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" [T]he debate playing out in the blogosphere, cable airwaves and on talk radio pits the Vice President against an allegedly left-wing, overly cynical, prissy White House press corps in a tizzy because it wasn't the first to know and angry because it hates the President and Vice President anyway. " That's exactly right. And it comes from NBC's David Gregory. Gregory goes on to announce that this description is "nonsense," but of course Gregory has not allowed himself to be questioned outside of his network. He doesn't return calls and he won't make himself available for questions about what...

Dick Cheney's hunting accident could not get the "Dump Dick" reaction or traction the MSM was hoping for. I can easily visualize the bloodthirsty MSM having prayer vigils, pleading with their god(s) to take Cheney's victim, that one tough cookie, Harry Whittington, off the face of the earth so that the Veep could be forever hounded by the Libs, arrested, and then impeached. "The best laid plans of mice (vermin), not men" waiting in their dark cellars under the New York Times for something to chew on. The RIM (Reality Impaired Media) is somewhat like the American Public Schools...

It's been a rough and tumble week in the White House press room over the Cheney hunting story. Many viewers have written me with praise and plenty of criticism about my questioning of press secretary Scott McClellan. Let me say at the outset that I was wrong to lose my temper at Scott McClellan. I've worked well with Scott since we first met during the 2000 campaign. Monday, he suggested my aggressive questioning about the disclosure of the hunting accident was a stunt for the cameras. He said this during a morning OFF CAMERA briefing, which undercut his point. Furthermore,...

Fox News Sunday (Chris Wallace) Memes: As usual it looks like Fox is reversing the main meme of the other shows: the usual suspects (Dems/MSM) are trying to blame the grown ups for a natural disasterThe MSM are out of their tiny minds, particularly CNN for lashing out at Brit Hume and Fox for the Cheney interviewThey are giving Evan Bayh a platform for trying to run right of George Bush on IRANThey are giving Lindsey Graham a platform to auditioning as John McCain's VP candidate, therefore he will take the Democrat talking points on NSA and repeat them, ad...

A question for the White House press corps: Who the hell do you think you are? Seriously. Exactly how egomaniacal are you people? The question is spurred by your conduct the other day over this Dick Cheney matter. The vice president was involved in a hunting accident and all of a sudden it wasn’t about him or what happened, it was how you weren’t notified. Like the world revolves around you. And you started acting like idiots. Juvenile, arrogant, antagonistic idiots. It was a shameful spectacle that further alienated regular Americans and showed, in the view of many, your bias...

The MSM is incompetent. They don't understand privacy laws at all. They wanted Scott to be the first to report the heart attack at the press breifing. They don't understand how a hospital works or privacy laws for a patient. Damn the whitehouse for not highlighting the incompetence over the MSM over this. David Gregory would have blamed the white house for breaking privacy laws if Scott had been the first to release this. But since he didn't release it they are blaming him for this too. Would you like it if a white house press secretary reported someone in...

by Mark Finkelstein February 14, 2006 - 19:52 Thirty-six minutes into tonight's Hardball, host Chris Matthews finally permitted a Cheney defender, former Cheney aide Ron Christie, to grace his program. Even then, Christie was not given an unobstructed opportunity to make his case, having to share the segment with hyper-partisan Dem consultant Bob Shrum - he of the record-breaking number of losing presidential campaigns - who tried to drag in everything from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina. Until Christie's belated appearance, Hardball was an absolutely ceaseless calvacade of criticism heaped on the Veep and his handling of the shooting incident that...

NBC REPORTER TO WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: 'DON'T BE A JERK' Tue Feb 14 2006 08:54:18 ET NBCNEWS chief White House correspondent David Gregory warned President Bush's spokesman on Monday not to be a "jerk!" The heated exchange came during a press gathering at the White House. Gregory asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan about the Cheney hunting accident. 'David, hold on, the cameras aren't on right now,' McClellan replied. 'You can do this later.' 'Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras,' Gregory said, voice rising. 'Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you...

The most heated public moment occurred during McClellan's off-camera "gaggle" with White House reporters yesterday morning. It featured NBC's David Gregory, one of McClellan's most persistent inquisitors over the last year, who raised his voice while asking a question about the incident. "Hold on," McClellan interrupted, pointing out that "the cameras aren't on right now. You can do this later." "Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras," Gregory replied. "Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question." "You don't have to yell," McClellan said. "I will yell," said Gregory, jabbing his...

