From the Politico:

NBC News plans to name David Gregory as moderator of “Meet the Press,” infusing one of television’s most prized franchises with a sharp edge leavened by a youthful style and versatility, according to network executives.

Gregory, 38, celebrated his 30th birthday — complete with cake — aboard George W. Bush’s presidential campaign plane, the assignment that solidified his stature as a network rising star. Enjoying a gravitas boost from his prematurely salt-and-pepper mane and friendships with Tom Brokaw and other of the legendary figures of NBC News, the Los Angeles native quickly became one of the hottest personalities in network news...

...As NBC’s chief White House correspondent, Gregory has been a dogged — occasionally prickly — questioner of both the president and his press secretaries. The perceived tension benefited both sides, and Gregory maintained productive relations with senior officials.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Gregory would be "an excellent choice": "No one was a tougher, more aggressive questioner in the briefing room than David Gregory. But when it came time to go on the air, he was always nothing but fair."

There's no hiding it, it's drama and it's role playing, it's about personal relationships and networking. There isn't an iota of independent journalism in it.

You make a very good point.

It seems that it's in the very nature of these programs that they have to be softball in order to exist.

What's the alternative? What would all the critics of Gregory here like to see instead - that is feasible?

@ALFondy dances at a high school commencement.

Mommy say ALFondy dances as funny as Dave Gravy.

The old-CEO-professor at Meet The Depressed, Goofs.

ALFondy dances with Gory Gregory with crooked teeth.

Gads. Uneven sideburns. Great Dane Rove on hind legs.

O tutu dressed in Pink Panther White House costume-Ugh.

That remind me of of a sad-sack-Clown in a funeral coffin.

Maybe at the End of the cha cha waltz they ate garbage trash?

Maybe they went Dutch Tweet to a upscale eatery to gorge pie?

'Um stuffed the pockets? A dessert wagons with dead cat on cart?

Rove and Gregory went home to ask spouse to lend Their silk panties?

The overwhelmed ballet instructor said:`Bless Rove and his sneeze gang.

The crappers are the worst jokes in history (hyperbole?) and belch disgust.

Jebbie. Go dance a slow dance with those bad-Psycho-burps. Squeeze hard?

Never let go. Burp, sneeze, cough, hiss, snort, gag, upchuck, and analyze them.

Remember. No let go. No change clothes, bathe, brush or floss and smooch with 'um.

Bless You. After tis post, I'll go pee off the back porch. Jebbie, Please smooch till 'um depart.

Too much Ultra-Brite..

Type...

Great white hype...

Brillo creme hair doo*

Is bad for one's

National complexion

And the TV set too!

David Gregory deserves to get stung over his performance on Sunday's MTP with Israeli Foreign Minister.

However he is just another American corporate news "face and voice talent" playing climb the career ladder with some evident climbing skill.

Surely the "behind the camera" managers and producers of MTP picked him knowing full well what the "look and feel" is they want. Very likely David Gregory will please them willingly and predictably well and often.

More to the point regarding past two days however is asking where are/were the U.S.Congress and U.S.Senate 535 people elected to be there these past 48 hours?

Have any of these people come out and denounced Israel with sharp and firm words?

Have any of 100 U.S.Senators denounced Israel for the brutal conduct of the IAF or IDF against civilians in Gaza?

Have any of the 435 U.S.Congress members denounced Israel for the brutal occupation tactics Israel is openly practicing in Gaza or the keeping out of UN or international press from Gaza?

Speaker Pelosi predictably has failed as she does so often and has earned a big fat F.

Does anyone from this bunch have the moral compass required to call bullshit and lies when it is plain to see and smell?

Anyone?

Pathetic.

Americans may as well take down the Statue of Liberty because whatever it was meant to stand for surely is not with America any longer.

Evidently what is right and what is wrong is getting the David Gregory treatment in WashingtonDC these days.

Past two days Israeli IAF and IDF conduct in Gaza making this plain and simple to see for those not yet made blind by American ignorance and arrogance.

There's the rub. When you live in fantasy land one doesn't have to consider the limitations of reality. Feasible is a dirty word, and self-absorption rules.

My experience: five daily newspapers and talk radio and I always bit the hand that fed me which is why I'm not in journalism anymore - I did my job.

I suppose we could find other journalists than Murrow going back to John Peter Zenger who actually did their job because they felt it was a public duty before private enrichment.

But can anyone imagine a Murrow today going after any of the Bushies the way Ed took on McCarthy?

The broadcast media eventually became a wholly owned subsidiary of the military-industrial complex. One does not need to dig too far to establish that as fact. GE (the nation's largest defense contractor) owns NBC for more than just reasons of profit.

And the blow dried glory hounds and ass kissers at that level know what their role is. If they forget, they land up like Ashleigh Banfield (remember her?).

So the central question becomes: who watches these kabuki theater presentations masquerading as journalism? And why?

Any sentient being with a classic liberal arts education could quickly determine what they are watching is, as a letter writer pointed out earlier, courtesanship.

I have to think that people watch Meet the (castrated) Press and Stepanopolous, Fox Sunday, et. al. because they either (1) believe somehow they can parse out what will actually happen on the national or international stage by reading the between the lines of what is said or(2) knowing it's all bullshit, they just get off on the show or (3) many Americans are easily brainwashed to believe that they live in a real democracy and this is how it speaks to them.

Sunday morning chat shows really are the American version of televised Pravda (as it was back in the Soviet day). There must be an audience for it. Perhaps they exist because these shows are a great way for the defense contractors, agribusiness giants and oil conglomerates that buy all the ad time to reinforce their basic corporate talking points.

Hmmm, you don't think the companies advertising on Meet the (castrated) Press have anything to do with the fawning corporate slant? Oh, of course not.

So why do people watch this shit? Any ideas?

And BTW to Glenn: do you keep track of how many times you get called 'a self-hating Jew?' Just curious and keep up the great work.