When I first started watching Morning Joe it appeared that he was trying to play it right up the middle. He did bash Bush. But after they picked up his show, he reverted to true form. His bashing Bush to gain credibility was ingenious. This made him look bipartisan, while suffering no downside. After all, bashing an unpopular president that will not run again will hardly hurt McCain. He never mentions McCain unless he points out that he was a POW.
He starts off every day bashing Obama. He cherry picks polls, to highlight Obama’s supposed weaknesses. Even if the poll shows him ahead-which most of them do. He frames it in the narrative of "why isn’t Obama ahead more?" He also inserts snide comments that portray him as effeminate or playing for the other team. He then looks for anything that he can point to highlight divisions in the Democratic party. Finally, he always draws false equivalences. He usually makes shit up about the American people supporting the positions he is advocating.He never mentions the fact that McCain is behind in the polls. The following is a typical show:
Shorter Morning Joe
First 10 minutes:
Why isn’t Obama up more in his polls? Look this one poll is not good for him. Let me ignore the swing state polling. This means he may lose
Next half hour:
Why is Obama’s base so angry with his flip flops? Won’t America have a problem with his flip flops.
Next ten minutes:
Why can’t win Hispanics and women by a larger margin? Why won’t Hillary supporters support Obama? This spells trouble for Obama.
Next 20 minutes:
Why can’t he just eat greasy unhealthy food, and drink bad coffee, instead of eating health food and drinking OJ? This means that he will have difficulty winning because Middle America will reject him.
Next half hour:
This Jesse Jackson incident will spell doom for Obama; it again shows the troubles he has with his base.
Next 2 minutes (depending upon the day):
McCain is better when he is behind in the polls, just like he was a POW in Vietnam. Why isn’t Obama up more? This is bad for Obama and great for McCain the war hero.
Next 20 minutes:
How has W Clark’s accusation of McCain faking his injuries in Vietnam going to affect Obama? How dare anybody accuse a war hero of bad things? McCain is a war hero.
Next 5 minutes:
Why is Obama so effeminate? Did you see how he bowled? Totally prissy
End of show:
This is Joe. I am fair and balanced because I also bash Bush too, even though he is more unpopular than dogshit, and will never run again.