Everyone remembers the story of the vainglorious ruler who was conned into buying a set of invisible robes from a conman posing as a tailor, right?

The Emperor proudly paraded down the main street of his kingdom, awash in his own glory and righteousness, until a little boy innocently announced what everybody else was afraid to say:

The Emperor has no clothes!

Well, yesterday, that fairy tale come to life before the eyes of the limited audience of the cable news channel, MSNBC, the darling of Liberals and the present administration.

Mark Halperin of Time magazine was the unwitting truth-teller in this present-day adaption of the classic fairy tale.

Per politico.com:

The incident took place during the “Morning Joe” show, when host Joe Scarborough asked Halperin what he thought of Obama’s press conference and Halperin questioned whether the seven-second delay was in effect so he could give his real opinion — apparently thinking it would be bleeped out before hitting the air. Scarborough told Halperin to go for it because they would use the delay to prevent whatever he said from being broadcast. “You fall down, I’m going to catch you,” Scarborough told Halperin.

At that point, Halperin said he thought Obama had been “kind of a dick.” Scarborough then expressed amazement that Halperin had actually said that and told him he had only been joking about using the seven-second delay.

“Delay that. Delay that. What are you doing? I can’t believe … don’t do that. Did we delay that?” Scarborough said.

“I was just joking,” Scarborough said to Halperin.

“Catch me now, I’m falling,” Halperin responded.

Just minutes later, Halperin quickly apologized on the air to the president and viewers for his choice of words. “Joking aside, this is an absolute apology. I shouldn’t have said it. I apologize to the president and the viewers who heard me say that,” Halperin said.

“We’re going to have a meeting after the show,” Scarborough said.

According to Scarborough, there had been a mishap with the seven-second delay button — a new executive producer apparently didn’t know how it worked. “You are supposed to know how to do the job,” Scarborough said of his producer. “I would tell you what I think of him, but he doesn’t know what button to push.”

Later in the show, Halperin again apologized, saying, “I can’t explain why I did it. It’s inappropriate, disrespectful. I’ve already apologized, and I will again to the president. I’m sorry, I’m sorry to the viewers …It is disrespectful, what I said was disrespectful to the president and the office, but it also lowers our discourse

The administration immediately called their loyal propaganda warriors at MSNBC, angry that they had strayed from the Reservation.

Later yesterday, in his daily briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney announced that he had been to one to call Mark Halperin’s bosses at MSNBC:

The comment that was made was inappropriate. It would be inappropriate to say that about either president of either party.

Carney claimed that he didn’t have a comment on what action the network took against Halperin. However, he told reporters that

on behalf of the White House, I expressed that sentiment to executives at the network.

A couple of hours after Carney’s daily press briefing, MSNBC issued the following statement:

Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the president, the White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse, and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.

Halperin also issued a statement to go along with that of MSNBC, saying:

I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate. Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the president, to my MSNBC colleagues and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.

And, to put a cherry of top of this cake of apologies to the Emperor…err..I mean the president…Time issued a statement later Thursday, labeling Halperin’s comments inappropriate and in no way reflective of Time’s views.

Time magazine did not suspend Halperin but, instead announced:

We have issued a warning to him that such behavior is unacceptable” and noted that he had “appropriately” apologized.

Here’s the video, presented so that you might decided for yourselves if a suspension was warranted.

Halperin’s suspension from MSNBC is the third in the last year for the news channel.  He joins the recently fired Keith Olbermann and present, unwatched program host Ed Schultz on their Wall of Shame.

Granted, the playground epithet that Halperin used to described Obama was rude and unseemly, however accurate it was.  And the reaction of MSNBC and Time would be appropriate, if it wasn’t so hypocritical.

You see, they had no problem during the two terms of President George W. Bush, calling the former president everything but a child of God.  And now they’re going to demand a suspension and apology from Halperin for doing the same thing to their president?

All of this angst and apoplexy only serves to point out the biggest, and most important difference in the actions of Halperin and MSNBC, and the little boy in the original story, so many years ago:

He never apologized.

Hypocricy…thy name is Liberal.