Host Joe Scarborough was quick to remind everyone that, back in 2008, Barack Obama launched his own barrage of ultimately successful negative campaign ads:

I don’t know a lot of candidates that wouldn’t rather win ugly than lose pretty. Jon Huntsman lost pretty. Mitt Romney, this past week, won ugly. But, that’s…. I mean, Barack Obama won ugly in 2008; he ran more negative ads than anybody else in the history of television. He ran so many negative ads that he actually swung ahead of John McCain on the question of who do you trust more on taxes. ‘Cause remember the grainy, negative, false, misleading ads that he ran over and over again. [...] I mean, these negative ads worked.

RELATED: Sarah Palin: Mitt Romney’s Negative Advertising ‘Hurts The Electorate’

Later, Mika Brzezinski noted that the President had sat himself in the driver’s seat of a sports car at the DC auto show, “as he should.” “I’m not trying to be smug,” she added.

Scarborough got a laugh out of that before turning to panelist Donny Deutsch. “Well, there’s no need to be smug,” Scarborough said. “This is going to be a tough, long campaign. But, Donny Deutsch, the man in the driver’s seat right there ran more negative ads — 30-second ads, 4 years ago — than any candidate in history.”

“The only difference,” he added, “between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is the mainstream media — every network, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post — they all covered for him. Nobody wrote that story because they all wanted him to him. It was shameful the way they covered for him.”

Deutsch, meanwhile, felt we should retire the term “negative ads.”

“Why?” asked Scarborough. “Because I attached it to Barack Obama?”

Brzezinski, all the while, kept trying to get Scarborough to answer a question about whether the President is “literally and figuratively in the driver’s seat.”

“No!” he said, finally.

And a (hilariously) sassy morning was had by all. Have a look, via MSNBC:

(NOTE: The original headline for this article, “Joe Scarborough: The Way The Mainstream Media Covered For Obama’s Negative Ads Is ‘Shameful’” was shortened in order for it to properly fit on the website’s home page.)

Panelist Donny Deutsch had opened the segment by asking Cramer if he thought the economic apocalypse was still possible. Cramer disagreed and thought the lion share of weak companies were flushed out, gushing about Geithner’s job performance.

“I think Geithner gets a bad rap because he’s in the movie (Too Big To Fail),” Deutsch chimed in. “He’s associated — all though he saved it! — with ’08. He’s one of those guys.”

“In real life he’s so down-to-earth cool!” Cramer exclaimed.

Watch Cramer’s enthusiastic support for President Obama’s Treasury Secretary below:

The famous ad man and regular Morning Joe guest seemed to know that he was wading into dangerous territory when he said:

“You know what this movement needs? One is obvious one not so obvious. Everybody is saying they need to clarify. They need policy issues…The other thing it needs and I don’t want this to come out the wrong way. Not needs but will happen. If you think back to the late ’60s, what is the most stirring image of all of the rebellion that happened? What do we remember? Kent State. Now I’m not saying somebody has to get killed. What will happen, will there be a climax moment of class warfare somehow played out on screen that I think will, the same way 999 if you will kind of simplifies a message that articulates this clash so both the real clarification. We’re a visual society.”

Scarborough quickly clarified Deutsch’s odd comment by adding “I would hope the police officers around our country understand it. There’s a lot of great people out there but there’s also some provocateurs who are going to try to get a police office to swing at him,” adding “let’s hope that doesn’t happen.” Clearly agitated, Brzezinski playfully smacked Deutsch following his comments.

Interestingly, when the segment re-aired in the 8:00AM hour, MSNBC –perhaps sensing the controversial nature of the discussion–edited out Scarborough’s response and Brzezinski’s reaction.

UPDATE: MSNBC tells Mediaite “there was nothing editorial about the edit, it was just for time and continuity.”

Watch the segment below via MSNBC:

(h/t The Blaze)

Did you know that women who went to college are now going online to meet rich men who will buy them presents and give them money in exchange for sexual favors? Like, ick! What kind of world are we living in? I totally agree with Star Jones; ”ethically, morally and in my neighborhood… When you return sexual favors and expect some kind of renumeration, my mother would call you a hoe”.

That’s like, exactly how I felt when I read about this story two years ago in Cosmopolitan. Except I wasn’t as outraged last time because the story was right next to this really scary article on honeymoon murders (really serious issue too, guys!) and that one totally got me thinking.

But in all seriousness, this morning the Today show decided to address an issue that has recently exploded. This controversy has mostly been manufactured by an incredibly long winded HuffPo article that dared to take offense at what is essentially prostitution with a fancy website.

