{"id":44618,"date":"2014-04-23T16:56:29","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T20:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=44618"},"modified":"2014-04-23T16:57:24","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T20:57:24","slug":"of-david-gregory-and-tim-russert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=44618","title":{"rendered":"Of David Gregory and Tim Russert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wisdom\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Malkin had a piece today<\/a> about David Gregory’s shrinking viewership:<\/p>\n

According to The Washington Post this week, NBC News hired a “psychological consultant” to examine why flailing “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory has been bombing in the ratings…What’s the matter with David Gregory? And why don’t people like to watch him?<\/p>\n

I could have saved the honchos at NBC News a lot of time and trouble. The first answer is: David Gregory is a phony. The second answer is: He’s a jerk.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, not much of a fan either way. But this part I found more interesting for personal reasons.<\/p>\n

Gregory’s predecessor, Tim Russert, was highly respected on both sides of the political aisle. The former chief of staff for iconoclastic U.S. Sen. Daniel Moynihan turned “Meet the Press” into mandatory viewing for any American serious about politics and policy. Yes, he was liberal. But he never pretended to be anything he wasn’t. He did his homework. He didn’t pull punches. He helped enlighten the nation about our entitlement crisis. He conducted interviews, not one-sided partisan lectures.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In October of 2005 when I cam home on leave from Afghanistan I flew into Reagan National. I was on a mission to get to Murphy’s, so I basically took off at a run for the metro. As I was running on those conveyor belt things, I heard a guy yell “welcome home troop!” I was gone before I could reply, but it was Tim Russert, who I had always respected.<\/p>\n

Flash forward 2 years and I was on MSNBC (video below) which they filmed at Channel 4 (I think it was) in NW DC. Before I got on film I was talking to the producer and somehow Russert came up. Anyway, I told him the anecdote I just related, that Tim was the first man to welcome me home to DC. So, I went forth and did battle with Beeker, and when I was done I came out of the filming room, and there was Russert waiting on me. He spent a full 20 minutes with me, gave me a hat and a coffee mug, and actually listened to my experiences. I loved the man from then on out. You can tell from the subject here of the show that Mr. Russert probably didn’t share my views, but he treated me not just humanely, but gentlemanly. <\/p>\n

I think that’s Gregory’s problem. If he cares about us little people, you’d be hard pressed to know that.<\/p>\n