IRRITANT

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC gasbag and cheap-shot artist, suggests Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey is unfit for the job he holds because he called Iran a "rational actor" and refused to back down from that description in testimony before Congress.

First, Demsey was using language almost identical to that used by former Israeli Intelligence Chief Meir Dagan, who stated in December of last year that Iran "acts as a rational state." Second, saying a state acts rationally does not mean it acts well. It means its actions are designed towards its own survival. Stalin and Mao were rational actors; Nero and Caligula, not so much. Third, a request for Joe:  when you launch into full pander, cheap-shot mode, please spit it out a little faster. You're boring, laborious, redundant presentations take up the time of your guests, some of whom have something interesting to say.