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NBC's Gregory: "I Wasn't Promising A Friendly Forum" For Sanford
Over the weekend, NBC's David Gregory responded to charges raised by TPMmuckraker and others that he was overly solicitous in trying to woo Mark Sanford to come on Meet The Press during the imbroglio over the South Carolina governor's disappearance.
In an email to a blogger at Daily Kos, Gregory wrote:
Thanks for the email. I wasn't promising a friendly forum. I was offering a fair forum to discuss his problems. I meant my forum allows him to have the time to discuss the situation in a fullsome way, to say what he wants and move on. I appreciate your sensitivity on this. It's a fair question to ask. I have never pulled punches in an interview. Thanks.
Hours after Sanford confessed to an affair last month, Gregory wrote in an email to the governor's press secretary (subsequently released to the media through public records requests):
Look, you guys have a lot of pitches.. I get it and I know this is a tough situation... Let me say just this is a place to have a wider conversation with some context about not just the personal but also the future for him and the party... This situation only exacerbates the issue of how the GOP recovers when another national leader suffers a setback like this. So coming on Meet the Press allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to... and then move on. You can see you have done your interview and then move on. Consider it.
We report, you decide.
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Josh
Zachary
I'm so old that I can remember when we had an independent press.
July 21, 2009 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
sunny,
as I said in an earlier post regarding this story;
members of the MSM are tripping over themsleves in the rush to plant the biggest kiss on Sanford's ass so as to score an interview with him.
July 21, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check out McClatchy for yesterday: In it is a sob-story column written by Sanford hisself. If you have a problem getting through it without your stomach turning, then just drop down and read the comments. Last I looked it was unanimous AGAINST the guy.
Now, let's get this real straight: Gregory wants to help Sanford get HIS story out -- so they can then move on, real fast, without looking back, from that pile of doggie poo?
Gregory is a smug Republican ass who correctly believes he's better looking than Tim Russert.
July 21, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obviously people like Gregory are looking for ratings. At that point in time landing an interview with Sanford would have skyrocketed his ratings. Of course he's going to make it look like going on his show would be favorable. What's he supposed to say, 'come on my show so I can throw you to the wolves.' Don't see that working.
That doesn't mean I agree with Gregory. I just understand his method.
July 22, 2009 8:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dick Gregory short version: I'm a whore but I'm a high-class, full-service whore.
July 21, 2009 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean David Gregory, of course. It would have been pretty cool to have Dick Gregory, in his heyday, interviewing Sanford.
July 21, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oops! Yes, I meant David, the fullsome whore.
July 21, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's for sure. You talk about one interesting conversation?
July 21, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"in a FULLSOME WAY..."
"I have never pulled punches in an interview," (nor did i ever, ever dance with karl rove onstage.)
Hahahahahaha hohohohohoho heeheeheeheehee!
July 21, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I recon DG would have to throw a punch before he could pull it. Yup.
July 23, 2009 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gregory really can't get out of this one. The combination of his voiced concern that the GOP recovers, along with his offer to let Sanford "frame the conversation how you really want to" . . . is a slamdunk case of Media lapdogitus.
. . . .
Which reminds me. I'm sure others have mentioned it a million times, but isn't it interesting how the MSM is so concerned about the GOP's recovery?
They spend hours and hours on this, have panel after panel bringing this issue up again and again. I don't remember any such thing happening when the Dems were down.
Yep. There's your "liberal media" for ya.
July 21, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gregory took Russert's spot on MTP, now he wants the coveted "Media Whore of the Year" award.
July 21, 2009 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I have never pulled punches in an interview,"
If this is true he is a flyweight and should leave the heavyweights to someone a little more gravitas.
July 21, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously. That fluff he does represents a hard-driving interview?
Mike Wallace will probably break a rib from laughing so hard at that.
July 21, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mike Wallace doesn't laugh much since he's seen son Chris in action.
