The ascencion of david gregory

Is it the mainstream media's march into 'young and smart?' 

It's official: David Gregory is the new permanent moderator of NNBC's Meet the Press.

It's a change of generation as well as style for the venerable news show, inarguably the most prestigious in all of teevee, the New York Times of the medium. if you will.

We're happy. Gregory is a great reporter who is not 58 years old, and who's distinguished himself by asking some (not enough of course) pointed questions with follow-ups in the arrogant, secretive, inarticulate and rare Bush press conferences.

But what will happen at MSNBC, and the rest of cable? More generational changes? 

Another development is  the long-winded, circumblowcuting windbag, Chris Matthews' , 62, national cock-teasing about running for Arlen Specter's Pennsylvania Senate seat. He's reportedly already bought himself a Philadelphia mansion and is being urged to resign from MSNBC sooner than later.

Chris Matthews is not beloved by the left, David Sirota writes poetically of a Matthews candidacy

"The sense of entitlement that this blowhard personifies is truly stunning. He's spent his entire life as a principle-free political gossip in Washington - a human embodiment of all that is sick and wrong with Beltway culture. And yet, he really thinks he can just parachute into one of the largest states in the country, buy a mansion in Philadelphia and be a senator on sheer celebrity alone. I mean, maybe he can - maybe politics is now so devoid of meaning that this is just the way it is. But I really hope not."

With the change at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Gregory's 6p (EST) show. Matthews exit could mean total two slots opening on the network.

The prospect of the "young and smart... and civil" concept getting a foothold is exciting to those of us who watch cable news from our progressive couches, and have grown weary of the hard edge of Fox's right-wing commentator, and even of Keith Olbermann's dutifully sarcastic and funny responses.

The emergence of Rachel Maddow, who doesn't curtail her vocabulary, and dares get into the policy weeds in cable conversations where guests actually get to finish making their point, has given to a little impatience with Keith Olbermann's snide humor and insiderish media snark.

Fox News has a n eve larger dilemma. They're even more invested in the hard conservative partisanship on which they built their impressive standing or look at the trends which has CNN and MSNBC making gains? Do they stay the course?

Rachel is a prime example that the old rile-'em-up formatics of talk media may be passé. Maybe we're just pollyanish, but likeability, affability -- if not vulnerability -- seems to be working for her in this post-Gingrich revolution era that we hope we're in. (Or maybe we're just gay for Rachel)

The financial crisis which dominates everything is an issue the old form is particularly bad at as McCain found out. It's hard to paint it in simple right-wing, Manichean terms when the hallowed private sector is in shambles, and the solution and most conservatives are crying out for government to save us. (That's heresy to two dimensional conservative blabbermouths like Hannity and Limbaugh).

Bill O'Reilly, who could never fulfill his objective of beating arch-enemy Rush Limbaugh officially announced is giving up his radio show next quarter.

This is media news the significance of which is roughly equal to a rodent dying in a wall, but he's no fool: chasing 3 million listeners at the expense of his increasingly challenged no. 1 cable show just isn't worth it. He's busy these days pitching himself as a muckraker and tell-it-like-it-is journalist holding Obama's feet to the fire even before he's taken office.

It's also a sign that O'Reilly, who's no dummy as a broadcaster, sees radio's writing on the proverbial wall. Talk radio in its present form is in trouble, and part of the problem is its replacement by cable and  new internet platforms.

These are all great opportunities for Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, even the terse-tongued but relatively flavorless Mika Brzezinski and others. How about another Ron Reagan (KPTK m-f, 6-7p) teevee go in these new atmospheric as talk teevee makes inroads on the left in political advocacy media?

It'll be interesting to watch... teevee is in trouble too in this mess, but is cable news entering into a heyday bringing the talk radio listeners with them? We'll see.

Comments

[AuthenticAndrew]

People have been hating on Chris Mathews for sport. Chris Mathews can't possibly be less qualified than Al Franken, or any of the numerous politicians who somehow manage to get elected despite a background that doesn't have anything to do with politics.