The article contains interviews with several “Sugar Babies”, who sleep with wealthy men under the assumption that said men will help them pay off their student loans. These women are billed as intelligent, wealthy and on their way to success:

I’m honestly surprised there aren’t more college students doing this,” says Jennifer, not blinking. She’s a 23-year-old recent graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.

Fed up with young, unemployed men her own age, Jennifer recently began trawling for a sugar daddy to pay down about $20,000 in student loan debt. She also wouldn’t mind a clothing allowance or rent money for her studio apartment in New York’s East Village.

A week ago, she boarded a plane to Florida to spend the weekend with a 30-something banker she met on SugarDaddie.com. He told her his house was undergoing a renovation and instead drove her to a nearby hotel, where they spent the night together.

“Yeah, sure, he could have been a psycho, a killer,” says Jennifer over breakfast. At nine o’clock in the morning, she’s in a full face of makeup. On her profile she describes herself as a yoga teacher and personal trainer. “Barring rape or death, what’s the worst thing that could happen to me?’

Indeed. Well, women like Jennifer found a defender this morning on the Today show. Donny Deutsch says, “shame on us for passing judgement”. Yeah, shame on us! Also, “everything in life is some kind of transaction”. But “[his] children are growing up in privilege so that’s not going to be an option for them, of course.”

Naturally this didn’t exactly fly with Jones and the other women. After Deutsch suggested that this might actually be a positive thing he was basically attacked by the other female panelists. One responded to his point, “who are we to sit in judgement if this girl ends up going to medical school and that’s the way she’s going to do it” by saying “[I] don’t want her to go to medical school after she’s spent half her life on her knees, I’m sorry”. 

The discussion continued to get more heated when Deutsch compared these Sugar Babies to women who stay with their husbands for security instead of love.

However, with the exception of the last argument in the segment, Deutsch doesn’t make bad points. He was obviously brought on the show to play the role of devil’s advocate in this back-to-school controversy, but he is articulate and in some ways his points about the importance of education are true. But he appears on a show with a distinctly feminine presence and argues an unpopular point. The result is this half uncomfortable, half incredibly entertaining argument.

Watch the fight below:

(h/t)

Deutsch issued his warning to Obama:

“I’d be very surprised if this President gets re-elected. . . . I cannot see what’s going to happen in the coming months – in the coming fifteen, sixteen months – what would make it better, not worse for him. And I think that pent-up emotion [of voters] versus his lack of emotion, that kind of chemistry I think is really going to act against him. Particularly when you look at three or four swing states. I don’t see him getting re-elected.”

Scarborough predicted the fact that Obama “seems cool and detached at a time when millions of Americans are hurting,” might not hurt his rock star status, but will soon be a turn-off to more and more voters. And given this environment, Deutsch believes the “not scary” Mitt Romney has a perfect opportunity to grab the election, since when voters get in the booth they will likely think “what the heck,” nothing is working now, so let’s give Mitt a try. Not a truly passionate endorsement for Romney here, however, it’s one he would no doubt welcome.

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

In a competition between New York Post’s “Battle of the Bulge: Weiner Exposed” and New York Daily News’ “Weiner’s Pickle,” Geist gave the nod to the pickle headline. Then he turned to “NBC’s Senior Crotch Shot Analyst” Deutsch.

Deutsch admitted “clearly it’s a picture of [Weiner] or he would have immediately said ‘it’s not me.’” Yet Deutsch offered some advice regarding what Weiner should have said including simply arguing “I’m a human being, it was sent to my wife and that’s what people do.” However, whether Weiner’s wife would have approved of such a statement if it wasn’t actually sent to her isn’t contemplated by Deutsch. Most important to Deutsch though, is that Weiner is a great politician:

“Who cares, by the way who cares? So what, does [this picture] not make him a good Congressman?”

NBC‘s Peter Alexander responded, that actually, it is worth caring about since it’s a question of judgment why a sitting Congressman would even have these types of pictures on his computer at all?

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

Deutsch said about Beck, “what a despicable putz.” When substitute host Willie Geist asked why, Deutsch’s explanation was to say “what a disgusting human being.” The “dissenting opinion” from Buchanan was joking, “one if by land and two if by sea,” a historical reference to Paul Revere’s warning about which route British troops would be taking. And with that, the “Paul Revere of cable news” rides off into the sunset without a warm sendoff from his friends at Morning Joe.

