Tag Archives: Meet the Press

Now it's Sen. Graham thinking about '16 bid

Oh boy, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for the upcoming presidential campaign.

The potential Republican field just got another name to ponder: Lindsey Graham, the senior U.S. senator from South Carolina.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/lindsey-graham-2016-elections-south-carolina-114362.html

Why is this such an interesting development?

Graham is a noted conservative from a deeply conservative state. He and fellow Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona take turns bashing the dickens out of President Obama, particularly on foreign policy — which is understandable, given that the domestic economy is starting to rock along. Heck, sometimes Graham and McCain are singing together.

However, Graham has had this annoying tendency — if you’re a Republican — to say nice things about some of the appointees the president puts forward to fill key administration posts. While many other GOP senators were slamming Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general, Graham said she’s a solid pick, highly qualified and he indicated his intentions to vote to confirm her when the time comes.

This is the kind of thing that’s going to make him a target among other GOP White House contenders when they line up to debate — if Graham decides to run, of course.

He’s a sharp lawyer. Remember when, as a member of the House, he managed the Republicans’ successful effort at impeaching President Clinton? Well, the Senate decided correctly to acquit the president of those “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

So, as he told “Meet the Press” today, he’s thinking seriously about a presidential bid. He told NBC’s Chuck Todd that he has “set up a testing-the-waters committee under the IRS code that will allow me to look beyond South Carolina as to whether or not a guy like Lindsey Graham has a viable path.”

Just one request, Sen. Graham, if you take the plunge: Stop referring to yourself in the third person.

NBC journalist faces conflicting interests

Chuck Todd wears an important hat for NBC News as moderator of “Meet the Press.”

He must remain impartial and he must be clear of any association with a partisan political campaign. And by “any association,” that means the woman in his life, his wife.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/12/chuck-todds-wife-aiding-jim-webb-199431.html?hp=l5_4

It turns out that Kristian Denny Todd is assisting former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., as he considers whether to run for president in 2016. Kristian Todd is one of those Democratic “strategists” who assists people in public life.

Meanwhile, her husband is going to be covering the still-growing 2016 campaign and all its players. That must include former Sen. Webb, for whom his wife is working in an unpaid basis.

Todd’s role as a major news network’s main political reporters must be free of any association with a partisan campaign.

Let’s be clear about a thing or two. First, Todd isn’t the first network personality to make that crossover. Others include: George Stephanopoulos of ABC, who once worked in the Clinton White House; Pete Williams of NBC, who was spokesman for the Pentagon in the George H.W. Bush administration; Diane Sawyer of ABC, who once wrote speeches for Richard Nixon; the late Tim Russert of NBC, who worked for New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and the late Sen. Pat Moynihan of New York.

This kind of political affiliation involves both parties.

If Mr. and Mrs. Todd are going to allow this kind of association with a potential presidential candidate to continue, it falls on Chuck Todd to ensure that he doesn’t pull his punches with his wife’s boss if and when he gets the chance.

Be very careful, Chuck.

 

Gregory out, Todd in at 'MTP'

Tim Russert didn’t do his successors at “Meet the Press” any favors.

The late host of the iconic news-talk show set a seemingly impossible standard, or so it seems. How, you ask? Only by being a student of politics, knowledgeable about his guests, intensely interested in what they had to say and having an ability to let their own words be (a) their nemesis or (b) their friend.

Russert died suddenly in 2008 at age 58. David Gregory was named to replace him at NBC’s premier Sunday talk show.

Gregory didn’t make the grade. It took some time for the network to realize the problem it had on its hands.

Now it has made a change.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/14/media/meet-press-david-gregory-chuck-todd/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Chuck Todd is the new host of “Meet the Press.” Gregory is leaving NBC after 20 years. He’s receiving the obligatory good wishes from his colleagues at NBC and other networks.

For news junkies such as yours truly, I hope this latest change works for NBC.

Gregory eventually “led” “Meet the Press” from its customary No. 1 ranking to No. 3 among the broadcast networks’ Sunday news-talk ratings pile.

