit the amount of time they spent talking about the Twitter picture controversy involving Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner. While Willie Geist searched for the funniest newspaper headline discussing the story, Donny Deutsch didn’t see what the big deal was and wanted America to stop focusing on issues like this.

On Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch and Pat Buchanan weighed in on Glenn Beck‘s departure from his daily show on Fox News, with varying levels of dismissiveness. After a clip played of Beck comparing himself to Paul Revere, Buchanan had some fun while Deutsch was a bit more mean-spirited.

Republican Congressman Peter King begins his hearings today investigating the potential radicalization of Muslim Americans, but the Morning Joe panel is split on whether they should be taking place at all. In one corner is Donny Deutsch who thinks the hearings are “scary” and demonstrates the “extremism” of the Republican party and in the other corner is Pat Buchanan arguing the hearings are legitimate and any criticism should come only if and when the hearings are conducted in an unjust manner.

Rev. Al Sharpton was on Morning Joe this morning and, as with all of his television appearances, there was the potential that he would say something to infuriate half the country. However, it soon seemed like he wasn’t going to say anything too inflammatory, merely arguing that gun control is good and kids shouldn’t idolize gangsters. Fortunately, Donny Deutsch was there to help him out by suggesting that the “strange state” of Arizona should secede from the nation because they don’t celebrate MLK Day.

In the wake of today’s report by Howard Fineman on The Huffington Post about the possibility of a Michael Bloomberg-Joe Scarborough 2012 ticket, the Morning Joe host spent a significant amount of time shooting down the rumors this morning.

But he also took some veiled shots at the author, and his MSNBC colleague, Fineman.

Politico reported earlier today that MSNBC host Keith Olbermann donated to three Democratic candidates, leading to his indefinite suspension and raising serious questions about his judgment. How could a guy as smart as Olbermann do something so stupid? As we outline in the post below, this is not the first time, it may just be the first time Olbermann is being held to account for it. It is clear that this is Olbermann’s Waterloo.

It seems like all anyone on TV can talk about today is Juan Williams’ firing from NPR. It also seems that very few of them are coming down on NPR’s side of the story and I’m not just talking about the folks over at Fox News. Both the ladies of The View and now the Morning Joe gang are all firmly on Team Juan Williams. Joe Scarborough called NPR’s actions “disgraceful,” while both he and Donny Deutsch demanded Williams’ reinstatement.

What is the best way to approach an interview with crazy potential-Quran-burning, fantastically-mustached Pastor Terry Jones? There’s Meredith Vieira‘s method, which pressed Jones hard and had him stumbling and exposed.

Then there’s the Morning Joe plan – have him on, don’t let him talk, say goodbye.

After being off the air for 6 weeks, Donny Deutsch returned to MSNBC this week, both as guest host of Morning Joe and as panel guest. Yesterday he reminded viewers of his catch-as-catch-can style while discussing the imperfect game imbroglio. Deutsch lauded the behavior of the young pitcher denied a perfect came by a blown call and used some interesting language not normally heard on morning news programming. As Willie Geist said, Donny is back!

After more than six weeks off the air, Donny Deutsch will return to MSNBC tomorrow as co-host of Morning Joe.

But that’s not all – look for Deutsch on MSNBC a lot more in the near future.

Yesterday was a tough day to be Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, as political pundits were taking shots at him left and…left. The subject was Joe’s assertion that the media slept through the Joe Sestak controversy (an assertion with which I strongly disagree). First, DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas attacked Scarborough via Twitter, and on last night’s Countdown, MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann launched a veiled, but very nasty, attack on him.

Despite reporting Donny Deutsch would return to MSNBC one week ago, he canceled Sunday night and wasn’t back on all last week.

While his MSNBC return post-America the Angry still hasn’t occurred, he was back on NBC’s Today Show Friday morning.

Donny Deutsch hasn’t been back on the air on MSNBC since his “America The Angry” show featured a segment involving Keith Olbermann and the program met an abrupt end.

But Mediaite has learned Deutsch makes his return Monday as co-host of Morning Joe from 7-9amET, nearly three weeks after his last time on MSNBC.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele visited Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC earlier today, a month removed from the Voyeur club scandal and four months removed from the RNC’s Hawaii planning meeting. Condemning the RNC for “having luaus” while “we were digging our way out of the snow banks” and getting mostly laughter as a response, Mitchell brought up Voyeur, to which Steele responded: “You mean to tell me not one employee of your organization has done something that the management has not been proud of?” Too soon?

Donny Deutsch hasn’t been back on MSNBC since Tuesday when a segment on his 3pmET show America The Angry featured a clip and mention of Keith Olbermann (in addition to other left and right wing supposed “angry” people).

We’ve learned more about the circumstances surrounding the decision – as well as what’s coming next for Deutsch and the show’s executive producer.

Donny Deutsch‘s “America the Angry” week-long 3pmET MSNBC show is ending after just two episodes, after he mentioned Keith Olbermann in criticism of “angry” people on both sides.

Apparently Olbermann had a problem with his mention in the segment, which included Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz.

Today is not exactly Keith Olbermann‘s day over at MSNBC. We had previously thought Donny Deutsch‘s association of Olbermann with the likes of “extremists” like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh was a one-shot deal, and yet here is this clip from today’s Morning Joe, where Salon’s editor-in-chief Joan Walsh innocently asks long-time Olbermann critic Joe Scarborough who he thinks is the left’s Limbaugh.

It’s day two for Donny Deutsch filling in for a suspended David Shuster during the hour-long 3pmET time slot, also known as MSNBC’s Angry in America experiment. Today he looked at how the media plays a part in angering Americans, airing clips of the usual suspects angering Americans including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and…Keith Olbermann? Surely this is some mistake.

Former CNBC host Donny Deutsch is filling in on MSNBC as 3pmET anchor all this week, with a show titled America The Angry.

The first couple minutes of the show ended up serving as a monologue/mission statement for the program, with Deutsch dramatically urging viewers to stop with all the anger.

This week on MSNBC from 3-5pmET, two former CNBC anchors will handle hosting duties. Dylan Ratigan hosts his 4pmET hour while Donny Deutsch will fill in at 3pmET all week.

As MSNBC makes changes since David Shuster‘s indefinite suspension, CNBC is headed for changes as well.