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

Also entering the fray was guest Nicholas Kristof from The New York Times, who was somewhere in the middle. Kristof argued the hearings were counterproductive since they created a perception worldwide for Muslims that they are targets. However, Kristof did not completely oppose the idea of hearings, suggesting, “if they were run by somebody who wasn’t perceived as an enemy of the Islamic community that would sure help.” Buchanan responded, “maybe Peter King is not the right guy, but . . . you cannot let political correctness deny you the ability to take a look at what is a serious and growing problem.”

Most passionate though was Deutsch, who sarcastically said “let’s talk to moderate whites and why are we not responsible for the white supremacists – this is scary.” Deutsch believed most Americans watching the news regarding King’s hearings will simply view it as “let’s put Muslims on trial” and for Deutsch, “that’s a scary thing and that causes hate and I think we’re going to see hate crimes as a result.” With Mika Brzezinski wondering whether critics of the hearings are suggesting the topic of Muslim radicalism can never be talked about and with Mike Barnicle asking why King focuses on Muslim extremists rather than homegrown terrorists of any background, the interesting debate allowed all involved to put forth their unique opinion.

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

Here’s the actual quote:

“We’re in the year 2011, we’re coming off the horrific, horrific event in Tucson. Yet, as we celebrate Dr. King’s Day, there’s still this very strange state of Arizona that does not recognize it. I mean, maybe is there a time for a shift here? Should they secede from the nation? With all that’s going on, it’s almost bizarre at this point.”

Now, Arizona was the last state to officially recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and only did so after a boycott by the Super Bowl, which isn’t exactly a proud moment for the state. But they do recognize it. They call it “Martin Luther King, Jr./Civil Rights Day” and they’ve been celebrating it since 1992 so this seems like kind of an odd reason for a state to drop out of the country.

Perhaps there was something else Deutsch was referring to or maybe his clock was just set back 19 years. Either way, it was a really odd statement to make and one that appears to be 100% wrong. Not that you’d know from watching.

(h/t The Blaze)

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

His co-host, Mika Brzezinski, stated her case early in the segment. “You had the Times calling you. I told you not to talk,” she told Scarborough. “Because there’s nothing to say. What’s wrong with you?”

Here’s the section in question in Fineman’s report:

In an interview, Scarborough, a former GOP congressman from Florida, issued a firm yet carefully-worded denial. “We haven’t discussed it directly,” he said, adding, “Have people discussed it in his sphere and in my sphere? I think so.”

According to Scarborough, the conversation started with him calling Fineman back, the new Huffington Post writer stating what he had heard and Scarborough immediately saying, “No. No, it’s not gonna happen.” But he kept talking, and the quote is what came much later in the conversation. So this morning, Scarborough clarified: “Mike Bloomberg and I have not talked about this directly, or indirectly or super super secretive directly.”

Donny Deutsch took pleasure in continuing the conversation: “You and Bloomberg as a ticket would be brilliant. I’m just saying as a marketer!”

Scarborough also commented about the fact that Fineman, who he has known for years, would write this piece. “He’s actually not being courteous in this piece, and that’s just a whole other issue,” he said, later adding, “I don’t know where this comes from. Actually I do, that’s a lie. Actually I do know where this comes from.”

Well – where does this come from Joe? This story isn’t over yet, especially as 2012 rumors will continue swirling for the next year or so…

Here’s the segment this morning:

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First, some background. Politico broke the story this morning, which immediately raised eyebrows around the cable news media world. Olbermann was certainly made aware of the story, since he provided the following comment reported by Simmi Aujla:

POLITICO discovered the Olbermann donation to Grijalva in a Federal Election Commission filing, and when MSNBC was asked for a comment, it forwarded a statement from Olbermann:

“One week ago, on the night of Thursday October 28 2010, after a discussion with a friend about the state of politics in Arizona, I donated $2,400 each to the reelection campaigns of Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords,” Olbermann said. “I also donated the same amount to the campaign of Democratic Senatorial candidate Jack Conway in Kentucky.”

In his statement, Olbermann said he wasn’t using his influence to solicit any donations for the candidates.

“I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level,” Olbermann said.

In the past, it seemed as though Olbermann could do nothing that would lead MSNBC President Phil Griffin to take action against him. In fact, it always appeared that those who crossed Olbermann were sanctioned, seemingly by the man himself, with Griffin simply announcing the sentence. There was the matter of David Shuster, the Donny Deutsch kerfuffle and the case of the departing production staff. All of them seemed to lead to sudden and unannounced vacations, and vociferous pushback from Olbermann that may have foretold his demise.

