Our media is simply a national disgrace. David Gregory on MTP just read statements from Boehner and other Republicans now intent on pretending to be fiscal conservatives, and then got all snotty with Rahm Emmanuel because some of the stimulus package is composed of things other than ‘shovel ready’ jobs. “is it a shovel ready job? But is it a shovel ready job?”
Here is a shovel ready job. Someone take a shovel and brain David Gregory.
Balconespolitics
I’m sure that David Gregory thinks the phrase makes him sound intelligent. And why put in hard work and research to sound intelligent, when you can do it simply with a catchphrase and they pay you just as much?
Anton Sirius
Can it really be called "braining" if there are, in fact, no brains inside the skull to spill?
I could probably handle Gregory’s stupidity better if it weren’t accompanied by such incredible smugness. "But we did ask tough questions of Da Preznit!" Oh yeah, Dave? And what did you do with the obviously bullshit answers he gave to your ‘tough’ questions? You jotted them down like the good little stenographer you are, and called it a day.
A shovel’s too good for him. Crikey.
SnarkyShark
Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel!
Gregory seems to be the new Dean Broder understudy. His reflexive defense of the MSM has been sickening.
Fortunately we have Rachael Maddow now to use as a yardstick for real reporting, and it shows just how far into the surreal Gregory and the village idiots have traveled. I predict Gregory threw his lot into the wrong pile and will suffer in the end.
Conservatively Liberal
The best use for Gregory’s head would be to connect a vacuum cleaner hose to it and clean the cat box.
His IQ would go up at least 40 points just with the first cleaning.
David Gregory loves the sound of his voice and he is willing to bend over and kiss the asses of his corporate masters. If I had to choose between him and the National Enquirer for ‘news’ or (vapid) commentary, the NE wins.
Now if I had to choose which one I had to wipe with if I ran out of toilet paper after purging the processed remnants of chili and garlic & egg salad sandwiches using Exlax, prunes and two enemas?
jon
If the Republicans get to be fiscal conservatives, then I get to be the 8th level elven ranger with the +3 longbow.
Sad thing is, only I have a track record at it.
mercurino
the funniest part is he was talking about grants for college education. how can that in any way be described as "shovel ready?"
Joshua James
He was on Colbert and claimed that he and the WH Press Corp asked "the right questions" of Bush during his Presidency.
The guy is seriously in denial.
bayville
Has the MSM gotten around to blaming the unions for the most recent $25 billion+ handout to Bank of America this week? I’m sure the powerful Bank Tellers Guild of America is the primary reason BOA needs more cash from the Feds.
JL
@Joshua James: They did not care whether or not Bush answered the question.
Mazacote Yorquest
The man rapped with Karl Rove. We were expecting Edward R. Murrow? No, what we have here is another blow-dried middlebrow go-along-to-get-along suit too ugly for acting but too tall, dashing, and inflated by friends and colleagues blowing up his ass to actually sit, study, and humble himself to learn a complex issue, arching his brow and barking portentous questions whose utter emptiness allows the helium of overheard cliches to send it floating over the wrecked landscape of American political discourse.
After Rachel Maddow’s show poured intellectual salt all over that sleepy slug known as "Race to the Presidency" (or whatever bland fucking title Gregory’s show had), Old Stretch is now posturing with even more Bushy insecurity, the sad, cocky gesturing of someone who, while the Maddows of the world came to class with the reading done and solid critiques at hand, shrugged toward his buddy next to him and said "Come on, lesbo– is it really all that deep," before nodding seriously toward the professor, picking up his charitably graded B+ paper, and striding back out into the world, where thousands would welcome him to make it if he would but try to fake it.
Sorry, I’m a little bitter about Dualla.
Andrew
Gregory and Thomas Friedman are neck and neck in the stupidest pseudo-journalist category. They approach stupid from very different directions, but they both get there each and every time.
Ruth
Noted that NOAA is not ‘shovel ready’ and Rahm pointed out that our strength in scientific fields has been frittered away and we have to regain it for economic health. Maybe Gregory thought we should be digging up our atmosphere?
Hyperion
this is also a disgrace.
i have not previously heard about this case.
