Free Republic

Daniel Halper at the Weekly Standard points out that contrary to media reports Obama was not contrite in his Meet the Press remarks about going golfing immediately after making a statement while on vacation last month about the videotaped beheading of American journalist James Foley by the Islamist terrorist group ISIS. Obama seemed to blame press coverage—saying he’s looking forward to a vacation from the press–rather than his conduct for the optics of being seen laughing it up on the golf course mere minutes after making a somber statement on what many consider to be an act of war on...

US President Barack Obama admitted he should have expected to be criticized for hitting the links on the same day that he addressed the beheading of American journalist James Foley and spoke with his family. ´Part of this job is also the theater of it,´ he told NBC News´ Chuck Todd. ´Well, it´s not something that always comes naturally to me. But it matters. And I´m mindful of that.´ He added: ´I should have anticipated the optics´ of playing golf. Obama, who was on vacation at the time of Foley´s murder, was heavily criticized for heading to the golf course

Within minutes of addressing the nation following the Islamic State’s brutal beheading of American journalist James Foley, President Barack Obama had resumed his August vacation on the golf course. More than a few observers, even the president’s supporters, said that the decision to continue golfing immediately after announcing to the country that ISIS had executed what administration would later call a “terrorist attack” on the United States was unwise. On Sunday, Obama acknowledged that he had erred, not only in seeming detached but also in failing to consider the “optics” associated with appearing callous and disinterested in the wake of...

President Barack Obama said Sunday it's time for the U.S. to "start going on some offense" against the group calling itself the Islamic State (also ISIS or ISIL), saying he would make an address to the nation Wednesday about his "game plan" going forward. "On Wednesday, I'll make a speech and describe what our game plan's going to be going forward," Obama said Sunday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I'm preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from ISIL." Continuing his amped-up rhetoric of the past few days, Obama said the goal...

Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama now admits that his decision to play a vacation round of golf immediately after addressing the murder of US journalist James Foley by Islamic State, was a mistake. "I should have anticipated the optics," Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. The president said that he had been forced to hold back tears when he spoke privately to the family of Foley, who was beheaded, but added that there was always the prospect of a "jarring" contrast between world events, and his own efforts to carve out a...

President Obama said he plans to address the nation on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Wednesday, vowing to "hunt down" the terrorists. Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that the U.S. will track down ISIS "wherever they are." “What I'm going to be asking the American people to understand is, number one, this is a serious threat,” Obama said about the Wednesday speech. “Number two, we have the capacity to deal with it.” “This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war,” Obama says, emphasizing he won’t advocate...

But Obama said "the more important question is whether he is getting the policies right and whether he is protecting the American people and, on that score, he said “I think I’ve done a very good job during the course of these last, close to six years.”

Page Six reports that the newly revamped "Meet the Press," which launches this coming Sunday with Chuck Todd as moderator, has chosen Joe Scarborough to be the "right-leaning voice" in the role of a regular panelist. Other regular panelists will include anyone familiar with the hard-left MSNBC: Andrea Mitchell and Luke Russert. Assigning Scarborough the role of the "right-leaning voice" is a grave error on the part of NBC News. Forget the fact that with each passing day he becomes more of an insufferable blowhard on his own "Morning Joe," this "right-leaning voice" pushes for gun control, amnesty, boycotts of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Chuck Todd, the new host of NBC's Meet The Press, suggested that Americans who do not pay income tax fund public education more than the rich by buying lottery tickets and going to casinos. While interviewing Ben Carson on CSPAN's After Words, which aired on Sunday, Todd said that Americans who don't pay federal income tax go to casinos or buy lottery tickets and are "spending more money funding our schools, whether it's Detroit or other places." Todd said that though "they are not writing a check to the federal government," poorer Americans "are contributing arguably more money to education...

Ousted “Meet the Press” anchor David Gregory was paid $4 million to leave NBC and signed a contract not to speak out against the network, sources told Page Six. Gregory, 43, who moderated the show for six years, was unceremoniously dumped from the political program on Thursday after dismal ratings and months of speculation about his departure. He has been replaced by NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd.

