The company he keeps

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough hangs around with a bad crowd at MSNBC, and it has had the predictable Stockholm Syndrome effect, as David Brooks’s tenure at the New York Time has had on him. In the infamous video below, Scarborough histrionically condemns Mitt Romney based on a misleading account of the Romney/Ryan campaign appearance outside Dayton last week. The Blaze picked it up here.

BuzzFeed followed up with a good post here, reporting that Scarborough had mocked Romney for “something that didn’t happen.” Bryan Preston highlights the Townhall video below. It goes to the heart of the story. Reporters in attendance at the rally had no doubt that Romney was responding to the crowd’s chant of his name, not Ryan’s.

The Blaze story set off a storm on Twitter. Twitchy captures the action here. Scarborough did not take it well. Perhaps he was a little overcaffeinated. He tweeted: “I won’t even dignify the site that is fanning this false controversy but I will take note of those who link to the lie.” He’s taking note! Somehow Michelle Malkin perseveres. She won’t back down: “We are quaking in our super cute shoes. Of course, it’s quaking from giggle-snorts, but still.”

Over at NRO, Eliana Johnson (nepotism alert) gives this matter the close analysis it deserves. She gives the disputed chant an audio boost and invites readers to draw their own conclusions. The Conversation, take 2: Harry Caul, call your office.

I think Joe Scarborough is less a perpetrator than a victim in this matter. He is a victim of MSNBC’s own shoddy partisanship and propaganda. He hangs around with a bad crowd. He wants to be liked.

But character is destiny. His pathetic response to the controversy suggests that he needs some help. He needs the kind of friend who could pull off an intervention before he terminally embarrasses himself. Or does MSNBC mean never having to say you’re sorry?

UPDATE: Eliana has updated the story in her NRO post “Scarborough doubles down.”

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