Double-Teaming Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

I'm listening to MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and Mika Brzezinski is managing to get in no more than a few words. Once she almost got in a full paragraph, when either Chris Matthews or Joe Scarborough interrupted her. She went back to one-, two-, and three-word exclamations: "Wow...Well...Dan...Oh, come on...Dan, dumb-ass politics, go!" That last one was a full sentence. Full sentences from Mika are rare.

How strange that Mika Brzezinski doesn't just work with an interrupter, she chose to marry him! In a Daily Beast commentary about Brzezinski's and Scarborough's engagement, DB noted that Scarborough was chided by a guest historian, Rick Perlstein, for interrupting Mika when she was trying to make a point about Facebook and California Sen. Kamala Harris (D). Scarborough denied interrupting her. In fact, he made fun of Perlstein for suggesting that he had!

The Daily Beast commentary said that in real life Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were unintentionally more like Kate McKinnon's and Alex Moffat's parody of them on "Saturday Night Live" than they might have wished. What I liked about the parody is that "Mika" (Kate McKinnon) asserted herself and actually talked almost as much as "Joe." Kate McKinnon is the lion in the living room even when she's playing someone who's not.

So obviously, the real Joe Scarborough is egotistical and in denial, because Mika (the real Mika Brzezinski) laughed when Scarborough satirically assured her that he wants to hear every word she says because what she says is "important" to him. He bullied/satirized Rick Perlstein and Mika. So why would MSNBC double-team Mika with two males who cut her off and prefer to hear their own voices? Why would they triple-team her with another guy, Dan, a guest who also talks far more than she does? There's no room for a male guest on "Morning Joe"! With three men talking in full sentences, full paragraphs, and double paragraphs, she's allowed a word or two or three at best before being interrupted.

Watch the show yourself if you don't believe me.

In the afternoon, there's far more gender balance on MSNBC. Nicolle Wallace and Katy Tur have their own shows. Granted, Chuck Todd and Ari Melber have shows closer to prime time, but in panel discussions, there's something amazingly close to gender parity. Males and women speak more or less equally and women are treated with respect.

All I have to do to avoid being really annoyed and dispirited by Mika Brezinski's failure to yell "Shut the eff up for a second so I can get a word in edgewise!" at Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews is to not watch "Morning Joe." I've never liked it and I still don't.

I have a prediction though. While I'm not sure that Mika is ever going to assert herself on "Morning Joe," and I'm sure not going to hang around watching the show to find out, I don't think Mika Brzezinski is going to stay married to Joe Scarborough. If she doesn't create meaningful boundaries that he understands and respects for his dominance in their professional (and probably their personal) relationship, she's just going to talk to her attorney and walk away.

Happy International Women's Day! Don't forget to stand up for your rights and VOTE!