There are plenty of words one might use to describe Barack Obama. The man is ridiculously self-absorbed, pompous, condescending, a nanny statist, anti-colonialist, corporatist… I mean, the list goes on and on.

These are factual assessments of the President’s personality and management style. They’re not necessarily insults, although Obama might find some of the terms insulting.

But Time’s Mark Halperin called Obama “kind of a dick” this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Here’s the video:

The Huffington Post has the story. Halperin apologized for his comments, but it was apparently too little, too late. MSNBC announced Halperin would be “suspended indefinitely” for his comment. I think this is probably an overreaction. In the age of 24-hour news channels, sensationalism sells. This video will likely receive thousands of views today because of its shock value.

MSNBC issued this 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.

A friend of mine made an excellent observation. Halperin clearly asks if there’s a time delay. Joe seems to respond in the affirmative. Had the tech staff in the booth been able to censor the word, would Halperin still have been suspended?

I don’t think Halperin’s comment was inaccurate, but MSNBC could never allow anyone with a negative view of the President share his or her opinion. Heavens no!

UPDATE: Slate’s Dave Weigel has some comments worth reading. The Plum Line calls MSNBC’s decision “way over the line.” The story’s also available over at BigJournalism.