The Media

White House Controls Morning Joe? That's Rich.

I don't know who this wingnut is, but he's claiming that the White House is controlling the content of -- get this -- Morning Joe.

His evidence is a radio clip from Ed Schultz remarking about the White House texting Joe Scarborough during the show to complain about the number of Senate bill opponents had been on the show.

Is it really possible that the White House has a direct line to MSNBC's hosts, communicating with them during their live broadcasts? Now THAT'S state control!

I get emails from people all the time, it doesn't mean they control the content of what I do. Why? Because anyone can email anyone!

But here's the funniest part of the wingnut's item:

Now, imagine if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, or another non-"progressive" host had been caught taking orders from Bush during the program.

They did! The Bush White House fed talking points to Fox News all the time. How do we know this? Scott McClellan told us.

Feeding talking points to a network is a hell of a lot different than texting Joe Scarborough and complaining about a lack of balance.

Adding... This from James Joyner via John Cole.