[WILD BILL]

A good solid choice! David Gregory will do his generation proud.

[WILD BILL]

Chris Matthews served on the staff of Edmund Muskie, ran for Congress in 1974, was a carter speechwriter for the whole carter terms and then served as Tip O'Neill's top aide for six years. As O'Neill's top aide, he was the point man in many of the Speaker's battles with the Reagan Administration. In his early days in D.C. he was a cop (with a gun) for the Capitol Police. He's more than a loud mouth.

[AuthenticAndrew]

I don't care for David Gregory's personality. He comes off as a prick. In movies they cast people like him as pricks. I always get the sense that he asks tough questions just to chalk up another kill, and that he has no real deep concern for whatever the subject happens to be. He is not and never will be much fun to watch.

[chuck]

I don't see where MSNBC is having too much effect on FNC. They seem to be doing a great deal of damage to CNN. Maddow has made very good progress in her time slot ('s) where she seems to get close to CNN, sometimes even doing better numbers than CNN's Larry King in the 25 to 54 demo. King usually beats her down in the 35 to 64 and the craddle to grave demo's. O'Reilly will remain on top as long as he can maintain a pretty even mixture of lib's, conservative's and indy's watching his TeeVee show. His radio show is just too boring.
Olberloon is a different story. He has made headway againt Mr O'Reilly in the 25 to 54 demo, but still remains third or second. He has no chance as he has little to bitch about with the POTUS, congress and senate being demoncrats. You guys are so used to whinning and complaining about Bush, that you will be too confussed by Obama's move to the center.
As for Chris Matthews, he has visions of being a grand carpet bagger in the image of Clinton. He knows that democrats will vote for anything. He has a good chance. Every bit as good as that idiot, Frankin.
Anyway, with Gregory moving to Sunday and Matthews running for senate, MSNBC should just move Maddow and Olberloon to those spots and re-run them twice rather than just once. Maybe the can air the prison programs a coupla more times. Dimocrats won't notice.

[Murky-tooth]

Chris Matthews is probably qualified but he's just a needy jerk who doesn't need more to prop up his fragile ego.

[Duffman]

I like David Gregory and I hope he does well as the new host of MTP. However Tim Russert is a tough one to replace as he had an objective compassion that is hard to match. He was always perceived as being after the truth no matter where it may have politically led him. I don't think Gregory will exhibit the compassion nor the absence of polital slant, but he can be tough as an interviewer. I wish him the best and I will be tuning in as I always did with Tim.

Bla'M, as an aside I've been listen (off and on) frequently to KVI in the morning and notice that there's always someone sitting in for Carleen Johnson...do you have the scoop on her????

[sparky]

I gave up on David Gregory when he danced with Karl Rove.

[Habu]

You cant call gregory a prick. A prick has a head.

It would be less partisan to put obama as host of MTP than gregory.

[The Other Kevin]

I too, frequently, listen to KVI. There seem to be two consistencies to Kirby and Co.:

1 - Carleen is never on the show,

2 - Matt whashisname never says anything.

Not sure what the diff between "Kirby and Co." and "the Kirby Wilbur Show" is but I get the feeling it's like the difference between Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb.

[Habu]

Carleen is on maternity leave.

[The Other Kevin]

Is Matt the father?

[Duffman]

Thanks Habu; I guess that explains it. Not that I missed her but was just curious.

[PugetSound]

I gave up on David Gregory when he danced with Karl Rove.

Posted by: sparky | December 08, 2008 at 04:49 PM

now be fair. it was one of those DC Reporter Bash Events and the Emcee called up both Rove and Gregory to participate. it didn't look like either was being anything other than a good sport.

[PugetSound]

and while others may choose to ignore, i congratulate President Elect Obama on his decision to place a Roadrunner Cloud between him and the Nutroots.

To Obama I say, 'run, run like the wind.'

To the Nutroots who elected him and up to know have been busy assuaging their fears with a 'just happy to be here.' all we can say it is too funny.

