NEW YORK — MSNBC suspended political analyst Mark Halperin for an off-color remark about President Barack Obama on "Morning Joe" Thursday.

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"I thought he was a dick yesterday," Halperin said on Thursday's show during a discussion about Obama's news conference the day before.

Halperin, a Time magazine editor at large, quickly apologized on the air and in a statement. MSNBC suspended him indefinitely and Halperin said he believed the action was appropriate.

Halperin had prefaced his remark by asking, "Are we on the seven-second delay?" and said after that "I hope it worked."

It didn't.

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The reference was to a brief delay in a TV show transmission that gives a producer the chance to quickly silence an offending remark before it goes out over the air. MSNBC said "Morning Joe" had the delay, but a producer pushed a wrong button and Halperin's statement wasn't edited out.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture owned by Microsoft and NBC Universal, the parent of MSNBC Cable TV.)

MSNBC said Halperin's comment was "completely inappropriate and unacceptable" and apologized to the president.

"I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the president, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers," Halperin said. "My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it."