Gregory in the Gaggle: "I'll Calm Down When I Feel Like Calming Down" Today in the gaggle, via the Chicago Tribune's D.C. blog: "There were no cameras rolling in the Monday morning 'gaggle' today, the morning after news belatedly broke about Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shooting a hunting companion on Saturday. The broadcast sessions of press encounters with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan are saved for formal afternoon briefings, with the morning gaggles serving as more informal warm-ups. And David Gregory, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, was warmed up. Why was the White House relying...

view edit Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 23, 2006 - 08:05. The Today show played a dangerous game this morning. It came close to suggesting that President Bush manipulated the release of an OBL tape in 2004 to influence the outcome of the presidential election. Matt Lauer opened the discussion by flashing a photo in which W and OBL are juxtaposed so closely you might have thought it was a campaign poster. Just in case anyone missed the point, he archly asked: "is OBL President Bush's not-so-secret weapon?" Lauer then suggested the WH is exploiting the latest OBL tape...

by Mark Finkelstein December 19, 2005 - 08:10 Behavioral scientists long-ago determined that, when it comes to changing behavior, positive reinforcement works better than punishment. With that in mind, this column has made it a point to record those [rare] occasions on which the Today show gives 'fair & balanced' treatment to the news. Let the record therefore show that on December 19th, 2005, Today gave reasonably even-handed treatment to the revelations that President Bush had authorized without court order the surveillance of phone calls suspected of being Al-Qaeda-related. There were two outside guests. Katie first interviewed Attorney General Alberto...

Is the White House the center of American government, or a den of dominatrixes? You might think it's the latter, to listen to the Today show the last couple days. As I reported yesterday, in discussing the Bush administration's long-delayed response to the Dems' defamatory "Bush Lied People Died" campaign on WMDs, Matt Lauer described the White House as "lashing out." This morning, the subject matter had changed, but the White House whips were still out as far as Matt was concerned. The topic was the remarks yesterday by Dem Congressman John Murtha, an erstwhile Iraq hawk, who is now...

by Mark Finkelstein November 9, 2005 - 08:29. Imagine that a Democrat had been elected mayor of the nation's largest city, a place where Republicans enjoyed an overwhelming registration edge. Picture too the Dem winning in record-breaking fashion. Do you think the Today show might have mentioned it the next morning? So do I. Yet, incredibly, Katie & Co. this morning never once mentioned the historic triumph of Mike Bloomberg in the very New York City from which their show is broadcast. Bloomberg not only won re-election, but his 20-point margin was the largest ever by a Republican candidate in...

Tonight on NBCs evening news, after the gleeful reporting of the 2,000th combat death in Iraq, giving only passing mention to the fact that 79% of the voters in Iraq approved of the Iraqi Constitution and Bill of Rights, describing later that the people are still "divided", NBC went on to their continuing biased coverage of Plame-gate, There was either a deliberate lie, or a blatant example of lazy ineptness on behalf of the script David Gregory was reading. The comment was to the effect of "…regarding the phone conversations of Karl Rove, and whether or not he "outed" Valerie...

Rush ran an exchange today between NBC's David Gregory and the President...where Gregory hectored him about going to San Antonio, saying, "aren't you going to be in the way? What can you do there?" The announcement at the bottom of the hour was that Bush now will NOT be going to Texas, and instead will just go to the Northern Command in Colorado.

During his visit to FEMA emergency operations center here in Washington today, I asked the President what good he thinks he could do traveling to the hurricane zone later today in anticipation of Rita. He initially brushed off questions, but then spun around to say, "We will make sure that my entourage does not get in the way of people doing their job." What a difference a botched hurricane makes! The same President who appeared just a tad aloof taking in Katrina's wrath from Air Force One, or strumming a guitar after a speech as Katrina was striking, is now...

Beth Wilkinson (NBC, David Gregory's wife) is a partner at Latham & Watkins in Washington. A top counter-terrorism official in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration.

The following exchange is from Thursday's White House Press Conference, between (P)(MS)NBC reporter David Gregory and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan: Q Scott, does the President retain confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security? MR. McCLELLAN: And again, David, see, this is where some people want to look at the blame game issue, and finger-point. We're focused on solving problems, and we're doing everything we can -- Q What about the question? MR. McCLELLAN: We're doing everything we can in support -- Q We know all that. MR. McCLELLAN: -- of the Department of Homeland Security...

Cliff May of the Republican National Committee: "We have right now a credible allegation by Juanita Broaddrick that while Attorney General, Bill Clinton sexually assaulted her and he won’t answer."MSNBC host David Gregory: "Now hold on. You know what, Cliff? I’m not going to let you go there. We are not talking about this today. We’re not going to turn that into this. I want to go around the horn a little bit. Cliff, wait a minute. Cliff, I’m going to stop you. I’m hosting the program. It is not a double standard. We have a clear focus today....