[PugetSound]

and for the record i can't believe this obsession with obama's birth certificate.

let it go people. let it go.

[Coiler]

Consensus, not nutroots. Big difference between that and desperation pick of VP who blew it all for you guys.

[Murky-tooth]

The Republicans WISH they had netroots, or any foothold on the net. Or roots other than the religious right.

[AprilMayJune]

I have not watched Hardball in a long time, and watching it tonight, Chris seems quite flighty, distracted and just less self-assured. Just my view.

[nevets]

Anyone by chance hear what the Gov. of New York State said today about the presidency of the United States.

"Once you've gone BLACK, you never go back."

If he was Republican and white, do you think he would Govenor tomorrow.

[joanie]

Gregory is a preppy replacement for Russert. Maddow would give the show more depth and integrity.

One of my parents got back from a year at Stanford where his son went to school with the Palo Alto kids. It was tough on the boy because he was invisible to them. No one was unkind. He just wasn't one of them.

We have a class society in this country and all those highly paid media types are part of it - or think they are. We've lost media. It belongs to George Bush's base.

Matthews is smart. I wish he could control his personality.

I see, chucks, you are still unable to get words out without name calling.

[PugetSound]

Coiler
Why don't you ask Sen Saxby Chambliss about how much he valued Sarah Palin in his runoff win in GA.

Joanie
You calling out someone for 'name calling' is damn funny. But you probably don't pick up on it.

But you are right Joanie. We have a class society. Seattle is one of the great examples. You know, those ph(J)oanie liberals who talk one thing but you'll never see them teaching in Ranier Valley and instead stay insulated in what was referred to earlier as 'white enclaves.' You know the types...ooops, wouldn't that be you? Yes it would.

[Duffman]

Any one tracking whats coming down on this Illinois Gov? WOW!

[Coiler]

Saxby, lol Like GA was such a tuff state for him to win. Our side picked up all of New England which doesn't have a repug in the senate anymore. Consensus.

[nevets]

Yes Duff. Amazing what the Libs will do. Wonder how much President Elect Obama was going to get from the sale of his Senate seat.

[chucks]

Even The One won't be able to cover this up. You can just visualize the POTUS elects staff in full panic mode trying to put distance between Obama and the good Democrat Governor.
Dayum, I wish that I had radio on this new job, at least speakers on this thing. I would be bouncing from station to station to get every body's take on this. Is Air America still broadcasting? I would tune in to them and Rush.

[Coiler]

How do you know our boy Obama was involved? Any more word on the birth certificate?

[nevets]

"and for the record i can't believe this obsession with obama's birth certificate."

Its not an obsession Puts, I think people just want to be sure the guy is qualified. Nothing wrong with that is there. C'mon, would you buy a car without a title, or a house without a deed? (We already know all the libs here would, but you?)

"let it go people. let it go."

And what part of the Constitution would you like to see go away next. Free Speech? Right to own Guns? Maybe you would like one of President Obamas "Peoples Army" Captains to stay at your house without your permission to make sure you follow the correct path? Let the police search your home without a warrant? Or maybe your home taken away with no compensation for the placement of a statue honoring President Obama? The list goes on and on Puts.

People have the right to know if he is a citizen and qualified to hold the position of the highest office of this country. If a regular voter does not have standing to question this part of the US Constitution, then who does?

[nevets]

Still one more case before the Supremes Coiler. The one which one of your own boys filed, Philip Berg.

[Coiler]

he is our president, like puts said, let it go.

[chucks]

Coiler
I have no idea how much The One may or may not be involved. I would hope that as POTUS, he would be a bit more discreet in any corrupt dealings than the asshat Governor.
But more important is that I am here, reading this fine blog so that I don't need to listen to talk radio to know what is going on.
This is going to be fun, with or without Obama. Will he go to prison? When will he resign as Gov.? Will he appoint a Senator first? Are there pictures of him naked with little boys? How are we going to blame Bush for this?