Olber-gate is different from other controversies of its kind. Earlier this year a controversy arose over the two separate $1 Million donations given to pro-Republican groups by Fox News’ parent company News Corp., but there is a key point of contrast. News Corp. is a corporation who pays for lobbying efforts (an issue that is worthy of a different post and/or debate). On the other hand, Olbermann is a leading figure in opinion media, and liked to define himself as a journalist, always rankled at the comparison between his advocacy and that of Fox News. In fact, he liked to compare himself to Edward R. Murrow, signing off his show with Murrow’s signature “good night and good luck.”

But his admission to giving private money to campaign efforts of Democratic candidates completely blurs the line between journalism and advocacy, which is ironically the very issue he consistently takes umbrage with regarding Fox News opinion media. This event now offers the ammunition his enemies have long sought, at a time when MSNBC management no longer has the will, nor power, to protect Olbermann in the way they once did.

In September of 2009, Mediaite reported on a political ad produced by Stanford professor Lawerence Lessig, that questioned the blurred line between Olbermann’s journalism and advocacy. Olbermann took exception with the way we reported that story, and as a result, made its writer Robert Quigley, and editor, yours truly, “Worst Persons.” Perhaps then he should have listened, and taken to heart, our earnest questioning of his overt advocacy.

The main concern of the group seemed to be that Williams was fired for a clip of what he said about fearing Muslims on a plane, which was actually a set up for his full argument about overcoming our nation’s prejudices.

“JOE SCARBOROUGH: And let me say this, again, the thing is that is the natural reaction of a lot of Americans. Not me and probably not a lot of us, but that is a natural reaction of many Americans. It’s better to talk about it and then to say this is a prejudice we have as a country. It’s something we need to move past, which is what Juan Williams was trying to say. And for that, Mika, he got fired.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: And you know what scares me about that? It seems like something’s wrong with this business. Something’s wrong with what we do if we get fired for having a peaceful voice and for trying to have a peaceful discussion about things we are really worried about.”

They had some harsh words for people who took the clip out of context (even admitting that they had to re-edit their own to show the full story) and the “left wing sites” who called for Williams’ firing (Deutsch called them “guys in their underwear on their blogs”). They also had words for Bill O’Reilly who they repeatedly stressed Williams was arguing with(Deutsch called him a “jerk” and a “jackass” who should have gotten fired).

Clearly most on-air talent, no matter what channel they’re on, don’t like the idea of getting fired this quickly for saying an opinion. I bet Rick Sanchez is wishing he got a quarter of this much support.

Watch the clip from Morning Joe below.

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

“We’ve really been debating whether to do this,” said Mika Brzezinski to start the segment. She introduced Pastor Jones, but before he said anything, she gave the floor to Jon Meacham. “The central message of the New Testament is forgiveness and to put oneself in the place of another,” he said to Jones, urging him to cancel the Quran burning as a fellow Christian.

And with that – with Jones having uttered exactly zero words – Brzezinski said, “Pastor Terry Jones we appeal to you to listen to that, and we don’t really need to hear anything else, so thanks.”

The rest of the segment was spent discussing whether they should have interviewed him. Donny Deutsch thought they should have, even if he is a “terrorist of a different form.” “I understand why you guys don’t want to give him a platform, I mean seeing his face is disgusting enough,” said Deutsch. But: “Sometimes action needs to be taken.”

What do you think? Here’s the “interview”:

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The young pitcher, Armando Galarraga was being celebrated for his remarkably mature response to the blown call, which was exmplified by hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. Enter Donny who put it in a larger, more interesting context:

In the broadcasting business, you know great people and you know jerks. No different in sports or advertising or politics. there are some delightful athletes. And there are some jerkoffs. Any occupation.

Everyone knows that “jerks” is okay to say on television, but one wonders if the literal meaning of “jerkoff” has become secondary to its more colloquial use?

And if we had to guess who he was referring to as the jerk in the broadcasting business we have a good idea as to who may be on that list.

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

As Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough tweeted this morning, Deutsch is making his return to the program:

@morningmika and I are excited! Donny Deutsch will be on set at Morning Joe tomorrow at 8AM. Tune in. A splended time guaranteed for all.

But Mediaite has learned Deutsch will also co-host the show’s 8amET hour every day next week. That’s a very major way to make his return to the network after his last appearance, April 20, during his week of hosting “America The Angry” was cut short after a segment that included a Keith Olbermann reference. We had heard Deutsch would be back on May 10 but he had to cancel. He was on NBC’s Today show last month.

There’s no word yet on the subjects Deutsch will talk about tomorrow or next week, but we have a guess what two words aren’t likely to come up.

Meanwhile Morning Joe‘ers are expanding beyond 9amET – Willie Geist anchored the 10amET news hour yesterday, again today and will tomorrow as well. His unique style was a small but noticeable shift in tone, while sticking to objective news coverage.