July 21, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lighter than that. I started a Whimpweight division, knowing I wouldn't have any challengers, so I'd be a natural for Whimpweight Champion of the World. Then Gregory shows up.
To heck with it: I couldn't walk upright while wearing those incredibly heavy gloves anyway.
July 21, 2009 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm calling BS on "Pimp the Press." Here's the link if you want to as well:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/ns/meet_the_press_online_at_msnbc/
July 21, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the link. I just posted my comments.
July 21, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
David Grgory:
'Goddamnit! how did that e-mail get out?'
July 21, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, he's technically correct. He never explicitly said "We'll give you a friendly forum". However, this:
is basically saying "Come on, and I'll let you say whatever you want". If David Gregory can't understand this, he deserves to be fired.
He deserves to be fired, period, but this is egregious.
July 21, 2009 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except little Davie is exactly the type NBC/GE wants, as was Russert; to put forward the agenda of their guests via the infomercial that is MTP. I just wonder, given their approach, what NBC/GE corporate agenda is in news presentation, manipulation and editing.
July 21, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I could not agree more that the word "framing" basically should just read, "whatever you want to say Gov, we are not going to stop you, so by all means frame/market the conversation whichever way you want.
I do not know that he should be fired however as he represents what most MSM "journalist" seem to represent with the exception of those FOX "journalist" who are at the top of the current MSM types.
July 21, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, he knows what it means. That's why he didn't answer the question asked. He answered the question he wanted to answer.
July 21, 2009 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought the definition of "fullsome" is quite appropriate.
fullsome
[edit]English
[edit]Adjective
fullsome (not comparable)
Common misspelling of fulsome.
(archaic) Gross or excessive.
July 21, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Win.
July 21, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
The dKos blogger did include something puzzling in his email to Gregory:
This is an insult to Tim Russert
Um, actually I think Russert would have done exactly the same thing as Gregory. Timmeh never hesitated to be the "best format" for dissembling, corrupt Republicans:
http://crooksandliars.com/2007/01/26/russert-played-for-a-fool
Dancin' Dave is simply following in the footsteps of the master.
July 21, 2009 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the blogger who "broke" the story of his response, I'll agree that I wasn't a fan of Tim Russert, but if you're going to insult a guy, then telling him he's failing his predecessor is a good way to do it.
July 22, 2009 2:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
MTP has been unwatchable since Gregory took over.
Russert made me cringe at times, but Sunday mornings belonged to Meet The Press. These days, Face the Nation is the only Sunday show I can stomach.
They should have given MTP to Chris Mathews, who at least knows how to get-in-your-face...
July 21, 2009 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, they should have given it to a real journalist instead of either camera/mic hog. Post-Cronkite the real ones are nearly as rare as the ivory billed woodpecker, but they do exist.
July 21, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. But for the life of me I can't remember what her -- his?? -- name is.
But excellent journalism nonetheless. If it happens.
July 21, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really? I can't stand to watch Bob Scheifer sucking up to any Republican on the show - and when it's John McCain I keep expecting him to genuflect. His other annoying trait is, like Broder, to cry for bipartisanship - meaning let the Republicans have their way.
July 21, 2009 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Acutally, I think it is somewhere in the middle. It wouldn't be a very effective interview request to say, 'Hey, I am going to rip you apart on national TV'. So to a certain point, he has to at least appear sympathetic to Sanford's situation in order to have a chance.
Unfortunately, we have a system where, until the interviewee has fallen far out of favor with his own people, that TV interviewers can't really fire off the really hard questions in most cases on weekly shows. If they do that, the guests stop agreeing to appear and there go the ratings, and finally the job.
For all the talk about Journalistic Integrity, you have to remember that modern day news is a profit venture now, as sad as that is, and all decisions must be seen through that lens.
Nailing a Sanford interview would have meant higher ratings for MTP, which lead to more money for NBC, which equals a raise for David Gregory. No one on that chain will do anything to disrupt that process.
