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Salon Writer Declares Joe And Mika Beneath Hoda And Kathie Lee

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Joe and Mika or Hoda and Kathie Lee?

Of all the low blows, the concept of MSNBC “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski being less appealing than NBC “TODAY” show’s Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee is just cruel.

Salon media writer Jack Mirkinson is obviously not a “Morning Joe” cheerleader. Although under the circumstances and considering the obscene amount of morning time they’re about to have to blather on about politics and how much they loathe Hillary Clinton‘s campaign, inviting him on could be a blessing.

In a recent hit piece, HuffPost‘s former media writer compares the show to the devil. He writes about how “Hell is 4 hours of Morning Joe.” He says MSNBC made a “terrible mistake” giving Jose Diaz-Balart the ax and adding on another 60 long minutes of Joe and Mika.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that the only fourth hour of a morning show that has ever worked is the fourth hour of the ‘Today’ show,” he writes. “But Joe and Mika are no Hoda and Kathie Lee. The latter bring joy and delight to the world; the former lay waste to all that is good and true.”

After blasting Joe and Mika, Mirkinson takes a stab at CNN’s Chris Cuomo.

“Things could be worse,” he continues. “MSNBC could be hiring Chris Cuomo away from CNN, for instance.”

He describes “Morning Joe” as “so much of what is wrong in our media world.” His examples are strong and weak — in one, he dismisses Scarborough for being demeaning to the reporters who were arrested in Ferguson, Mo. He never names WaPo‘s Wesley Lowery and HuffPost‘s Ryan Reilly, but this is who he means — and yes, they were “showboating,” just as Scarborough opined.

The other example is better — it’s The Daily Beast‘s Tim Mak, who wrote about Donald Trump‘s unsavory marital history, which included an allegation of rape in divorce docs. Mak went on “Morning Joe” and, as Mirkinson states, got his head ripped off by Brzezinski.

TODAY -- Pictured: (l-r) Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford appear on NBC News' "Today" show -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)

TODAY — Pictured: (l-r) Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford appear on NBC News’ “Today” show — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)

Hoda and Kathie Lee would’ve never done such a thing.

Everyone knows they would’ve given him a glass of wine.

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