Reliable Sources On Dick-Gate: Mark Halperin Wanted To Be A Naughty Boy
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.
Whatever you think of Halperin’s declaration that President Obama was “kind of a dick” during his Wednesday press conference, there’s no denying that the Morning Joe crew bears some responsibility. When Joe Scarborough told Halperin to go ahead with his bleep-worthy statement, what did he think Halperin was going to say? “Dick” isn’t even on George Carlin’s list, which arguably means Scarborough should have been expecting something worse. Having given permission, and even encouragement, it is a bit unfair for MSNBC to throw the book at Halperin.
While the panel mostly agreed the suspension was unfair, the consensus was that MSNBC “had no choice,” but also pointed to the network’s “murky” suspension policies: (video from CNN’s Reliable Sources)
What’s missing from this discussion is the fact that Halperin’s suspension wasn’t about punishing him, or about profanity (as the segment pointed out, Scarborough himself dropped an f-bomb on the air, precipitating the delay), but about protecting the Morning Joe brand. Scarborough’s daily helping of gabbuccino isn’t a huge success because of how many people are watching, but because of who’s watching.
Morning Joe is the only thing you’ll see on TV sets every morning within the beltway, the kind of influence that money can’t buy. While the chatter can be loose and irreverent, at times, it generally doesn’t veer far from the middle of the road, politically. Halperin’s remark, and the swift reaction from the White House, attest to the show’s influence, and to the desire to protect it.
Another bone to pick is the notion that this is a one-time aberration for Halperin, which also goes to the criticism that Halperin is superficial. As the blog Inside Cable News pointed out quickly, Halperin has covered both ends of the genitalial spectrum where Obama is concerned, and was forced to apologize for surmising that then-candidate John Edwards thought then-Sen. Obama was “a pussy.”
Halperin’s apology had a familiar ring to it:
I’m sorry. In a live radio interview this week, I used a word I shouldn’t have. The fact that I was conveying other people’s words is no excuse for my lapse in judgment. It won’t happen again.
Having covered the sexual hardware, let’s not forget Halperin’s figurative money shot, a photoshop of Sen. Mary Landrieu sporting the infamous joy jelly-assisted hairdo from There’s Something about Mary.
The common problem here isn’t the crudity, or the “edginess,” but rather, the contrived attempts to be edgy. Nothing exposes Halperin’s game quite as effectively as his meek probing of Scarborough about his show’s bleeping policy. Did you ever see Lenny Bruce consulting his audiences about their local obscenity ordinances?
It is contrivances like these, or his White Man’s Burden non sequitur from awhile back, which lead some to conclude that his political knowledge is as superficial as his faux-edgy antics.
In the end, Halperin’s remark should have little long-term effect. He’s firmly entrenched in the mainstream media, and weaknessesin his commentary notwithstanding, he’s well-respected for his workhorse reporting. If it helps, he has a decent case to make that MSNBC reneged on a verbal contract that Scarborough made with him on the air.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
