Some mornings, it's hard to stop laughing long enough to type, and this Mike Barnicle moment (wait for it at the end) is one of those times! The Morning Joe crew is talking about Jeff Flake's announcement that he's retiring, and Joe Scarborough says people are calling him a liberal, and referred to the "goons" over at Fox News.

"Jeff Flake has a 96% lifetime conservative rating. He is the conservative's conservative," Scarborough said.

"He is the champion and has been his entire life of small government, of free trade. I mean, so, when Jeff Flake becomes too liberal for your party, your party is headed towards the tar pits. Exactly what's happening here, we haven't even talked about Bob Corker."

Here's the funny part!

"You know, Joe, it's hard to measure moments like this in terms of history, history is a long haul," Mike Barnicle said.

"But it's not hard to measure this moment in terms of what is going on right now within the Republican party. This the a slow slide of principled conservatism among Republicans that has been an honorable part of your party for many, many years. A slow slide of that principled conservatism into something that resembles a dumpster fire.

"I mean, with people like Bannon are doing within the Republican party, the lack of cohesion, the lack of a voice within the Republican party, other than people like Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, it's truly an astounding moment politically."

So Mike, would you say it's almost as astounding as fabricating a rationale to attack Iraq and miring us in a war that's still going on?

Or stealing a Supreme Court seat?

Or using racism as the fundamental organizing principle of your party, and using terms like "small government" as code for cutting any programs that benefit black Americans?

Or pretending you're against spending while blowing up the deficit?

Just off the top of my head, of course.