So, “F” bombs notwithstanding, Morning Joe has become a daytime hit for MSNBC. Washington Whispers crunched the numbers and found Joe is doing better than the show it replaced amid a crisis more than a year ago.

Imus, booted for making racially insensitive comments in mid-2007, averaged 358,000 viewers; Morning Joe just hit 547,000.

And the show is a success with friends from both sides of the aisle. Says incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs (a regular), “Doing Morning Joe is the most fun I have all day on the campaign. And former McCain campaign spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace adds, “MSNBC would be well served to air Morning Joe for 12 hours a day.”

As for the “F” bomb dropped on today’s show, MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines says, “Joe made a mistake this morning and apologized to his viewers immediately. As he noted, the language he used was completely inappropriate.”

If you missed it, here’s the clip…