Back when Brett Kavanaugh was in the hot seat, Mike Barnicle demanded that Kavanaugh's accusers be believed, claiming they would have to be "totally mentally ill" to lie. But now that the person in question is a potential Dem presidential nominee. Barnicle has predictably changed his tune.

On today's Morning Joe, the subject was Beto O'Rourke's recently-revealed writing in which he fantasized about intentionally killing two children with his car. Note that in contrast with the Kavanaugh case, in which the nominee passionately denied engaging in the alleged behavior, O'Rourke admits having written the murder fantasy in question. Even so, Barnicle rose ardently to O'Rourke's defense, literally laughing off the ghoulish fantasy. Barnicle claimed that because "the nation is in peril," the media should ignore what candidates did in their youth, and focus on what they are proposing for the future.

Joe Scarborough took things a shocking step further, saying of Elizabeth Warren's phony claim to be an American Indian, "I don't really care what you signed on your application 35 years ago to get into the Texas bar." But when Warren made her phony claim to minority status, she was hardly an errant youth. At the time, Warren was a 36-year old law professor! Lying to advance her academic career is surely a relevant reflection of Warren's character. Yet Scarborough, and no doubt much of the liberal media, want us to ignore it.

Note: as you'll see in the video clip, when Mika first describes O'Rourke's murder fantasy, an incredulous Barnicle responds, "what?" A bit later, he claims to recall the story, saying, "Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." But his initial reaction would suggest that crack reporter Barnicle was unfamiliar with a story that made big news over the weekend.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Is Beto's story that he wrote, which has a vivid description of himself -- JOE SCARBOROUGH: He's a teenager! BRZEZINSKI: -- enjoying [Barnicle laughs] running over two children and killing them, I'm serious, this is what his story was about, it is kind of disturbing to read. MIKE BARNICLE: What? BRZEZINSKI: Yes. It is kind of disturbing to read. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, it's weird. BRZEZINSKI: He wrote this story in high school -- BARNICLE: Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. BRZEZINSKI: It seems some sort of high school -- SCARBOROUGH: He was in high school. BARNICLE: You know, Mika, two things about the story. One, is Beto was an incredible dork, clearly, in high school -- SCARBOROUGH: Such a dork. Such a dork. BARNICLE: And, two, he was 16!! I mean, come on!

What a hypocrite.

BARNICLE: Our charge, our charge in the media, and it's going to be a tough one to succeed on it completely and successfully, is to cover this campaign as adults. I mean, we didn't exactly shine four years ago when we spent six, seven, eight months covering e-mails, lost e-mails. Now the nation is in peril. Now it's going to be with each of these candidates: what are you going to do for the country? What are you going to say? How are you going to conduct yourself, how are you going to conduct yourself in office, what's your plan, where are we going. Not when you're 17, 16 looking back. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, it's the same thing, Jon Meacham, with Elizabeth Warren. I don't really care what you signed on your application 35 years ago to get into the Texas bar.

No one should pay attention to media criticism from Mike Barnicle -- who wrote his own fantasies and tried to pass them off as nonfiction in The Boston Globe.