It really doesn’t matter to which talk show is on top. I just want “Meet the Press” to regain the stature it once enjoyed.

I don’t know much about Todd, other than I do enjoy his presence on TV. He’s generally reasonable, balanced, fair and inquisitive — all the things you want to see in a broadcast journalist.

And if it’s true that Todd is more of a student of politics and policy than Gregory, then the network — and viewers like you and me — will be served better.

Come to Israel and see for yourself, PCUSA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a classic response this morning to a question about a mainline Protestant denomination’s decision to divest itself of economic ties to Israel.

The decision by Presbyterian Church USA involves its divestment in companies that do business in the Middle East’s lone democratic state.

Netanyahu, appearing this morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press” news talk show, was asked by host David Gregory what he thought of that decision, which PCUSA based on Israel’s building of settlements in the West Bank region and Israel’s continued contentious relationships with its Arab neighbors.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/06/22/presbyterian-church-approves-israel-divestment-but-does-its-boycott-even-matter/

For the life of me, this one is baffling.

Well, Netanyahu took the question from Gregory.

He responded magnificently. He noted that Israel grants full freedom in its country for Christians to worship their faith. He noted that many Arab nations persecute Christians, even kill them.

Netanyahu invited any Protestant denomination to tour the Middle East, encouraging them to look first-hand at the Arab nations — he mentioned Libya, Syria and Iraq by name — and then visit Israel. They will see up close the difference in the way they are treated in the Arab world as opposed to how they are received in Israel.

He offered two words of advice to anyone who takes him up on his invitation. “Be sure to travel in an armored vehicle” while touring any of those Arab nations, Netanyahu said. “And don’t tell anyone in any of those countries that you are a Christian.”

Amen, Mr. Prime Minister.

What's wrong with Meet the Press?

Michelle Malkin is a noted conservative firebrand/columnist whose views on the “mainstream media” are well-known.

I read her recent column on “Meet the Press”‘s ratings troubles and she lays the problem squarely at the feet of the host, David Gregory, who she calls a lot of names.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/04/23/nbcs_cognitive_dissonant_hack_syndrome_122382.html

She said he’s boorish, a “jerk,” he throws tantrums, he hates conservatives. In other words, he’s a “typical Washington elite.”

OK, I’ll accept her bias going in. My own view of Gregory’s troubles can be summed up simply. He isn’t Tim Russert, the man who preceded Gregory in the moderator’s chair on TV’s longest-running program.

Russert died of a massive heart attack in 2008 at the age of 58. NBC-TV went to great lengths to eulogize Russert, an everyman from Buffalo, N.Y., who went to law school, worked for Democratic U.S. Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan and Democratic New York Gov. Mario Cuomo before settling into the “Meet the Press” chair he occupied with such distinction.

Malkin’s recollections of Gregory’s hectoring of NRA guru Wayne LaPierre and Cardinal Timothy Dolan are vivid. They’re also accurate portrayals of the way Gregory often crosses an invisible line that is supposed to separate him from the issues he is covering.

I didn’t know about the tantrums or the boorish behavior until I read Malkin’s column (see attached link).

To my eyes and ears, Gregory just hasn’t met the standard Russert set with his equal-opportunity grilling of guests. He was tough on lefties and righties, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.

The one thing Russert did so artfully was to research his interview subjects’ own statements. He would then use their words to make a point and ask them to clarify what they said. If they could, so much the better — for them. If they couldn’t, well, score one for Russert.

Malkin also noted that Russert conducted himself like the gentleman he was and it showed in the way he handled his tasks as “Meet the Press” moderator.

I also should add that a little self-deprecation goes a long way in the ego-filled world of TV journalism. Russert could poke fun at himself, such as when he told the story of when NBC asked him to fill in on “Meet the Press.” “What?” Russert would say. “Look at this face.” It didn’t matter. He knew his stuff and was good at what he did.

It is that legacy that is dragging David Gregory down. Pure and simple.

Ingraham joins ABC … so what?

Media Matters is a left-wing journalism watchdog group that takes great delight in exposing Fox News Channel’s big lie that it is the “fair and balanced” cable news network.

