I can see where you might be confused.
Smarmy knows no race.
Now, I ask myself why Gregory feels the need to explain himself. This can't be the first time that he has received lots of e-mails for being a jerk...the show-off episode where he questioned Chirac in French in order to make President Bush look stupid comes to mind...but I digress.
Since this isn't the first time he has received a lot of e-mail from angry viewers, something else has caused him to justify himself in print. What would that be?
Well, I doubt that the White House leaned on NBC, since they tolerate other evil morons in the press corps, (Helen Thomas and Terry Moran come to mind)and had the White House complained, THAT would be in the story. So, it isn't the White House that has made Mr. Gregory nervous.
NBC is in big trouble. They are losing viewers and, what's more, THE OLYMPICS ARE NOT PROVING TO BE THE MONEYMAKERS THEY THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE. I heard that for some evenings they are going to have to offer advertisers free time. They are also not letting any networks use video from the Games, which indicates to me they are trying to force viewers onto their channels for the news.
So, Mr. Gregory happened to make a public jerk of himself at the very time that the bean counters are looking for any way to staunch the red ink, and has unfortunately (for him) come under scrutiny from the higher-ups, whose bonuses, if not jobs, depend on showing some profitability. Hmmm.
I bet if we pay extra attention to Mr. Gregory over the next few weeks, we will see that he has suddenly discovered manners and respect for the President. HA!!
I was using "Dick" as an adjective...