A “Morning Joe” panelist was shocked to learn Wednesday that some people weren’t dazzled by Chris Christie’s visit to Chicago.
NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd stopped by the pro-Christie show and was immediately asked if the New Jersey governor had a “pretty good day” on Tuesday, when he delivered highly partisan remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago.
The question confused Todd.
“I guess it’s a good day that what? That he didn’t get, that more indictments didn’t come in,” Todd said.
(No indictments have been handed down in the investigation of last year’s politically motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge)
But before he could even fully muster a response, Todd was berated by Nicolle Wallace, a former George W. Bush spokesperson and now a “Morning Joe” regular.
“Oh my god,” Wallace said repeatedly.
“Rachel’s not on ’till 9,” she added, referring to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
The remark clearly annoyed Todd, who wondered what defined a “good day” for the embattled governor. Wallace then took a shot at MSNBC’s own coverage of the bridge scandal.
“So much time has been spent in the last four weeks covering every teeny, minuscule, breaking non-news event,” Wallace said.
“Not on my show,” Todd fired back.
“Well, on the network on which you appear and I appear,” Wallace responded.
Todd later said that, unlike “Morning Joe,” he’s not going to carry water for Christie.
“I’m not cheerleading,” Todd said. “You’re asking me to cheerlead one side or the other. I’m not cheerleading. I know others on this show are cheerleading. That’s fine.”
A spokesperson for MSNBC did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
Earlier in Wednesday’s show, Wallace mocked New York Times reporter Kate Zernike, who reported on allegations that Christie knew about lane closures on the bridge while they were happening.
Referring to the denial from New Jersey State Police that Christie took a helicopter ride over the George Washington Bridge during the lane closures, Wallace said, “Kate will have it…the New York Times will have it if [Christie] did it, or if he didn’t.”
Zernike’s reporting was dismissed by the show’s panelists when she appeared on “Morning Joe” earlier this month, although she subsequently gave host Joe Scarborough the benefit of the doubt.
But when co-host Mika Brzezinski criticized Zernike again last week, the New York Times defended its coverage of the bridge scandal.
