The decline and fall of ‘Meet the Press’ – Newt Gingrich edition
I can hardly get through a whole episode of Meet the Press anymore, since Tim Russert passed and ceded the throne to Fox News contender David Gregory, whose legendary buddy act with George W. Bush somehow earned him the reputation of “tough Washington correspondent.” Gregory, or “Stretch,” as Dubya called him, has danced with Karl Rove, and rarely has met a Republican idea he doesn’t like. But you’d think that sitting in that chair would at least inspire him to ask the occasional follow-up question. So when former (disgraced) House Speaker Newt Gingrich said this about the Senate’s healthcare bill:
NEWT GINGRICH: … This is a bad bill, written in a horrible way, and the most, the most corrupt legislation I’ve seen in my lifetime.
… one might have expected a reaction something like this:
FICTIONAL DAVID GREGORY: Now hang on a second Mr. Speaker. During the 2003 House vote on the Medicare prescription drug bill, there were similar allegations of millions in lobbying money, back-room deal-making, and even bribery on the House floor to get that bill passed. Your successor, then-Speaker Dennis Hastert, presided over the longest roll-call in House history, and there were accusations that a Republican Congressman, Nick Smith of Michigan, had his son’s re-election threatened in order to secure his vote. How can you criticize the Democrats now, given that history?
Unfortunately, we’re dealing with Real David, not Fictional David. And Real David simply dropped the matter and pivoted to a totally new question for Andrea Mitchell (who didn’t bring it up either. Go figure.) Read more
David Gregory: ‘the left’ opposes Afghan escalation … George Will: ‘I oppose Afghan escalation’
David Gregory’s Fox News audition continued this week, as he inexplicably couched opposition to the president’s Afghanistan troop increase in partisan terms:
MR. GREGORY (to Bob Woodward): All right, I’ve just got a couple minutes left. Let’s bring it back to domestic politics here. The left does not like this war, doesn’t like this strategy. How’s this going to get paid for, Bob? Is there going to have to be some kind of war tax to pay the additional $30 billion to send 30,000 more troops?
So how to explain non-left wingers like George Will, who’s been calling for an exit from Afghanistan since August, and who reiterated the point on a better rated network today? Read more
David Gregory’s right wing nosedive, part 2: unions, unions everywhere
It’s as if he was reading his talking points off the RNC website (what up!) … David Gregory was even more tooly than usual this week, as he interviewed Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who has created a $4 billion, results-oriented, competitive incentive program for states, school systems and non-profits called “Race to the Top,” and the new education twosome, Rev. Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich, who are touring the country as part of President Obama’s education initiatives. The panel did their best, but when Newt Gingrich comes off like a reasonable centrist compared to the host, we’re nearing Fox News territory.
During the segment, Gregory mentioned “unions,” “teachers” or “teachers unions” 15 times, and seemed unwilling to allow the discussion to veer off the topic of what role teachers unions are playing in the demise of American education. By contrast, Gingrich, purportedly the conservative on the panel, mentioned unions exactly once, and teachers 5 times (compared to Gregory’s 6 union mentions and 9 teacher references.) Gingrich, Sharpton and Duncan kept trying to bring up the elephant in the room — parents, and their responsibility for demanding accountability at school, but were batted down each time, until finally, at the Gregory conceded, on the way out to break, that “Parents matter. Parents have to say, ‘We have expectations for you.’” Well thanks for that. A typical exchange follows after the jump. Here’s the whole, tiresome segment, in which Gregory also shows how out of touch he is, by focusing mostly on D.C., rather than the nation’s, schools:
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David Gregory’s right-wing nosedive: Hillary Clinton should meet with Sarah Palin?
David Gregory spouts right wing talking points weekly on "Meet the Press"
It was bad enough when he was sucking up to George W. Bush during the run-up to the Iraq invasion, but now “Stretch,” as Dubya famously dubbed NBC’s David Gregory, has popped the top completely off the sippy cup, and is sucking down right wing Kool-Aid faster than you can say Sarah Palin. First, he — with a straight face — asked the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, the person who sits fourth in line to the presidency of the United States, and who runs America’s foreign policy, and to whom he was speaking from a current summit in Asia, the following question (and keep in mind, he is serious about this):
GREGORY: You may not have heard, you, you, you may not have heard, but Sarah Palin has a new book out, and in it she writes this: “Should Secretary Clinton and I ever sit down over a cup of coffee, I know that we would fundamentally disagree on many issues, but my hat is off to her hard work on the 2008 campaign trail.” Is this somebody you’d like to sit and have coffee with, and do you plan to read the book?
Now, I want you to ruminate for a moment on that question. David Gregory, who purports to be a serious journalist, and to whom NBC News has entrusted the chair once occupied by Marvin Kalb, Roger Mudd, Garrick Utley, and Tim Russert — he is asking the secretary of state whether she’d like to, in the downtime between meeting with heads of state and fellow foreign ministers — whether she’d like to have coffee with an unemployed Facebook blogger with whom only the media, and the politically and intellectually challenged, remain fascinated. Seriously. Read more
For David Gregory, there’s only Joe Wilson
David Gregory is infamous in my circles for his eight-year bromance with George W. Bush (George used to call him “Stretch.” … Gregory demurred on asking tough questions about invading Iraq or spying on American citizens. No verification on whether they ever actually kissed.) Now, as Gregory continues his mission to completely tank “Meet the Press,” today he came up with a new way to smooch the GOP: pretending that aw shucks, South Carolina clodhopper Addison “Joe” Wilson has no opponent in 2010.
Gregory today, bantering with his fellow GOP back-scratcher, Chuck Todd:
MR. GREGORY: Well, let’s–you’re talking about organizing Democrats or rallying Democrats. What about the Republicans here? Because one of the big headlines out of all this was Congressman Joe Wilson calling the president a liar. He did apologize once the leadership made him do it. And yet he released this Web video in, in concert with the fact that he’s raised a million bucks for his campaign. … Read more
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