MSNBC’s Morning Joe panel mocked the obsequious nature of Washington flacks surrounding Hillary Clinton on Thursday after reading through a few of the emails released by the State Department earlier this week.
The panel took turns poking fun at the ridiculous fawning some of the emails contained, displaying a front-page article from the Boston Globe as a "guide to obsequiousness in Washington."
Mika Brzezinski pulled up an email from Karen Finney with "I Love Hillary!" in the subject line, which she delivered in a child’s voice. Records show Hillary never responded to the email.
"First of all, lesson one: don't assume that important people will believe the positive things people say about you," Brzezinski said.
Dorian Warren made fun of Paul Begala for sucking up to Clinton in an email about his latest CNN segment. The subject line for this email was "Thank You So Very Much!!!!" For those counting at home, that’s four exclamation points. Warren read the email with the voice of an elementary school student to his parent or teacher.
"I gave Sec. Clinton an A+ in our dopey CNN report card last night. So did Donna Brazile. The only two A+’s all night."
But the winning email, according to panelist Mike Barnicle, belonged to longtime Clinton ally Lanny Davis, who groveled for a favor in a lengthy letter fawning over the secretary of state.
Some of the highlights from his gushing email include:
"I feel as if I am taking advantage of a great privilege that you allow me to send you a personal email every so often."
"I consider you to be the best friend and the best person I have met in my long life. You know that from the dedication and appreciation of you I have always felt and expressed to you over four decades."
"Please please please—note that there are three pleases: Do not feel bashful or concerned about saying no to my request. One more please (#4)—if it feels inappropriate to you as secretary of state or for any other reason to be in a quote about me on a personal or professional level, I fully understand."
The panel was exasperated after Barnicle read out excerpts from the letter, with Brzezinski exclaiming, "I’m tired for her… all the sucking up."