[Coiler]

I dunno, Fitzgerald, the same one who prosecuted I. Scooter Libby, is going after him.

[Duffman]

Well chucks, indirectly it is Bush's fault. You see (according to his bio) way back when...he actually voted for Reagan...ergo close enough to blame Bush. :)

[Duffman]

He (the Illinois gov.) is a potty-mouth and has called our POTUS-elect some terrible names.

[Bammer]

From Fitzgerald's press release, page 8.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2008/pr1209_01.pdf

In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state,
Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted
Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat
but "they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.
[Expletive] them."

[Habu]

Hannity just played a recording of The One denying any discussion of his replacement as Senator with the crooked Dim Gov.

He then played a tape of Axelrod speaking recently about how The One has been in talks with the indicted crooked Dim Gov about a replacement for him in the Senate.

What Axelrod meant to say......

What The One meant to say......

[nevets]

No Coiler, let me teach you a little bit more about US politics. Obama has only been elected to be our NEXT President. Not until Jan 20th will he actually become our President. If you dont beleive me, ask Sparky?

[Coiler]

nevets, how will you spend the next 42 days before this historic president elect takes office? Our nations first black Commander in Chief from Hawaii!

[chucks]

Our nations first black Commander in Chief from Kenya!
There, I fixed it for you Coiler..
Yur welcome.

[Coiler]

Putz said the argument is stale, even you should get off the meme.

[chucks]

..... :) .....

[blathering michael]

The birth certificate case was turned down by the Supremes last Friday, just as everyone said it would. Nobody believed it had merit except the wealthy crackpots who spent the considerable money it took to run out the appeals. If it had merit, you can bet that the RNC with its very professional op-research staff, or a real muckraking organization would have exposed him long ago. I',m sure they both looked into it as soon as they got wind of it -- it would have been Pulitzer shoo-in stuff. It is so naive to think such an outrageous act would not have been outed. It's like the moon landing hoax. People like nevets will always believe it just because he wants it to be true. Jesus, people!

[v-job]

The Repubs are pretty happy they can change the subject from the last 8 years "culture of corruption" which they always denied. Chi-town is, and always will be, corrupt and dirty as hell. Obama will skate, he's too new there, although some of his posse might get touched. You can say plenty about Obama but "grubby" is not one of them.

[sparky]

Steven do you read any news that is not WorldNet Daily or Fox? After a month of investigation by the FBI, there is nothing that would implicate Obama in this at all. In fact, the Governor was pissed that all Obama's people were willing to "give" him was their thanks. The Governor was not the brightest guy either..Chicago affliates are reporting that he contacted Rahm Emmanuel asking for money to pick someone. What a maroon.

[Habu]

The One's case goes to the Supremems once again for 12 Dec 08 conference.

Wonder why The One doesnt put an end to the tin foil hats? Something there???

Scalia Accepts Cort Wrotnowski Case on Obama Citizenship to Conference
Supreme Court ^ | 8 Dec 08 | Unknown

No. 08A469 Title: Cort Wrotnowski, Applicant v. Susan Bysiewicz, Connecticut Secretary of State

Docketed: Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Connecticut Case Nos.: (SC 18264)

~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nov 25 2008 Application (08A469) for stay and/or injunction, submitted to Justice Ginsburg. Nov 26 2008 Application (08A469) denied by Justice Ginsburg. Nov 29 2008 Application (08A469) refiled and submitted to Justice Scalia. Dec 8 2008 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 12, 2008. Dec 8 2008 Application (08A469) referred to the Court by Justice Scalia.

[PugetSound]

Nev
I appreciate what you're are saying and I am fairly certain that the usual suspects -those lacking intellectual integrity- would be on this if it was W with the questions on his birth certificate. It is interesting that the question could be quickly settled. But if this was W, they would be hounding it like they were the original Twig Truthers. Remember that. Or that ex bizness Partner of Sarah Palin's husband who sealed his divorce and you had Sparky riding those rumors that Sarah was named in the divorce and when it turned out false could only say, 'what do you expect me to think when someone seals there divorce.'
Heck, you can't even get them to admit when they are wrong in the spirit of being honest.
Despite that, I am thinking that there isn't anything to it. If there was anything to it I am sure that the Clintons would have turned it up and played it.