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Scarborough and Moulitsas started out having a fairly reasoned discussion, but it got ugly fast as Moulitsas started to reference unfounded rumors about Scarborough’s time as a Congressman (the Twitter back-and-forth is up on their accounts).

Then, there’s Keith Olbermann, who conspicuously doesn’t name Scarborough as he trashes him on last night’s Countdown. At the 5:21 mark in this clip, he says:

“I heard a charge today that the media has been asleep on this story since it began. How much traction will Fox News, and people like those who made that charge, who do cheap impressions of Fox News…and the political party that they serve, how much mileage will they get out of this?”

The idea of collegial criticism has been a flashpoint for MSNBC. Scarborough has publicly criticized Olbermann before, both by name and not, and he and Donny Deutsch have each been disciplined for criticizing the Countdown host. Scarborough’s criticisms, though, were always rather narrow and substantial, whereas this shot by Keith cuts wide and deep.

In fairness to Keith, this may be MSNBC’s failing. If he wants to call Scarborough a GOP shill, he ought to be able to do it by name, and to his face. If he has a case to make, let him make it, and let Scarborough respond. It was not long ago that Joe was fending off attacks on his bona fides from the right.

Personally, I believe in confronting conflicts head-on. I’ve called Scarborough out on Twitter before, but never felt the need to question his right to be on the air, or to evoke a sad tragedy. I also believe that colleagues can disagree openly, and do so in a way that allows them to remain friends.

On the Sestak story, I disagree strongly with Scarborough’s “media malpractice” assertion. The press consistently questioned both Sestak and the White House right up until the full explanation was given. There was never any let-up, but you can only run the same question mark so many times.

Going forward, it looks like Republican political figures, and not the MSM, will be throwing cold water on Sestak-gate.

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

We reported Deutsch would make his MSNBC return on Morning Joe last Monday, but Sunday night we added this update:

> Sunday evening update: Deutsch will NOT be on Morning Joe tomorrow. His rep tells Mediaite Deutsch had to cancel because “he had a client issue come up that he has to take care of.” We’ll update again about when he’ll be back on when we know.

Deutsch had previously been appearing on Morning Joe on a weekly basis, so even missing a couple weeks raised eyebrows. But he still hasn’t been back on the show, and it will be one-month off the MSNBC air on Thursday. Still, if he’s back on Morning Joe in the next week or so, any questions of being held off as some sort of reaction to his Keith Olbermann mention will likely subside.

According to a Gawker tipster, Deutsch was joking about it in a Syracuse University commencement speech.

He then says “it’s amazing I’ve never been thrown off the air.”….referencing his time as host of the big idea

Then, clearly referencing his recent spat at MSNBC….

“Actually I have been thrown off the Air”

So while Deutsch remains off MSNBC, for scheduling reasons or your own conspiracy theory, he has been back on NBC as a whole. He spent time on the Today show’s 4th hour on Friday for his “The Other View” segment, where he dropped lines like, “[if] you don’t get french fries at home and you love french fries, you’re going to go to McDonald’s.” A decidedly un-America the Angry segment…

Here’s the clip from Friday:

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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.

> Sunday evening update: Deutsch will NOT be on Morning Joe tomorrow. His rep tells Mediaite Deutsch had to cancel because “he had a client issue come up that he has to take care of.” We’ll update again about when he’ll be back on when we know.

Deutsch had been an MSNBC regular up to that point, although the self-contained hosting gig was a new experience (he previously had a show on CNBC). During March and April, he had appeared weekly on Morning Joe as well as other news hours and Hardball. But since April 20, he has been notably absent. We had originally heard he would appear the following week on Morning Joe. Was this punishment, or just letting the dust settle?

Whatever happens during his first two hours back on the network, it’s likely he’ll go the Joe Scarborough route when it comes to anything resembling a mention of Keith Olbermann.

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The interview remained mostly civil until Mitchell asked Steele about the recent criticism on the RNC for its expenses, specifically asking him in regards to a mid-winter event the RNC hosted in Hawaii, “What were you thinking?”

Steele laughed off the question, but Mitchell insisted, in a fairly opinionated manner, that the Hawaii meeting was “lavish” and raised eyebrows with both donors and the media. Steele shielded himself from that criticism by citing McCain-Feingold restrictions on the RNC, and telling Mitchell to “stop with the Democrat talking points, for God’s sakes,” possibly prompting Mitchell to retaliate by bringing up the embarrassing four-figure expenses on the RNC’s tab at a lesbian bondage-themed nightclub.

