If you're not familiar with the controversy over the unique partnership between Morning Joe and Starbucks, Jon Stewart covered it last week:

VIDEO: Daily Show - Corporate SynerJoe

I wonder how much research the execs at Starbucks did before signing on to the Morning Joe ship of fools. Do they have any idea the kinds of things Joe says on the air? Do they really want Joe and Pat Buchanan proudly sipping mocha lattes while they recite yet another contrived defense for the crimes against humanity committed by Dick Cheney and his merry band of torture architects?

Here's some classic Scarborough, completely flipping out when challenged on his belief that torture is effective and morally fine. Brewed by Starbucks:

(Check out Jane Hamsher's skewering of Joe's talking points.)

And then there was the time that Scarborough said this:

SCARBOROUGH: The second Dana Priest wrote her article and we had this debate on waterboarding, we were moving towards not using waterboarding again. We don't - these techniques are worthless now anyways, so if planes go into buildings, well don't blame Barack Obama, blame Dana Priest and the chaos that occurred after that cause that was - when her article came out, from that point forward, this secret CIA program was dead on arrival.

Brewed by Starbucks! Joe did apologize for that one...sort of. So, rest assured, Starbucks, if Joe says anything too awful while sipping his wonderful Starbucks coffee, he might apologize later.

Oh yeah, Joe also doesn't hold back when it comes to personal attacks on MSNBC guests...or when letting viewers know just how much other MSNBC shows suck:

I don't usually watch some of the cable shows at night...because you get such bad information. You really do. People come on and they vomit out bad information and they get cheered. They might as well have a, like, applause track. So, a guy went on last night and we're gonna play the clip later. And he actually said a couple of things that were so outrageously wrong, and he a former CIA agent, but he makes money obviously trashing the CIA.

What was Joe so upset about? Robert Baer, a former a CIA agent, went on Hardball and discussed how torture is ineffective and illegal. Very upsetting to Joe. Brewed by Starbucks!

This is what it's like almost every day on Morning Joe, Brewed by Starbucks. Just search "Joe Scarborough + torture" and set aside about 72 hours.

Funny thing. Turns out this actually isn't even the first instance of torture-related product placement for Starbucks.

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it intends to bring capital murder charges against half a dozen men allegedly linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, based partly on information the men disclosed to FBI and military questioners without the use of coercive interrogation tactics. The admissions made by the men -- who were given food whenever they were hungry as well as Starbucks coffee at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- played a key role in the government's decision to proceed with the prosecutions, military and law enforcement officials said.

After realizing that they couldn't use tortured confessions as part of a legal process, the Bush administration offered detainees a cup of Starbucks coffee in hopes they'd confess a second time. What a deal for Starbucks. Great product placement and they probably didn't even have to pay for it.

Hmm. Maybe these are the same detainees that the Obama administration wants to execute without trial. Synergy! Coverage of the executions could open up all kinds of partnership opportunities for Starbucks and MSNBC.



Starbucks contact form

(I would recommend choosing the "Corporate Social Responsibility" option.)





UPDATE:

A few things I wanted to add:

The New York Times describes this as "the closest integration between an advertiser and a national news program in recent memory," and provides some details about the sponsorship:

Along with several Starbucks graphics and mentions during each hour of the 6 to 9 a.m. program, Mr. Griffin indicated other possible pairings in the future. The anchors and the coffee company may team up on charitable initiatives. And the program may be broadcast from Starbucks locations when it travels, as it did last year for the political conventions and this year for the inauguration. The deal also includes promotions at MSNBC.com. Howard Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, said in an interview that the deal indicated that "the rules of engagement in marketing and advertising have changed quite significantly." He called it an opportunity to "align ourselves with, in my view, one of the smartest morning shows that air on TV." Mr. Schultz cited connections between the Starbucks brand and the "Morning Joe" viewers, an audience that he called "sophisticated and upscale."

Advertising Age injects some irony into Starbucks' new partnership with a torture advocate:

The partnership, a one-year deal at the outset, will give Starbucks very brief promotional opportunities, during which [Starbucks Chief Marketing Officer Terry] Davenport said the chain will promote its ethical commitments. "I think one of the things you'll see us do with this relationship is our 'Shared Planet' strategy and messaging," he said. "We don't see this as a forum for Pumpkin Spiced Latte, but a forum for talking about ethical sourcing, responsible growing of coffee and volunteerism in local communities. I think it's a very appropriate forum for us to get those types of messages out."



Finally, here's a bonus torture rant from Joe Scarborough, veering between rage about the release of the torture memos to mocking laughter about the inhuman techniques that were used. Brewed by Starbucks:

Here's the the Starbucks contact link again.