Politico's Ken Vogel flags another donation from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to a Republican candidate, this one made in April of this year for $5,000 to a GOP candidate in Alabama. Combined with his 2006 contribution of $4,400 to a GOP congressional candidate, Scarborough has donated at least $9,400 to Republican candidates as an MSNBC host -- more than the amount that led to Keith Olbermann's suspension.
It's not just contributions, either: Vogel points out that in August, Scarborough traveled to Alabama to headline a fundraiser for the county GOP where he made his contribution.
Given the obvious double-standard here, Griffin's decision to suspend Olbermann but not Scarborough seems to be motivated by personal or political factors. After all, Joe Scarborough not only has contributed more money than Keith Olbermann, he's headlined fundraisers.
It's implausible that the issue here is that Olbermann didn't ask permission. First, the policy in question doesn't appear to apply to MSNBC -- it's for "impartial journalists" on NBC News' staff, and nobody would claim Olbermann or Scarborough are impartial. They are opinion show hosts. Second, even if the policy did apply, and even if Scarborough did ask permission, it's clear that these types of donations are permissible at MSNBC. And given that it would be illegal for MSNBC to allow Republican donations but not Democratic donations, there's no chance that Olbermann was suspended for failing to ask permission to do something that he would have been granted permission to do.
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