July 21, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
David Gregory is a clown with a massive, massive ego.....he's up here on Nantucket and he expects people to bow to him where ever he goes. He is also known both in DC, NY and Nantucket for being very nasty and rude in restaurants and often pulls the old "do you know who I am?" routine.
I can't stand him and I wouldn't watch MTP if it was the only thing left on tv.
Don't let dave fool you---he has an agenda, two actually, his own corporate career and his fellow mandarins in the press.
July 21, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
But he must have some redeeming quality, right? I mean one, anyway. Not too big of course.
Perhaps like a puppy's little rug to pee on.
July 21, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
In fairness to Gregory, he didn't promise a friendly forum. He pointed out reasons why it would be in Sanford's interest to appear on a (compartively) long form interview show to present his side of the story rather than try to rehabilitate himself by means of 30 second sound bites.
Gregory may be a jerk and a lousy, sycophantic pseudo-journalist, but in this one instance, he doesn't seem to have done anything wrong.
July 21, 2009 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. He didn't offer a freindly forum. He offered a kiss-ass forum -- the giveaway being the sly comment about "then move on".
Come on my show, drop your pile, then we'll both move swiftly on and not look back. We can talk about the future when everyone's Alzheimer's kicks in and you're a viable candidate* again.
_____
*Who put the "candid" in "candidate"?
July 21, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have to throw the punch first before you can pull it.
July 21, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"So coming on Meet the Press allows YOU to FRAME the conversation how YOU really want to..."
[caps added]
The sentence speaks for itself. Gregory's clarification is lame and disingenuous. I'm not surprised he takes us for idiots. His over-inflated, distorted view of himself is also expected. Anyone who watched him during the eight years of Bush knows that he consistently pulled his punches when he should have been throwing brickbats.
July 21, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
He was avoiding being renditioned and tortured.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
July 21, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I hate baseball, so leave out the "bats" part of it.
July 21, 2009 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I have never pulled punches in an interview."
When did he ever throw a punch?
Gregory, when he was at the White was "a lover not a fighter."
July 21, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
"So coming on Meet the Press allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to..." Who of Meet the Press "allows" who "to frame the conversation"? Sounds like a promise to not interfere in a propaganda moment. Come to my show, say what you want, how you want. We won't bother your performance with "tough" questions. It'll be your time with my audience. Drop trou, insert tongue. But it's okay. We never thought Gregory was a journalist anyway so we weren't fooled.
July 21, 2009 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
And we all know how Republican cockroaches frame the debate......"It's Bill Clinton's fault"
July 21, 2009 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK Dave! That clears it up! Right.
July 21, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Come on, at least ya gotta give the guy points for being a pretty smooth dancer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdvHwtRdg_I
July 21, 2009 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
did anyone see brian williams on the daily show last nite and this issue was brought up by john and they both mutually decided to side step the issue. i say, just don't watch meet the press because the host on these type of shows ask a list of questions unconcerned with the answers provided. i sometimes wonder do they even listen to the answer or does the host just go to the next question.
closely watch an interview and you will see
July 21, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is it being too Jacobin to say that creeps like Gregory belong in Fullsome? Folsom Prison, that is. With a Man Named Sue.
July 21, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. Gregory: If you use the word "fullsome" it would be better to spell it correctly with only one "l". Better yet, don't use it at all since the first three or four meanings in your dictionary are about it meaning offensively flattering and insincere, excessive, overdone, in bad taste, etc.
July 21, 2009 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I meant my forum allows him to have the time to discuss the situation in a fullsome way..."
IMO *all* of Sanford's comments have been fulsome. Why does he need Gregory?
July 22, 2009 12:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hi ..I am new here..thanks for the MSNBC link. I asked that they replace David Gregory with a more credible shill.Do not expect too much from them.
July 22, 2009 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beulshid! . . . Gesundheit.
July 24, 2009 7:32 AM | Reply | Permalink