In the wake of the CNBC debate debacle, Joe Scarborough went on an epic rant on liberal media bias on today's Morning Joe. He summed things up this way, in challenging the panel: "you can't do it and nobody here can do it: name the single Republican that has hosted a Sunday show, that has been an anchor of a news network for the big three networks over the past 50 years: you can not do it."
Mark Halperin largely agreed, saying "there's huge liberal media bias." But Mike Barnicle actually claimed that having fair moderators would be a bad thing for Republicans because they would lose their ability to run against the media.
Note: What if the tables were turned and conservatives got to serve as Dem debate moderators? Scarborough imagined moderating a debate in Massachusetts where Mike Barnicle and other liberal Dems were the candidates. Joe gave a couple of good examples, below, of the kinds of questions he'd ask. Does Barnicle think these questions would be good for Dems because it would give them a chance to criticize "the conservative media?"
SCARBOROUGH: Do you know that at six months, a little baby inside a mother's womb has--and then I'd go into details about that. Do you really think you should stop a beating heart Mike Barnicle and murder the baby and then harvest its organs? Do you really think that's a good thing?
And the next question is, I'd do a set-up about how somebody was slaughtered and they didn't have a gun because they had a five-day waiting period.
Note Deux: although her role was limited to the occasional interjection, Mika Brzezinski consistently supported Joe's arguments.
JOE SCARBOROUGH:Somehow, if you're George Stephanopoulos --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: -- it's okay.
JOE: -- it's okay, because you're a Democrat and if you're Tim Russert, it's okay. All I am saying to you, and you can't do it and nobody here can do it: name the single Republican that has hosted a Sunday show, that has been an anchor of a news network for the big three networks over the past 50 years: you can not do it! So we Republicans, what I'm explaining to you we're told to sit back. --
MARK HALPERIN: Tony Snow.
JOE: Tony Snow, did he host, what, Fox News Sunday?
HALPERIN: Yeah.
JOE: Fox News Sunday. I just said ABC, CBS, NBC, you can't do it and nobody out there, no media critic can do it.
HALPERIN: I agree with you 100%. I've long said --
JOE: Well okay, you don't sound like you agree with me.
HALPERIN: I've said from [inaudible]. There's huge liberal media bias. Not just in the examples you've given but in less prominent people. All I'm saying is find the few people who don't fit in that category and get objective journalists.
JOE: You can't. Because they're all Democrats. The people that run the Sunday shows are all Democrats.
HALPERIN: I agree.
JOE: I'm not just talking about today. I'm talking about for the past 50 years.
HALPERIN: I agree.
JOE: The people that have run the network newscasts --
HALPERINL: I agree.
JOE: -- the nightly newscasts have been all Democrats.
HALPERIN: I agree.
JOE: The network executives have been all Democrats.
HALPERIN: I've agreed all along.
. . .
MIKE BARNICLE: If the Republicans got their wish of impartial moderators, impartial reporters asking questions, the Republicans would lose one of their biggest issues, which is running against the media.
