On Thursday, 30 June 2011, Mark Halperin, senior political analyst for Time magazine and MSNBC, was given an indefinite suspension by the liberal network after a segment on their “Morning Joe” AM talk show where he called Obama “a dick” for his performance at a White House press conference the previous day. Halperin, who had displayed obvious reluctance before using the phrase, quickly apologized on air, and the network formally apologized to the president later that day. Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney characterized the comment as “inappropriate” directed at any president.
When the comments were made, asteroid Dick (#17458) at 14 Taurus was dead center on Haleprin’s (born 11 January 1965) natal Dick/Jupiter conjunction at 12 and 16 Taurus. Apparently calling a politician (Jupiter) a “dick” is among Halperin’s many life goals, as represented in the birth chart. Transit Jupiter was also involved, as at 4 Taurus was just barely conjunct Dick in the transit sky, and was further conjunct transit asteroid Marc (#71445, for Mark Halperin) at 29 Aries. That Obama should be the politician chosen by Halperin for this singular honor may be foretold by Halperin’s natal Dick exactly squared Obama’s 12 Leo Sun, with transit Dick just past the square.
There is also an asteroid Halperin (#20274), which on the day of the comment was at 2 Aries, conjunct shocking, disruptive Uranus at 4 Aries. Natally, Halperin’s Halperin at 7 Aries is conjoined TNO Eris at 10 Aries, named for the Greek goddess of strife and discord and noted for fractious, divisive actions and commentary, and asteroid Halperin had just received a strong exact square from transit Pluto at its 7 Capricorn retrograde station in April, evoking the scandal (Pluto). Transit Saturn at 10 Libra had also formed an exact opposition to Halperin’s natal Eris at its recent June 13 direct station, and Eris had been hit by a square from the Solar Eclipse at 13 Capricorn the previous January, activating the commentator’s latent potential to, well, act like a dick.
Asteroid Barry (#1703, for Barack Obama, the name by which he was known in youth) at 23 Leo for the comment is exactly opposed a combination of Icarus (rash, reckless action) and Nessus (sexually inappropriate actions, including verbal abuse), both at 23 Aquarius. Natally, Halperin has asteroid Barry at 27 Leo in an out-of-sign square to Nessus at 2 Gemini, and also sports an exact natal square between Saturn (chief executive, government employees) at 2 Pisces and Nessus, further increasing his propensity to inappropriate sexual allusion involving the president.
The “Morning Joe” venue for the comment can be seen in a grouping of asteroids Josefa, Photographica and Jose (two variants of “Joe” and a term representing visual media) at 4, 6 and 8 Virgo, in solid trine to transit Jupiter at 4 Taurus and forming a Grand Trine with potty-mouth-ruling Pluto (sexual or scatological references governed by the Eight House, which Pluto rules) at 6 Capricorn.
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