On Tuesday’s broadcast of “Morning Joe”, New York magazine columnist and MSNBC political contributor John Heilemann made a joke that the network apparently felt was ill-advised.
In a segment about Sens. John McCain, Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham’s criticism of UN ambassador Susan Rice, Heilemann seemed to make a joke at the never-married Graham’s expense when he said that Ayotte had replaced retired Sen. Joe Lieberman in McCain and Graham’s gang of three.
“They need a third amigo at all times,” Heilemann said. “So now they have — now two of the three are women. Now at least one of the three are women.”
The line drew laughter from host Joe Scarborough, and forced his co-host Mika Brzezinski to segue to Andrea Mitchell via satellite in NBC News Washington bureau.
In the 8 a.m. ET replay, the quip was edited out, as pointed out by TVNewser.