Journalism At Its Finest

From PoliticHO:

But Alabama state campaign finance records show a $5,000 contribution in April from Scarborough, the former Republican congressman who now co-hosts an eponymous morning show on MSNBC and writes a weekly column for POLITICO, to Alabama state legislative candidate John Merrill, who said the two have been close friends since they attended the University of Alabama together.

That contribution should have been in the name of Scarborough’s wife, Susan Scarborough, according to Scarborough’s co-host on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski, as well as John R. McGregor III, a representative from the Scarborough’s [sic] Pensacola, Fla., bank.

"The Scarborough's [sic] expect John Merrill will amend his campaign report to accurately reflect that reality," said Brzezinski. "If he does not, I will recommend they file an ethics complaint against him."

Brzezinski also challenged Merrill's recollection of having brought Scarborough to Tuscaloosa for an August 2009 fundraiser for the county Republican Party, which Merrill said "was unbelievably successful. We raised a ton of money that we used to help local candidates."

That event was "was billed as a tribute to Gov. Bob Riley on his retirement from politics," said Brzezinski, noting that Riley and Scarborough served together in Congress and asserting, "Any suggestion that Joe Scarborough went to the University event to raise money for a political party is false. Sadly, many politicians try to elevate their standing by exaggerating their connection to Joe. This is one of those cases."

Survey says - Brzezinski lies:

This year the dinner will honor Governor Bob Riley, who has brought positive recognition to the Republican Party and served our state with admiration and distinction. The Tuscaloosa County Republican Party is privileged to have the opportunity to honor a man of his character and integrity. All funds generated by the dinner are used by the Tuscaloosa County Republican Party to strengthen the Republican Party and help elect Republicans at the local, state, and national levels. We are certain The Fourth Annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner will be our most successful year yet.

When Joe was told that a Lincoln Reagan Dinner was a vehicle to raise money for the Republican Party, you could have knocked him over with a lying sack of shit.

Oh, and about that "on his retirement from politics" business?

Bob Riley is the present Governor of Alabama.

But wait, there's more:

But earlier in the day, Merrill, who cruised to an easy win this week, was under a very different impression when he spoke with POLITICO.

"We've been friends for 28 years and we stayed in touch all those years, when he was in Congress and when he got the show," Merrill said of Joe Scarborough. "When I announced, he told me he was going to help me and he wanted me to be successful,” Merrill said, recalling Scarborough's offering to lend his star power to the campaign.

Somebody needs to put an accurate script in front of Brzezinski. Because this making shit up business isn't working any better than Scarborough's hiding behind his wife.

Update (11/6): PoliticHO has corrected its (not it's) punctuation and made other changes to the linked article since this post was published, without noting that such changes were made. It is the practice of this blog to cut-and-paste directly from any source quoted in a post. Roger Ailes always quotes sources accurately, and is not responsible for the shitty writing on other websites.