A true dick reveals himself

Pardon my French today. Parents, cover the kids' ears. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Time magazine editor Mark Halperin was asked to assess President Obama's press conference performance. Smirking, he said, "I thought he was kind of a dick yesterday."

(Cue the sound of screeching tires) Um, a dick?

"Delay that! What are you doing?” host Joe Scarborough said. “I can’t believe ... Did we delay that?” Nope, too late, Joe. No four-second delay to bleep it. Tuned in Americans - dropping their coffee cups from coast to coast - just heard the pundit call the President of the United States and Leader of the Free World - a dick. Nice.

Much ado about nothing? Probably. But Steve Benen spies the real problem: "I couldn't care less which four-letter word Halperin uses. I do care that Halperin is presented to news consumers as a neutral observer when he clearly is not. But I really care that he and others in the media establishment look at the debt-ceiling fight and think Obama's the one who's a big jerk. And why do they think that? Because the president offered some relatively mild criticism of truly insane tactics."

Quite right (see my previous post). Halperin, seeing his White House access and MSNBC career vaporizing before his eyes, later apologized profusely. "I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President ... My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it." Yeah, but you still called Obama a dick on live TV without so much as a by your leave. Sooner or later, a dick reveals himself. They always do. And now we all know who the latest one is.