I knew Mark Halperin was a right wing shill years ago.  I used to host a morning show at then-progressive talk WINZ in Miami (before they changed formats to become the 4th sports talk station in South Florida).   It was still during the 2008 primaries that Halperin wrote a book called “The Undecided Voter’s Guide to the Next President”.  He was booked on my show, and I quickly noticed his slant to the right, even when he attempted to portray himself as an objective journalist.

I’ve excerpted part of the interview for you here, so you can hear what I heard three years ago:

For some reason (ahem, Joe Scarborough), MSNBC decided to hire him a year or so ago as their “senior political analyst”… Thanks to this segment from this morning, Halperin has been suspended, indefinitely.

Let’s just hope that this suspension lasts indefinitely, and the MSNBC gives Joe and Mika the boot too!

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Today on the Show

It was a weird morning.  I had major technical issues at the start of the show.  I finally got them fixed, but the podcast today is shorter than usual, as I cut out the offending first 15 minutes or so of the show.  But don’t worry, you’ll get all the good stuff!

Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim joined me to talk about the story he broke a few days ago, that some Democratic Senators are considering going constitutional on the debt ceiling!  The 14th amendment clearly states

“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law… shall not be questioned”

We also discussed the fact that the Democrats are hoping to not have to go there… but will keep it in their back pockets.  He said that the president’s scolding of Congress for taking vacation now, while this crisis is looming, might have worked.  Harry Reid has called the Senate back effective Tuesday, July 5, and the House will likely follow suit.  (Good for us, as I’ll be guest hosting the Randi Rhodes Show again Tuesday and Wednesday of next week!)

The people at Media Matters are in a celebratory mood, because tonight is the final broadcast of Glenn Beck’s TV show on Faux News.  I’d guess the celebration is for the fact that they don’t have to waste five hours a week watching that nonsense any more!  Plus, its a moral victory.  MMFA’s Eric Boehlert joined me on the show this morning to talk about the long road leading to this day, and how the Drop Fox initiative will take up where the Stop Beck movement left off.

I couldn’t subject my listeners to this whole thing so, if you can stomach it, a compilation of some of Beck’s “greatest hits” from our pals at Media Matters:

And from The Ironic News, Julianna Forlano made her debut appearance on today’s show!  We met at Netroots Nation, and I threatened to call and have her on as a guest.  Today I made good on that threat.  I think we’ve found a new funny friend!

On a final note, in more ways than one, Bruce Springsteen posted his eulogy for Clarence Clemons.  Follow the link and read it, with Tenth Avenue Freezeout playing in the background.  It’s ok to laugh and cry at the same time.  I know I did…