More sexy excitement from Morning Joe!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2017

Mika comes clean RE the Clintons: Yesterday morning, Mika returned to her weirdest claim in Morning Joe's opening segment. Trump grabbed Billy Bush by the crotch! For our report, click here.

Joe went silent and hung his head. This morning, she had the day off.

Yesterday, we noted this weird incident as the latest sign of the ubiquity of The Crazy within our upper-end press corps. That said, Mika made a more significant statement on yesterday morning's program.

We aren't sure if her statement was true. But it deserves recording.

During the program's first half hour, Mika was discussing her concerns about the latest moral stampede. She made sensible statements about the lack of due process afforded Al Franken. She also said that many male executives have told her that they will no longer hire or promote women if the current "guilty if charged" framework continues to flourish.

We can't evaluate the claims about future hiring, but as a general matter, Mika's comments weren't ridiculous. Along the way, though, she made some intriguing remarks about Kirsten Gillibrand, and about her own past views concerning Bill and Hillary Clinton.

We aren't sure if these statements are accurate. We think they deserve recording:

MIKA (12/19/17): And as far as Kirsten Gillibrand is concerned, I think that she's an incredible talent. I think that there's a chance she'll run for president some day, and I think I might support her.

But she has to deal with her Clinton issue. She has to address the cameras and answer the question as to what had—what was the motivation behind her change of opinion about the Clintons.

Because for me, for the ten years that I've been on this show, I have been extremely critical and concerned about the Clintons because of their abuse of women. I don't know how your position could change on this, and I'd like to know about that process. And I'm sure there is a fair process.

JOE: When did it change, and what else was out there that changed other than Hillary Clinton losing, and the Clintons, for the irst time in 25 years, being out of power?

MIKA [seeming to address Gillibrand]: And I love what you said about the Clintons. I just want to understand how you got there.

To watch this discussion, click here.

According to Mika, Gillibrand has to explain her recent, apparent change of perspective regarding President Clinton. We were more struck by Mika's statement about her own past views on the Clintons.

"For the ten years that I've been on this show, I have been extremely critical and concerned about the Clintons because of their abuse of women," Mika heroically said. "I don't know how your position could change on this."

That struck us as a significant statement. We also aren't sure it was true.

Even as she semi-challenged Gillibrand's recent flip on Bill Clinton, Mika seemed to say that she herself has been a forthright critic of "the Clintons" over the past ten years.

Is that statement accurate? We don't think we've ever seen Mika make such a sirect statement about the Clintons. Nor could we find evidence of any such statement onMorning Joe in a cursory search this morning.

The Morning Joe program does produce some transcripts through Nexis. This morning, we searched such transcripts as exist using this search term:

"Brzezinski AND Morning Joe AND Lewinsky OR Juanita OR Paula Jones"

We found no record of Mika having discussed these topics. Again, most discussions on Morning Joe are not recorded through Nexis.

Has Mika been a long-time, forthright critic of "the Clintons" because of "their abuse of women?" We can't say that we know.

We can't recall ever seeing her make such direct statements. We read her three "female empowerment" books this summer, and she definitely made no such statements there.

(The books were published by Weinstein Books. Mika had no idea!)

We don't know if Mika has ever made such direct statements about "the Clintons." That said, we were struck, all through the 2016 campaign, by her half-hearted, grudging pseudo-endorsement of Candidate Clinton.

From June 2015 through early 2016, Mika and Joe seemed to campaigning on behalf of their former social friend, Candidate Trump. In early 2016, they dramatically flipped, but Mika—the alleged Democrat in the pair—always seemed to be offering "hostage videos" when she'd make her weekly, grudging statement that she'd be voting for Clinton.

We assumed the truth was something like what she said yesterday. Yesterday, Mika may have invented her alleged past forthrightness. But at long last, it seemed to us that her view became clear.

That said, is it true that "the Clintons" have engaged in "abuse of women?" The way our slippery pundit corps works, you rarely know what's being alleged in matters like this, let alone whether it's accurate.

Which women does Mika think they abused? Who has Hillary Clinton "abused?" What was Mika talking about?

There's little reason to ask. She delivered her shot, then moved on.

Who have "the Clintons" "abused?" Yesterday, Mika didn't say. This morning, she was resting comfortably at an undisclosed location.

It seemed to us that Mika's snark and eye-rolling were always apparent concerning Candidate Clinton. Did she ever really have the courage to make a forthright statement?

We don't know the answer to that. But as a general matter, our pundit corps doesn't work that way. Our pundits work through insinuation, and Mika is one of the worst.

Also, Trump grabbed Billy Bush by the crotch! For undisclosed reasons, Mika Brzezinski is totally sure that this actually happened.

We live in a nation of 330 million people. Despite that very large number, the unfortunate river known as The Crazy seems to run all through our press/pundit corps, especially at the top.

Wealth and fame tend to have that effect. The rewards are too damn high!