Nick Denton seems to think so, calling them the “cosiest co-anchors” and saying their “on-air antics have convinced MSNBC grunts the two are pursuing an off-camera affair.” Of course, Denton also calls Scarborough a “liberal darling,” so who knows if it’s true?

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In yet another strange twist to how the MSNBC network is covering the 2008 presidential elections, about ten minutes after 11:00 a.m. ET on Monday, an anchor briefly mentioned on-air the plagiarism controversy involving Sen. Barack Obama’s recycling of a 2006 speech by Gov. Deval Patrick. However, instead of detailing the very similar speeches, the MSNBC anchor immediately noted that Obama and Patrick have said they are close friends and regularly share lines.

The story was not explained to viewers further, and video clips comparing the similarities of the speeches were not aired. It also was not explained that even if Obama and Patrick are friends, that doesn’t mean Obama is allowed to present Patrick’s words as his own to unsuspecting audiences.

Whether MSNBC can present serious coverage of the Obama campaign has been questioned by many critics of the network to date. Some have noted that one of MSNBC’s top personalities, Mika Brzezinski, has at least two family members consulting and/or working for the Obama campaign.

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Lots of facial problems at MSNBC this morning. Joe Scarborough, back from a possible skiing holiday vacay, turned up on TV bright orange and burnt this morning, sitting next to an increasingly plump-faced Mika Brzezinski and a jolly David Shuster with weird make-up smudges on his rapidly expanding cheeks and double-chin. New year’s make-overs, MSNBC? Please?

Tim Russert, adding his oversized ego to the fat-faced lineup, said on Morning Joe that he’s faced plenty of “80-year-old cougars” trying to chase him down while on the trail in Iowa. A cougar, you’ll recall, is an older lady who’s hot to trot. Go, Timmy.

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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski is making headlines today for landing an interview with Michelle Obama, but few people are talking about the family connections she relied on to score her scoop. Her father Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served in the Jimmy Carter administration, is one of Barack Obama’s national security advisers. “My daughter wrote her a note, and she wrote her back,” Mika noted on Morning Joe today.

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Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, was steaming mad this morning when his daughter Mika Brzezinksi, a host on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, indicated he didn’t show much affection to her as she grew up. She said his hugs were few and far between, and were often stiff and angry when they did come her way. Almost immediately after she made the claims, her cell phone rang on-air; after taking the call, she said it was her dad, who had been watching, telling her that he disputes her memories. Still, Zbigniew has long been known to be a grouch. In a WaPo article last year, several of his suburban DC neighbors spoke out about his refusal to let city planners install a sidewalk through his front yard.

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You gotta wonder if Mika Brzezinski second guessed her decision to wear a short, pink miniskirt to work today, considering that MSNBC’s new Morning Joe studio at Rockefeller Plaza had her perched on a super tall chair, helping her to appear sort of like a slutty flamingo? Or maybe, just maybe, Mika was purposely pulling a Kiran Chetry in an attempt to boost her male demographics? In any case, she won’t have much longer to show off, as Big Head DC hears that a desk that should do a much better job of keeping her covered is scheduled to arrive very soon.

Earlier: Let’s Take a Look Up Kiran Chetry’s Skirt, Shall We?

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Britney Spear’s paunch isn’t the only bit of fleshy lard being gossiped about today.

This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski, apparently fed up with Joe Scarborough’s frequent comments about her appearance, called him “doughy,” bloated,” and “in need of more exercise.”

“Your mother is going to appreciate I brought this up,” Mika said. “She probably feels the same way about your health as I do.”

The former GOP Congressman became obviously defensive, mentioning the dis frequently throughout his 3-hour program — in the midst of taking frequent jabs at Spears, even once calling her a “pork chop.”

There’s only one way to make that kind of talk stop, Joe. Get on the treadmill! Maybe you and Brit can become workout buddies?

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The former Wonkette blogger and current TIME “trapped in 2003” online editor Ana Marie Cox will be filling in for a vacationing Mika Brzezinski on Joe Scarborough’s MSNBC morning show this week.

What better venue to discuss the mystery of Lori Klausutis’ 2001 death when she was an aide to the then-Congressman Scarborough in his Florida office? At the age of 28, Klausutis, previously known to be quite healthy by all of her colleagues, was found bloody and dead, slumped next to a desk within Scarborough’s office.

Scarborough released this statement hours after the discovery:

My staff and family are greatly saddened by the loss of Lori Klausutis. I know Lori will be missed by the thousands of citizens who regularly contact my office to seek assistance with a variety of problems. May God grant Lori’s family the grace, comfort and hope that will get them through this difficult time.

And that was it. Staffers moved on, and so did Joe — eventually becoming a star at MSNBC. The Klausutis story never really received much attention in the media, apparently because he Chandra Levy story was reaching an apex at the time.

But a medical examiner said in August 2001 that Lori had sustained a “scratch and a bruise” on her head — it was unknown if the injury was a result of her fall, or whether it occurred before her fall. It was also unknown if she had died when Scarborough was in Florida or Washington. An exact time of death, apparently, could not be determined.

So! This week Ana Marie Cox has an opportunity to shed some much needed clarity on the situation. She could bring in medical examiners; she could call Klausutis’ family; she could even ask Joe why more hasn’t been made of the mysteries surrounding the grisly death scene. She could get to the bottom of this important side note of Congressional history. Do it, Ana!

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Another one-on-one from Big Head DC columnist Puck Head:

MSNBC newsreader Mika Brzezinski has received loads of buzz since she refused earlier this month to read a Paris Hilton story, on air. Which, in itself, was a kind of arrogant, we thought at the time, but then we sort of forgot about her, thinking her to be some poor reporter trying to make a name for herself.

Until this morning that is, when some tipsters started writing in, telling us that she seems to revel in providing constant reminders that she’s from a rather ritzy section of McLean, Va., having moved there as an adolescent in 1975 when her dad Zbigniew Brzezinski was named National Security Advisor by President Jimmy Carter.

She’s also mentioned that she later went to high school at the private all-female Madeira School, which counts Stockard Channing, WaPo’s Kathleen Graham and Project Runway’s Wendy Pepper among its alums. Annual tuition is currently $40,830 for boarding students who attend the school.

Mika ended up marrying NYC-based reporter Jim Hoffer, which was noted in one of those exclusive NY Times wedding announcements in 1993. And since her Paris antics, she has reportedly signed a firm deal with MSNBC, which provides her over 500K a year to continue reading the news.

Needless to say, we will never think of Mika as poor ever again.

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So, we watched little Facebook scandal-plagued Luke Russert on Joe Scarborough’s MSNBC show this morning because we wanted to see for ourselves exactly what nepotism looks like.

We ended up learning that it runs even more deeply in the Russert family than we reported yesterday. Not only did Luke’s daddy Tim Russert, the big cheese in NBC’s political unit, get the raunchy Boston College student the gig on Joe’s show today, but Luke has also secured one of the few internships available this summer with Conan O’Brien’s late night show — which, not coincidentally, airs on NBC.

As if that weren’t bad enough, Luke started to complain on air this morning about being “bossed around” by celebrity entourages while doing his intern gig. He also made a couple of unrepeatable sex jokes about newswoman Mika Brzezinski, which led her to smack him with a newspaper on the set.

Wow. The big world certainly is tough, little Luke. Now, wanna go hot tubbing? Or will you be too busy hosting NBC Nightly News, or something like that, later today?

Earlier: Tim Russert Pulls Strings to Get Raunchy Son a Nat’l Morning Show

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