[sparky]

Politico's Carol E. Lee and Nia-Malika Henderson make the following claim:

"Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy."

However, since early 2007 Obama has supported repealing the tax cuts by allowing them to expire. A review of 11 New York Times articles ranging from April 21, 2007 to October 19, 2008 support that..

April 21, 2007:

Senator Barack Obama (Ill.): let cuts expire for households earning more than $250,000.

May 30, 2007:

Mr. Obama would pay for his plan by not renewing President Bush's tax cuts for the most affluent Americans -- those making more than $250,000 a year -- when they expire at the end of 2010, aides said.
November 7, 2007, December 23, 2007, February 4, 2008,

April 14, 2008:

Both Senators Clinton and Obama would allow the Bush administration's personal income tax cuts to expire in 2011 and are proposing new levies on wealthy individuals, oil companies and other businesses to help pay for expansive and expensive new government programs.

And so on.

[Habu]

Ax speaks and clarifies:

"David Axelrod sent a statement out this evening via Obama transition team spokesperson Jen Psaki saying he was “mistaken.” Here are the entire two sentences of the statement: “I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.”

Sure, right, uh huh, Ax.

Barry must be up to two packs a day and his tic going wild.

[chucks]

Awe schucks, it is nothing to be concerned with. Just a nice warm blanky to protect and cover up.
Michael's Blathermunch was very timely. Cook up a new batch of pop corn, heavy on the butter. The show has started a little early.
I love a big glass of milk with my pop corn. Yummmm.

[PugetSound]

err Sparky, I guess that road runner cloud is something you're getting accustomed to seeing.
letting a tax cut expire in a few years -if he does that- is a whole lot different than repealing the tax cuts this year.
how about this on his signature issue, the Iraq war courtesy the NY Times on Sunday.

""Mr. Obama was careful to say that the drawdowns he was promising included only combat troops," he writes. "But supporters who keyed on the language of ending the war might be forgiven if they thought that would mean bringing home all of the troops."
This is a rather delicate way of saying that Obama's antiwar rhetoric was from the outset deliberately misleading, designed to con the millions of Americans who went to the polls with the aim of voting to stop the war.
As for Obama's 16-month deadline for withdrawing "combat" forces from Iraq, the Times reports that Pentagon planners are currently drawing up projections for up to 70,000 US troops continuing the occupation not only well past May 2010, but also long after the supposed December 31, 2011 deadline for a full withdrawal established under the recently concluded status of forces agreement reached between Washington and its client regime in Baghdad. It is generally believed that this deadline will be annulled in subsequent negotiations.
The real policy of the incoming Obama administration was made quite clear last Monday at the Chicago press conference in which the president-elect formally announced that Hillary Clinton—whom he excoriated during the Democratic primary campaign for supporting the Iraq war—was his nominee for secretary of state and that Robert Gates—Bush's appointee as defense secretary, who has publicly stated that US troops will remain in Iraq for years to come—will be kept at his post.
He used the occasion to stress the distinction between "combat troops" and the "residual force" and to make clear that he would listen to the advice of Gates and uniformed commanders in setting the pace for even a partial withdrawal.
The Republican right hailed Obama's performance. In a column published in the Washington Post Friday, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a prominent adviser of the Bush administration, praised the cabinet choices, writing, "It took courage for the president-elect to choose this constellation." He particularly commended the retention of Gates, calling him "the guarantor of continuity."
Then there is Charles Krauthammer, the right-wing columnist for the Post who was a prominent supporter of the invasion of Iraq, as well as of a new war against Iran. "That's the kind of change I can believe in," he declared on Fox News Monday. "It is, I'm sure, a disappointment to his left," he added. "But even more disturbing, I'll bet, is what he said about Iraq."