UnNews:Scarborough out; MSNBC is "shocked--shocked!"

This article is part of UnNews, your source for up-to-the-picosecond misinformation.

20 November 2010

The odds are 255-to-1 against eight contributions all going to Republicans.

NEW YORK CITY -- Mere days after cable news network MSNBC suspended on-air personality Keith Olbermann for making political contributions to Democrats, it suspended Joe Scarborough for contributing to Republicans.

Scarborough, the host of Morning Joe, made a total of eight contributions between 2004 and 2008, each of $500, to campaigns in Florida that his brother was managing. All eight candidates were Republican. Every single one.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin, confronted with this second flagrant case of giving money to politicians, said "I am shocked--shocked!--to find that political activity is going on in here." But he noted that he has now suspended one on-air celebrity for contributing to Democrats and another for contributing to Republicans. "It suggests a great new motto for my network: Fair and balanced!"

Scarborough stated in a written apology, "Because the contributions were to Republicans, in Florida during the Bush years when my candidates' defeat was certain, while MSNBC is obviously in the tank for the Democrat Party, I mistakenly believed my contributions did not need approval from the network."

As in the case of Olbermann, Scarborough's suspension is for two days, with pay, and will be served on a Saturday and the following Sunday. Griffin stated, "I hope that the prospect of being unemployed on the weekend, which should have been enjoyable leisure time, makes him think twice about his behavior, and about the network's need to find scapegoats and appear unbiased."

Sources

• Press-release reader "MSNBC suspends host Joe Scarborough for GOP donations" Associated Press, November 19, 2010