I agree — usually — with Media Matters’s take on Fox.

However, I think the group if off base in attacking ABC News for hiring conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham as its newest “contributor.”

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/04/13/meet-abc-news-newest-contributor-laura-ingraham/198871

Why go after Media Matters on this one?

Well, I am one who likes to see news/commentary outlets offer wide-ranging points of view. Do I agree with Ingraham’s world view? No. However, she isn’t the first conservative voice to be heard on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday news talk show. Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol is a regular on the show, as was syndicated conservative columnist George Will before he left ABC to join the Fox News Channel’s Sunday talk show as a contributor.

ABC, as does NBC’s “Meet the Press,” quite often invites conservatives and liberals to sit at the same round table to discuss issues of the day. They debate. They even argue.

What is so wrong with that?

CNN, arguably the pioneer news network, does much the same thing on any of its myriad political talk shows. Newt Gingrich and Van Jones — a rightie and a leftie, respectively — are regulars on CNN’s revamped “Crossfire” program.

I don’t see why ABC is getting so worked up over Ingraham. Yes, she’s provocative and she occasionally crosses — what I consider, at least — the line of good taste and decency in making her points.

You’ve heard the old term about the “marketplace of ideas.” It’s broad, wide, deep and varied. Let all voices be heard. We’ll be the judges of who’s right or wrong.

Climate change beyond doubt

Let’s see: Who’s the expert on climate change, a scientist or a politician?

I’ll go with the scientist.

Scientist Bill “The Science Guy” Nye debated politician Marsha Blackburn today on “Meet the Press.” The topic was whether Earth’s climate is changing. Nye says it is; Blackburn expresses doubt.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/02/16/gop_rep_marsha_blackburn_vs_bill_nye_on_climate_change.html

As the program’s moderator David Gregory tried to point out several times during the exchange, the fact of climate change seems beyond dispute. The only topic worth debating is its cause.

And, for my money, even that debate is beginning to look more like a slam dunk in favor of those who believe human beings are responsible for the resulting change in our worldwide climate patterns.

This is a difficult concept to swallow during this winter of extreme cold, record-breaking snow in the Northeast, prolonged cold in the Midwest — including some mighty chilly days in the Texas Panhandle — and the catastrophic winter storms that have swept through the South.

The point Nye was trying to convey this morning, though, was that even those changes reflect a dynamic not seen in many decades, perhaps even centuries.

How many “storms of the century” have we seen in recent years? They seem to arrive annually. Don’t those descriptions of these monumental weather events send up any red flags — even among those who continue to doubt the existence of climate change or those who pooh-pooh the idea as being some sort of left-wing conspiracy to destroy the fossil fuel industry?

Rep. Blackburn chairs a House science and technology committee. So she’s got some credibility on this issue.

Nye looks at this more from a scientific perspective. Yes, there exists plenty of debate among scientists about climate change and its cause.

The evidence continues to persuade me that it’s real and — if there’s anything humans can do about it — that it’s long past time to act.

I’m just hoping it’s not too late.

Rep. Ryan makes sense on Meet the Press

I thought my ears were playing tricks on me today when I listened to the “Meet the Press” interview with Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, co-chairs of the congressional committee that hammered out the two-year budget deal that passed overwhelmingly in the House the other day.

There was Ryan, a stalwart tea party Republican — and the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee in 2012 — sounding reasonable and accommodating. He noted that compromise requires both sides to give a little. He said it was good to sit down with the Democrat Murray to understand what she believes and where she stands on budget matters.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/12/15/sen_patty_murray_rep_paul_ryan_tout_budget_deal_in_joint_mtp_interview.html

Ryan also noted that the 2012 presidential election, which he and Mitt Romney lost to President Obama and Vice President Biden, served as a wakeup call to Republicans. The other side won and we lost, Ryan said.

Therefore, it was time to start working with those on the other side, not against them.

Therein lies the key to the budget deal that has enraged the right-wingers of the GOP and made more than a few left-wing Democrats unhappy. The message from Ryan and Murray? Live with it and let’s back to governing.

It’s nice to realize I wasn’t hearing things after all.