Steele returned fire by asking if she thought her organization was exempt from employee behavior issues. A fair rhetorical question, except for one thing: Mitchell’s organization is MSNBC, which has had two high-profile employee discipline issues in the last month– David Shuster‘s exit after filming a pilot for CNN and a more minor problem with Donny Deutsch mentioning colleague Keith Olbermann in an “Anger in America” segment.

Check it out:

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.

Sources inside MSNBC tell Mediaite the segment producer of the pre-produced clip that featured Olbermann tried to take the blame, but the show’s EP, Gresham Striegel (formerly on Fox News) took responsibility. One MSNBC staffer said Striegel has been “such a breath of fresh air in the newsroom” since he came over to produce David Shuster‘s 10am and 3pmET shows, and he “legitimately cares and wants to do new things.”

But by Striegel taking the blame, he was told to leave immediately – which happened to be while he was EP’ing his 10amET hour on Wednesday. Sources tell us he has not been back to work since, but we’re hearing he is expected back Monday.

MSNBC did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Deutsch, meanwhile, has been off the air as well. He is a regular on Morning Joe, however, so we’ll see if he’s back early next week. He was slated to moderate a panel at the NBCU upfront on Tuesday, and we hear that will continue as planned.

Deutsch did not respond to requests to comment on his status with MSNBC, but on Wednesday he told the New York Times:

“I was disappointed because I think I’m on to something really special here that needs to be done,” he added, something that is neither red nor blue in terms of its politics. “It’s time the purple voice is out there,” Mr. Deutsch said. “Enough already.”

Not that it ultimately mattered, but Deutsch’s 3pmET show was up slightly in total viewers compared to the prior week and down slightly in the A25-54 demographic.

We’ll have more as we get it…

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

An MSNBC spokesperson told TVNewser “Deutsch was going to be off the rest of this week due to a personal issue,” but this seems to contradict what MSNBC spokesperson Jeremy Gaines told the New York Times. “The segment did not go unnoticed and we’re dealing with it internally,” he said.

Mediaite hears from a source close to the situation that the show was already booked today – and was set to feature Andrew Ross Sorkin and Pat Buchanan, among others, and the decision to cancel for the rest of the week came down this morning. Deutsch tweeted yesterday, “Tune in to MSNBC @ 3 for my week-long special, Angry in America…Great show today!”

It appears when you want to criticize Keith Olbermann you have to do so without using his name or image, as Morning Joe has down to a science.

More from the New York Times about the 3pmET exec producer:

The four people briefed on the decision also said that Mr. Deutsch’s executive producer for the hour, Gresham Striegel, was sent home. Reached on his cell phone Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Striegel declined to comment on any of the claims.

Striegel was formerly a producer at Glenn Beck’s FNC show, and moved over to MSNBC in January to produce for David Shuster. Oh yeah. David Shuster previously held the 3pmET slot. As MSNBC daytime turns…

>Update: Um. Apparently Olbermann is also going off the air, albeit temporarily. He explains in a tweet:

Programming note: I’ll be off tv the next two nights. Colonoscopy time! Yay! No issues, just a new annual fact of life after Dad.

From the NYT story:

Mr. Olbermann’s detractors have repeatedly claimed in the past that he has refused to host his show on occasions when he was unhappy with management.

Well, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski haven’t been punished yet (we don’t think).

> But wait, there’s more: In denying his involvement in the decision, Olbermann continues to bash Brian Stelter. And on a personal note: Team Stelter (which also doubles as Team Honesty):

This just in: complete fail by @BrianStelter of NY Times: http://nyti.ms/crdp0F I advised him of how wrong he was and he still posted.

I emailed @BrianStelter “Your account is entirely untrue. Your email is the first I am hearing of any of this. What I know of what…

Email to Stelter Pt 2: “.. is this: (MSNBC President) phoned me yesterday enraged at what was on that show + I didn’t disagree with him.

Sad to say, @BrianStelter was an innovative and hardworking blogger. He’s in over his head where he is now.

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Luckily for Olbermann, Mika Brzezinski steps in before Scarborough can answer, although even he seems disinclined to bring up a name. It’s not like Scarborough hasn’t been here before, taking time to criticize and even mimic the primetime host on occassion. And perhaps because he has been scolded for it, Scarborough knew better than to give names. However, between Mika’s hand-waving and Scarborough’s blushing, their silence almost spoke louder than if they had mentioned Olbermann at all.

While it certainly can’t be a good thing for Olbermann’s image on the network to be compared for a second time with the terrible talk radio twosome, it raises the question of whether it would be insulting to Olbermann to be put in the same category as Limbaugh or Beck. For one, it would mean that he is as influential as them, which, given his ratings, is questionable.