People can finally stop speculating about Meet the Press. NBC News President Deborah Turness announced that David Gregory, who has been hosting for almost six years, will leave the network and Chuck Todd will replace him as moderator beginning on Sept. 7. Andrea Mitchell will serve as moderator of Meet the Press this weekend

David Gregory is now the poster boy warning for that old adage: be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down. And now that Gregory is on the down career escalator because of his quick removal today from both Meet The Press and NBC News as you can read here at Newsbusters, Dylan Byers at Politico has given him a swift kick on his way out the door. Apparently Gregory was not very nice to the folks who worked at NBC News as you can see below. Perhaps Gregory can take this as...

NBC will name Chuck Todd the new host of "Meet the Press" as soon as Thursday afternoon, according to people with direct knowledge of the network's plans. The sources confirmed widespread speculation that David Gregory, who moderated the show for the past six years, will be replaced by Todd, and is expected to leave NBC. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the record. One said that the transition will be swift -- so swift that Gregory will not even host "Meet the Press" this weekend.

Over the weekend, both the Senate and the House approved $225M in funding for the Iron Dome. The bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a 395 to 8 vote. Opposition to the funding of the Iron Dome demonstarted an unfortunate bi-partisan measure – four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it. The four Democrats were Keith Ellison (MN-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Beto O’Rourke (TX-16); The four Republicans were Justin Amash (MI-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), Tom Massie (KY-04), and Mark Sanford (SC-01). Rep. Ellison explains vote on “Meet the Press”: “Because a ceasefire...

You may recall that on Friday, in what would have been a Christmas Miracle were it not several months early, Congress actually got something done. It was the passage of a bill approving $225M in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive missile system. It was quite the bipartisan effort in retrospect, garnering an overwhelming 395 votes in the House with only eight in opposition. One of those eight was Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and as The Corner reports, he went out on the weekend gab circuit to explain why he didn’t support the measure. “Because a cease-fire is what we...

There are days when Mika Brzezinski will surprise you. Take Morning Joe today, and Brzezinski's comments on the news that ESPN had suspended Stephen A. Smith for a week for his comments about women "provoking" domestic violence. Said Mika: "I think it's too bad we can't have a conversation without people exploding, because I think he was trying to make a point. It might have been inartful but there was a point to what he was saying that is absolutely valid and has value." Surprising, no? View the video here.

The New York Post’s Page Six reports today that David Gregory could be replaced as moderator of Meet the Press shortly after the November election. Rumors have been swirling for months about Gregory’s future at Meet the Press, as the ratings have sunk by 45 percent since he took over from the late Tim Russert in 2008. Gregory has turned Russert’s decade-long run at number one into a perennial third-place finish among Sunday morning talk shows. The Post reported that while NBC News President Deborah Turness is publicly supportive of Gregory, she is seriously concerned about the ratings problems. The...

The Talk Shows July 6th, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the U.S.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson; Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho; former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.THIS WEEK (ABC): Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas; Roman Catholic Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, TexasSTATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas; Alan Long, mayor of Murrieta,...

David Gregory’s tenure at “Meet the Press” has suffered another blow after the show’s long-standing producer, Chris Donovan, quit after 12 years and defected to work for ABC rival George Stephanopoulos at “This Week.” Donovan, who started at ABC last week, was fed up with embattled Gregory and the direction of “Meet the Press,” sources tell Page Six, which has sunk to third place in the ratings, behind CBS’ “Face the Nation” and ABC’s “This Week.” One source said, “There is a tense atmosphere at ‘Meet the Press.’ Gregory is dismissive of the staff, and is often hard to reach...

On Meet the Press Sunday morning, host David Gregory challenged former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to defend his and former President George W Bush’s decision to switch focus from the war in Afghanistan to the one in Iraq, asking if that simultaneously diverted resources from fighting the Taliban while radicalizing terrorist groups in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. “Isn’t the legacy of your leadership and that of President Bush in part responsible for the reality today?” Gregory asked. “Did the west fail to deal with the extremism you talk about today appropriately in Afghanistan in a...