NBC Replaces Brokaw on Meet the Press with Reporter Known for Bashing
Bush, Defending Clintons
David Gregory, 'Custodian' of NBC's Biases
As the baton passed to David Gregory at NBC's Meet the Press, NBC
couldn't stop from shamelessly selling itself as a gift to America.
On Monday's Today, Tom Brokaw exclaimed about filling the late Tim
Russert's shoes: "It's a great legacy and he'll remain a presence of
that, but Tim would be the first to say we were all temporary
custodians of a national treasure."
How did David Gregory earn this new position? Most viewers know him
largely as an arrogant question-yeller at Bush White House press conferences.
Take this exchange with Scott McClellan on the Plame leak probe on
July 11, 2005: "This is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to
stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and
tell people watching this that somehow you decided not to talk.
You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks
from that podium, or not?...Why are you choosing when it's
appropriate and when it's inappropriate [to comment]?" McClellan
replied: "If you'll let me finish," but Gregory insisted: "No, you're
not finishing! You're not saying anything!"
Bye-Bye, Bush. Gregory is another journalist to rise through the
ranks by bad-mouthing Republicans and defending the Democrats. He
lectured President Bush in a May 18, 2006 interview shown on MSNBC's
Hardball: "In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now
one point lower than Richard Nixon's before he resigned the
presidency....Do you think it's possible that, like Nixon and
Watergate, that the American people have rendered a final judgment of
disapproval on you and your war in Iraq?"
But when Karl Rove joked that liberals wanted to respond to 9/11 with
indictments and therapy, Gregory was insulted, declaring on the June
23, 2005 Hardball: "Is there a danger...in trivializing, for
instance, Guantanamo Bay, the treatment of detainees? When you send
Dick Cheney out, the Vice President, to say 'let's remember they're
all bad people,' and when you send such a lightning rod like Karl
Rove out to say that the Left wanted to subject the 9/11 terrorists
to therapy, doesn't that sort of caricature what are important
debates in the country?"
Gregory identified Cheney as a villain during September 1, 2004
convention coverage: "One of the obstacles for Dick Cheney tonight is
the fact that he has become a dark figure....There are those who
believe that Dick Cheney has led this administration and this
President down a path of recklessness, that maybe his approach, his
dark approach to this constant battle against another civilization,
is actually the wrong approach for ultimately keeping America safe."
Poor, Poor Hillary. Gregory sounded like Geraldo Rivera on CNBC's
Rivera Live on August 9, 1999, as Whitewater counsel Robert Ray began
dismissing any idea of Hillary Clinton indictments. Gregory displayed
outrage: "If this trail is cold and nothing adds up to indictment,
does this become anything but a smear job against Hillary Clinton at
the worst possible moment for her politically?"
Gregory promised Monday "I'm gonna be focused on trying to live up to
the values and the integrity of this program, making this a place for
tough questions, accountability, fairness, and also respect to our
guests here." Fairness for Republicans and tough questions for
Democrats aren't always NBC policy.
END of Reprint of December 8 Media Reality Check
Archive with the previous editions:
http://www.mrc.org/archive/realitycheck/welcome.asp
Bush, Defending Clintons
David Gregory, 'Custodian' of NBC's Biases
As the baton passed to David Gregory at NBC's Meet the Press, NBC
couldn't stop from shamelessly selling itself as a gift to America.
On Monday's Today, Tom Brokaw exclaimed about filling the late Tim
Russert's shoes: "It's a great legacy and he'll remain a presence of
that, but Tim would be the first to say we were all temporary
custodians of a national treasure."
How did David Gregory earn this new position? Most viewers know him
largely as an arrogant question-yeller at Bush White House press conferences.
Take this exchange with Scott McClellan on the Plame leak probe on
July 11, 2005: "This is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to
stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and
tell people watching this that somehow you decided not to talk.
You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks
from that podium, or not?...Why are you choosing when it's
appropriate and when it's inappropriate [to comment]?" McClellan
replied: "If you'll let me finish," but Gregory insisted: "No, you're
not finishing! You're not saying anything!"
Bye-Bye, Bush. Gregory is another journalist to rise through the
ranks by bad-mouthing Republicans and defending the Democrats. He
lectured President Bush in a May 18, 2006 interview shown on MSNBC's
Hardball: "In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now
one point lower than Richard Nixon's before he resigned the
presidency....Do you think it's possible that, like Nixon and
Watergate, that the American people have rendered a final judgment of
disapproval on you and your war in Iraq?"
But when Karl Rove joked that liberals wanted to respond to 9/11 with
indictments and therapy, Gregory was insulted, declaring on the June
23, 2005 Hardball: "Is there a danger...in trivializing, for
instance, Guantanamo Bay, the treatment of detainees? When you send
Dick Cheney out, the Vice President, to say 'let's remember they're
all bad people,' and when you send such a lightning rod like Karl
Rove out to say that the Left wanted to subject the 9/11 terrorists
to therapy, doesn't that sort of caricature what are important
debates in the country?"
Gregory identified Cheney as a villain during September 1, 2004
convention coverage: "One of the obstacles for Dick Cheney tonight is
the fact that he has become a dark figure....There are those who
believe that Dick Cheney has led this administration and this
President down a path of recklessness, that maybe his approach, his
dark approach to this constant battle against another civilization,
is actually the wrong approach for ultimately keeping America safe."
Poor, Poor Hillary. Gregory sounded like Geraldo Rivera on CNBC's
Rivera Live on August 9, 1999, as Whitewater counsel Robert Ray began
dismissing any idea of Hillary Clinton indictments. Gregory displayed
outrage: "If this trail is cold and nothing adds up to indictment,
does this become anything but a smear job against Hillary Clinton at
the worst possible moment for her politically?"
Gregory promised Monday "I'm gonna be focused on trying to live up to
the values and the integrity of this program, making this a place for
tough questions, accountability, fairness, and also respect to our
guests here." Fairness for Republicans and tough questions for
Democrats aren't always NBC policy.
END of Reprint of December 8 Media Reality Check
Archive with the previous editions:
http://www.mrc.org/archive/realitycheck/welcome.asp
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