The awkward Morning Joe clip (hat tip to Hot Air) below:

Ed. note: This post has been revised from an earlier version.

After playing a collection of “angry” clips, Deutsch asked guest Karen Hunter if we should call these guys entertainers. She agreed, and said that “we should stop calling these people journalists.” One wonders how Mr. Olbermann will review this clip that ran on his own network. What’s worse? The clip that producers chose to air to illustrate Olbermann’s provocative nature appears to have been pulled from YouTube.

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.

After introducing the show, Deutsch went into a speech about how “It is your fault!” – mimicking the various people, places and circumstances Americans are blaming for their problems. They ranged from “It’s Fox, it’s MSNBC, they’re ruining everything,” to “It’s Tiger Woods, he let me down, Tiger how could you do that?”

And the big conclusion:

This is the best damn country ever. We’re a country of rugged individuals. I believe in us, I believe in you, I believe in I. Stop pointing! We still have a pretty damn good thing going here. Let’s get to work. Enough with the anger. I’m angry with anger.

“I’m angry with anger” – that deserves to be on a T-shirt or something. Also, if he’s angry with anger, is that anger part of the problem?

The show spent significant time on Goldman Sachs (with CNBC guests like Jim Cramer and Trish Regan) as well as the tea parties. Also showing up was former FNCer Page Hopkins, as the newsreader. It’s an interesting idea for a show, that will get fleshed out further as the week progresses. And with a couple hours still left to fill permanently, this could have a spot in the MSNBC daytime line-up if it materializes.

Here’s the opening:

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

This isn’t the first time Deutsch has filled in as anchor, although in the past it has been as a co-anchor (and he’s a frequent guest and sometime guest host on Morning Joe). But with Ratigan’s business focus on his still fairly new 4pmET show, the late afternoons get a bit of a business news boost – and just in time to talk about Goldman Sachs. Deutsch’s show this week, titled “America The Angry,” will likely have some to say about the financial crisis, but expect some “angry” tea party coverage too.

Meanwhile change is expected with the current crop of CNBC talent as well. The New York Post reports correspondent David Faber a half-hour NoonET show, while the rest of the early afternoon line-up is adjusted to fit the new show. Strategy Session will be CNBC’s third shot at a Faber hosted show – reports TVNewser:

The last two shows were met with little success. Faber hosted a program, “Bull Session,” from 6-7 PM. He also anchored the short-lived primetime magazine, “Business Nation.”

As some have criticized CNN for sticking to its guns and showing a resistance to change, MSNBC has never been in the same boat when they feel something isn’t working. That’s why Carlos Watson came and went, why Ratigan has hosted at 9amET previously, why NBC talent like Chuck Todd, Savannah Guthie and Andrea Mitchell now anchor on the network.

And if Deutsch doesn’t bring what MSNBC is looking for this week, maybe they can just go back to another financial guy – Eliot Spitzer.

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25. Pat Buchanan – 53 On-Air Mentions

And we start off our list with none other than Mr. Pat Buchanan. Buchanan made a number of appearances last week on MSNBC where he’s a commentator. One fun appearance was on Hardball where the he and Ron Reagan Jr. discussed Michele Bachmann. The talk was derailed briefly when Buchanan and Chris Matthews spent a while trying to figure out what on earth a “cyberattack” was. It made us think that MSNBC should add a technology show starring Chris and Pat. Each week would end with one of their grandchildren calling in to make sure they checked that the computer was plugged in first.

24. Jean Chatzky – 53 On-Air Mentions

Next up is Chatzky, who was part of a panel on the Today Show that offered financial advice to regular people over Skype. Isn’t it great, now that everyone has wonderful HD TVs, that we can use them to look at blurry computer images? We can’t wait till those new 3D TVs come out and Today can air YouTube videos. That cat with the piano is gonna blow your mind in 3D.

23. Charles Osgood – 65 On-Air Mentions

Osgood offered up a special Easter edition of CBS Sunday Morning by wearing a glorious pastel bow-tie and ending his show with a few minutes of soothing footage of bunnies frolicking in the field. It was so hypnotizing that we were unable to continue writing this list for like ten minutes. We’re talking about the bow-tie, not the bunnies.

22. Andy Rooney – 71 On-Air Mentions

60 Minutes is a powerful show. How powerful? Well, Rooney only appears on TV once a week, doing his famous rant on that week’s episode but, since there are so many affiliates carrying the show, he ends up at #22 on our list. In the April 4th rant, Rooney read some mail. It turns out he makes two piles with the letters he gets: the “good” mail and the “bad” mail. He read from the “bad” mail. Why not? It makes for better television. And makes him the 22 most oft-referenced TV pundit.

