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.

Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski took on RNC chair Reince Priebus‘ recent comparison of President Obama to the Italian captain who abandoned his sinking cruise ship, saying her guests wouldn’t be responding to it this morning and calling the comments “irresponsible and despicable.”

On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough took a moment to speak with GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, whom he’s known for some time. Santorum told the host he was gearing up to visit his old stomping grounds in Pensacola, Florida.

They grow up so fast, don’t they? Online political media giant Politico turns five years old today, and to celebrate, the site posted a video roast by some quotable notables in the political media world. While the site has arguably earned the right to toot its own horn at least once every half-decade, did they really have to overshadow the birthday of Saved By The Bell actress Tiffani-Amber Thiessen?

On Monday morning, Morning Joe‘s Mika Brzezinski reported that South Carolina’s GOP exit poll has primary winner Newt Gingrich ranking highest in electability, with 51 percent of the vote versus Mitt Romney‘s 37. And as the candidates look ahead to Florida, Romney is launching an offensive, labeling the former Speaker a “failed leader.”

New Jersey governor and America’s Great Right Hope Chris Christie stopped by the Morning Joe set Wednesday, where talk eventually turned to his future aspirations. Or, at least, what some are anticipating and/or hoping his aspirations might be.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie lashed out at Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor Eugene Robinson on Robinson’s home turf this morning, telling Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that people like Robinson “shouldn’t have a platform to speak, they’re so ignorant.”

Richard Cordray, the newly-appointed — and rather controversial — director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, stopped by the set of Morning Joe Wednesday to discuss his new role, and found himself treated to a little trip down memory lane.

Did GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney — not one to have been particularly surprising or controversial during this election’s many debates — hurt his chances during last night’s performance in South Carolina? That’s precisely what the Morning Joe crew wanted to figure out Tuesday morning. And, more importantly for our country, are Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough ok?

David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands (/the dude responsible for the bulk of my caloric intake), stopped by the set of Morning Joe Monday to discuss his various fast food restaurants’ healthier offerings — and to impart a message. It is ultimately up to the individual consumer, he said, to make healthy decisions for themselves, whether it comes to eating fast food in moderation, selecting better food options, or choosing when and how often to exercise. “The bottom line,” he said, “is you’re accountable for what you do.” Your decision to eat half your body weight in Bugles while crying alone in your bedroom is totally on you, bruh.

Things on Morning Joe got a little heated Thursday morning during a discussion about Hostess Brands — the maker of Twinkies — filing for bankruptcy. “The good news,” host Mika Brzezinski read, “is the company will continue to produce Twinkies.”

In an appearance on Tuesday’s Morning Joe, New Jersey Gov. and Mitt Romney-endorser Chris Christie joined host Joe Scarborough in the shared delusion that President Obama, at the beginning of his term, enjoyed a filibuster-proof majority for two years, and “frittered” it away. There’s a fair debate to be had as to whether the President took full advantage of that majority, but it is a fact that even the most generous calculation reveals that the Democrats’ obstruction-free window lasted 7 months, not two years.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a quick appearance on Morning Joe Tuesday, and offered up a few explanations of why he likes Mitt Romney, the GOP candidate he has thrown his support behind for the 2012 nomination. The most pervasive theme? That Romney can’t “own the stage” (a point Christie said would happen after he gets votes in the primaries) and seems to be somewhat stiff.

This just in! High profile liberals are jerky jerk stupid poop faces!

That appeared to be the gist of a segment today on The Five. Any frequent viewer of the show could have guessed that any report they did on Alec Baldwin getting removed from an airplane was going to be little more than insults. However, this thing seemed to get away from them and turn pretty childish pretty quickly.

On Wednesday’s edition of Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough chewed out Mika Brzezinski for asking oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens how much he made. The panelists were discussing Warren Buffett criticism of how much the rich pay in taxes. “Why don’t you give me the full numbers?” Brzezinski asked forwardly. “You don’t have to answer that question,” interjected Scarborough. “Come on, no, it’s none of your business! You going to tell everybody how much you make?”

On Tuesday morning, the Morning Joe crew discussed what the future may hold for current GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich. Co-host Mika Brzezinski read a piece by the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni declaring that “Familiarity Breeds Newt.”

Outgoing Congressman Barney Frank appeared on Morning Joe Monday and gushed about Elizabeth Warren‘s senatorial prospects in Massachusetts. “She’s the ultimate outsider, but she’s the outsider who has been very effective inside,” Frank observed, noting the latest poll has shown her ahead in the state.

“She showed a shrewdness,” Frank added. “She was a kind of a pragmatic ideologue, and that’s the best combination.”

On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough shouted down co-host Mika Brzezinski after she sympathized with President Obama for his alleged distaste for politics the way it is today. “It appears that you could make a case that Barack Obama doesn’t like politics,” contributor Mike Barnicle surmised, which Newsweek’s Tina Brown agreed with. “Well who would today?” interjected Brezinski. “Oh come on!” interrupted Scarborough “If you don’t like medicine, don’t be a doctor.

On Monday’s edition of Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski wrote off the fresh momentum of Newt Gingrich in the Republican nomination race as “really good news for Obama” and ribbed the frontrunner as a “hypocrite.” “What’s great is that the Republicans clearly don’t want to win and that’s good for Obama,” Brzezinski snarked.

On Monday’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and economist Jeffrey Sachs were both visibly repulsed by Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich‘s comments that Occupy Wall Street protesters should “get a job and take a bath.” “That was about one of the most arrogant and un-self aware –and those are the only words I can use — things for any politician in this Republican field to say,” Brezinski fumed.

In a comprehensive phone interview with Newsbusters‘ associate editor Noel Sheppard Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough discussing his program’s format and his reputation as “the lone conservative host on MSNBC.” “I love the format. I love the ability of bringing people on and being able to interview them for ten, fifteen minutes. You just can’t do that anywhere else on cable or broadcast TV,” he said. At one point in the discussion, Scarborough divulged that his co-host Mika Brzezinski was pro-life and pro-gun.

The title question makes for a bad Paula Cole record, but a good basis for discussion on this morning’s Morning Joe. Co-host Mika Brzezinski led a discussion of the current GOP presidential field’s frequent brain power outages, such as Herman Cain’s Libya whiff and Rick Perry’s debate mega-stumble, pegged to op-eds by The Washington Post‘s Kathleen Parker and Newsweek‘s Paul Begala.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed Congressman Joe Walsh‘s tirade against a constituent on Friday’s Morning Joe. “That’s the tea party unhinged!” Wasserman-Shultz exclaimed.

Donny Deutsch stopped by Morning Joe on Friday and continued a fun tradition of his by giving Mika Brzezinski shoes whenever he offends her.

This morning, however, things got a little weird and awkward. It started when Deutsch popped the box out onto the desk and began rubbing the top. Scarborough prodded him to just get on with the presentation:

Mika Brzezinski criticized Herman Cain accuser Sharon Bialek Tuesday on Morning Joe, calling her press conference a “pathetic sideshow” and asking why she didn’t speak out before when Cain was head of the National Restaurant Association. “He was powerful before he was running for president. And nobody spoke out then. So what does that say about them? Because if someone is a predator — a sexual predator — and they do something to you and you don’t speak out, you’re letting it go. And clearly this woman and Gloria Allred are very interested in the limelight right now and taking this on, and I wonder what their reasons are.”