The Morning Joe team continued its ongoing discussion on the White House’s controversial — and, now, changing — birth control mandate, with host Joe Scarborough urging people not to turn an issue about government interference in religion into a discussion on contraception. This debate, he told his colleagues, is farther-ranging than a specific health care issue.

On Tuesday morning’s Starting Point, host Soledad O’Brien led yet another discussion of the Obama administration’s decision to give non-church religious employers one year to comply with the Preventive Services Mandate, which some claim is an “attack on religious liberty.”

O’Brien did a good job of challenging that false premise, but allowed guest Rep. Marcia Blackburn (R-TN) to slip in the lie that the mandate covers the “abortion pill.”

On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski continued to tackle the controversial birth control mandate that has many religious groups and institutions — such as the Catholic Church — speaking out against it.

On Monday, the Morning Joe crew had something of a personal discussion on the White House’s new birth control mandate, which holds that most employers would have to include contraceptives in their health insurance coverage, regardless of whether that employer happens to be a religious institution. The Catholic Church in particular has been vocal about its opposition to the mandate.

Matthew Bowman, author of The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith, stopped by the set of Morning Joe Friday to discuss a faith that — thanks to Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and such pop culture phenomena as the “Book of Mormon” musical — has found itself increasingly part of the national discussion.

Is this GOP race as good as over? That’s what Friday morning’s episode of Morning Joe sought to find out. Also… is Newt Gingrich a post-apocalyptic cyborg from the future?

On Friday, the Morning Joe team once again tackled the question of whether a certain GOP candidate is just a little bit socially awkward, or just a little at a loss when it comes to relating to others. Mika Brzezinski referred to a New York Times piece by Frank Rich, where Rich notes that Romney’s attempts at small talk “famously take the form of guessing a voter’s age or nationality (usually incorrectly) or offering a greeting of ‘Congratulations!’ for no particular reason.”

MSNBC host and author Dylan Ratigan visited Morning Joe on Thursday, giving his two cents on Mitt Romney‘s recent comments about keeping his focus on the middle class and not being “very concerned about the poor,” and on Romney in general.

New York’s Senator Chuck Schumer appeared on Thursday’s Morning Joe to discuss his efforts in reining in the amount of corporate money spent on political campaigns.

Host Mika Brzezinski started things off by noting that Schumer’s colleagues in the National Republican Senatorial Committee “point out you are the number one recipient of Wall Street money in the Senate, and it’s funny you’re decrying the role of corporate money in the political process.”

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.”

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough — prompted in part by the characterization of “brain dead” Republicans in Richard Cohen‘s harshly critical Washington Post op-ed piece — had some choice words about the state of the media in regards to the GOP.

Former RNC chairman Michael Steele visited the Morning Joe crew on Miami Beach, wearing his finest approximation of a Miami Vice costume. Host Mika Brzezinski asked Steele to weigh in on a Washington Post op-ed piece that characterized the nation’s super-rich as “political props.” “For starters,” reads the article, “don’t pretend, as Obama does, that [...]

The folks at Morning Joe took a trip down memory lane Thursday, looking back at Newt Gingrich‘s views on Ronald Reagan — particularly how they haven’t always been as rosy and laudatory as Gingrich characterizes them today.

On Thursday, the Morning Joe crew discussed yesterday’s “intense” meeting (and, consequently, perfect photo-op) between President Barack Obama and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. As we reported last night, the two entered into what reporters described as an “intense” exchange on a tarmac after, according to Brewer, the President expressed that he was “disturbed” by her memoir Scorpions for Breakfast, feeling it had been disrespectful to him.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor appeared on Morning Joe Wednesday to go over President Obama’s State of the Union speech. Host Joe Scarborough joked (?) that he’d only allow his co-host Mika Brzezinski to say hello to Cantor, but not ask any questions.

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.

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.”

Comedy Central host and presidential hopeful Stephen Colbert visited the Morning Joe crew in South Carolina Friday to discuss the GOP race, as well as his (and Herman Cain’s) efforts in the state.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the most visible of Mitt Romney‘s surrogates, has responded to the former Massachusetts Governor’s revelation that he pays about a 15% effective tax rate by going on a media tour suggesting that Romney release his tax returns now, rather than in April. Christie’s appearances on NBC’s Today Show and MSNBC’s Morning Joe show a subtle escalation in Christie’s call for quick disclosure.

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?

TIME magazine political analyst Mark Halperin called in to Morning Joe Tuesday morning to discuss his grades for Monday night’s Republican debate on Fox News. He was promptly hammered for previous grade inflation and being too kind to the frontrunner.