21. Harvey Levin – 76 On-Air Mentions

We now move to the well-respected area of hard-journalism that is celebrity news. Levin, who is also the executive producer and host of TMZ, appeared on a Fox affiliate to discuss the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor for all the eight people who still care about the trial of the Michael Jackson’s doctor. He also appeared on The People’s Court where he acts as legal analyst where he asked people on the street if animals can die of being heartsick. Why that required a law degree, we are not sure.

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Several minutes ago Deutsch took to his Twitter, announcing “I said “coconut” meaning simple, goofy, bananas…wasn’t even aware it could be a racially charged word.” But Newsbusters.org dug back over a decade and found another instance when “coconut” was used as an offensive term to describe Henry Bonilla, and Democratic House candidate Victor Morales was forced to publicly apologize.

So, an honest mistake or an inadvertent racial swipe? Either way, we’d be careful about the bananas reference too, Deutsch. Maybe just stay away from all fruit references in the future. And next time, you should probably not wait more than 12 hours before issuing an explanation/apology, even for something as innocuous as this.

Deutsch was fairly frustrated with what he saw as a universal assumption on the part of advertisers that all ads must appeal to the least common denominator of intelligence if they are to succeed. Ironically, he argued, the most memorable ads the next day are the smartest ones. “I’m so tired of men behaving badly,” he said. “I think there were nine ads with men in their underwear… it was just men acting like idiots. It’s like the year of the stupid male. We’ve got to stop doing that.” On whether the ads are the result of focus groups responding positively to them, Deutsch made the astute point that perhaps this was a result of the companies misinterpreting what a “positive” response to an ad is– guffawing at yourself for 30 seconds should not be considered a better response than being forced to think about the product for an extended period of time, and perhaps this is what companies are up to.

But not all was gloom and doom and partial male nudity. Deutsch’s agency, Deutsch Incorporated, was responsible for two spots during last night’s game that appealed to American cultural sensibilities without using shirtless men to elicit laughter: a Dr. Pepper ad featuring a miniature version of the band Kiss and a series of people playing punch-buggy to advertise Volkswagen. And, of course, there was praise all around for CBS’ Late Show ad featuring David Letterman and Jay Leno forced to interact at Oprah Winfrey‘s Super Bowl party and Google’s spot on finding love in Paris. Watch Deutsch’s Morning Joe appearance below:

“We’re going back to basics, we’ve obviously had our first African American president we’ve had the female candidates and whatnot [and whatnot!] you look at him he looks like the candidate, the traditional view of the candidate, and is there a visceral comfort in that for people? I’m just curious from real kind of sociological point of view.”

Ah yes! The sociological point of view! Read: are people less scared because he’s white. Peggy Noonan can actually be heard disagreeing with Deutsch in the background before she goes on to note that Brown does mark a change in the voting habits of a Massachusett because he looks like “a new sort of Republican…he’s a regular guy who looks like an American from the middle, or self-made into a middle class, upper middle class guy…we’re seeing some evolution of what Republicans in Mass are right now.”

So basically a bunch of white people spent part of their morning remarking on how safe and attractive a Republican candidate is. Also, Mike Barnicle thinks Coakley is reminiscent of your least favorite substitute school teacher. Video below.

(h/t Greg Mitchell)

Donny Deutsch talked about message – and the White House’s mishandling of it. And Joe Scarborough brought up some unnamed liberals who went after the Bush administration.

“They are elevating Fox,” said Deutsch. “Think about this, it’s the President of the United States, the commander of the free world, versus a television network with a couple million viewers. It’s a ratings bonanza, it’s insane. They should just be dismissive about it.”

Co-host Mika Brzezinski disagreed with the assessment, but then Scarborough made a Bush administration comparison while discussing the charge that Beck and others like him are “dangerous”:

I heard that about certain TV people on the left, every day, from Republicans. What did the Bush White House do when they were compared to Nazis or Fascists? We heard every day that they hated the constitution, that they were evil people. The Bush white house did nothing, they were quiet. They didn’t elevate them.

(Fascists? I wonder who Scarborough could be referring to…)

Newsbusters reports on a different part of Morning Joe, when Brzezinski got very real about bias. Even though she said NBC and CBS (her former employer) “try their best to be objective,” she could only “think of one” fan of George W. Bush out of all the producers and anchors she encountered during 10 years at CBS News. Check out the clip on Newsbusters.

Scarborough took to Twitter to defend Brzezinski’s comments today.

Here’s the Deutsch segment:

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