MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski appeared to come down with an extremely bad case of the vapors when Morning Joe regular Donny Deutsch dared to compare Ted Cruz to his fellow grifter Sarah Palin.

Donny Deutsch: Ted Cruz Is Sarah Palin, He's 'Completely Unelectable':

Later that same morning, frequent "Morning Joe" guest Donny Deutsch explained why he's not worried about the Republican senator winning the election.

"He is Sarah Palin," Deutsch said. "He is theater. He is completely unelectable."

"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski objected, but Deutsch pressed on, arguing that he would even bet that come November, Cruz would no longer be in the picture.

“He’s good theater. That's why he is Sarah Palin. And that's who Sarah Palin was. And we love the show," he went on.

Which had Brzezinski clutching her pearls and ready to head for the fainting couch. I hate to break it to Brzezinski, who said she would "get killed" if she explained why Cruz isn't Palin, but Deutsch is right. Cruz might be a whole lot smarter and more dangerous than Palin ever was because of the power he has as a member of the United States Senate, but he's every bit as much of a side show as she was and he's in it for the same reason she kept pretending she might run the last go around: he wants to line his pockets and raise his profile and to continue polluting our airways with his presence.

I have to agree with my fellow C&L contributor Scarce who sent this along on Palin and Cruz.