WTF? why hasn’t this gotten more coverage? H/T Crooks and Liars
Simone
The more I’ve seen of Gregory of late, the more I think he’s just a douche. I caught a few minutes of him on (I’m ashamed to say) Morning Joe last week and I found him, and his viewpoints, appalling and cowardly. So he was the appropriate pick for MTP.
Shawn in ShowMe
Stretch makes Russert look like Moyers.
JL
Praise the Lord! The Obama’s attended the Nineteenth Street Baptist today. Will Politico now stop worrying about the Obama’s church habits.
Juan del Llano
I simply don’t watch these things. Not ANY TV news — or TV at all, for that matter — because it’s all lies and bullshit. If none of us watched, it would shrivel up and die, or possibly even get better. What a radical thought.
The collective is insane. Most people watch TV news. Case closed.
jurassicpork
Crooks and Liars doesn’t deserve a h/t. Michael Collins and I were the only ones who’d invested any real time, energy and effort to promoting the Lindauer story. The A list "liberal" blogs simply didn’t give a shit about Lindauer.
harlana pepper
I’m in the "Just Say No" category. Just don’t watch. Or watch something really cheesy and dumb like "Bad Girls Club." I promise you, it will be just as educational, if not more so, than David Gregory.
Seanly
My company just had a little internal meeting about the stimulus plan.
It is not practical for all the projects to be ‘shovel-ready’. The Oberstar plan required 100% of the infrastructure related moneys to be spent in 90 days. The latest House Democratic plan reduced that to 50% in 120 days and the remainder in 2 years. That is much better & here’s why:
1) Environmental and DBE/WDBE requirements are not being waived or relaxed.
2) Many of the ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects have sat on a shelf for up to several years. This means that specifications and cost estimates will need to be updated. This could be a week or two on a small job or months on a complex job.
3) Some projects might’ve been shelved before the design was complete. Again, size of the project & milestone when it was stopped play large roles in the amount of time to get it finished.
4) While state DOTs have been told that it will not be business as usual, they still have to follow the FHWA regulations and internal policies & laws. For any ‘almost shovel-ready’ projects, add in a few weeks or months as the hiring freeze-reduced DOT staffs struggle to review the updates to specs & cost estimates and approve plans.
5) Projects that were shelved might not have been high priority. Are there higher priority projects close to completion rather than just throwing money at a lower priority one?
As an example of how shoveling cash to the DOTs won’t be a huge help: when I was still working in PA, we heard some scuttlebutt that PennDOT would try to double the $300 million in new & rehabbed bridge work they did each year. This got us ecstatic. Until we figured out that neither the consulting engineer community (us) nor the contractors had the staff or other resources to double our output. Oh, there could be some expansion, just not that level in a short period for an unknown (probably short) amount of time.
El Cid
I bet you’d get a different take on what "shovel-ready" meant from Cheney.
sgwhiteinfla
The Lindauer story which jurassicpork is right in that it didn’t get a lot of pub is very interesting to me but not for the charges being dropped. I read her letter to her cousin Andy Card cc’d to Colin Powell yesterday for the first time and I almost knocked over my lap top. For those who haven’t heard about it or haven’t read her letter which was the basis of accusing her of being an agent for Saddam Hussein I highly recommend you do. She comes off like Nostradamus in her predictions of what would happen if we went to war in Iraq. And I say that without exaggeration. Of course the fact that she was saying war wasn’t necessary and that a compromise could be worked out might be seen as wishful thinking, but the truth is will we ever know if she might have been right?
Napoleon
@Joshua James:
Better yet, Colbert took it to him, and one of his questions, which I forget off the top of my head, came off like a dead serious tough question that the audience didn’t laugh or barely laughed.
Gregory just sucks.
rob
Ever since Nov 4th when Obama was declared PEOTUS, Gregory seems to always have a sour look on his face. On that horrible show he had on MSNBC- he couldn’t even muster a smile every time he had to say Barack Obama will be our next prez. During the general election, he had such a hard on for John Mcain and the rethugs it was embarrassing. Anyway, David Gregory sucks.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Andrew: I’m not so sure about that. Even Gregory can’t compete with Counting Applebee’s:
Gregory couldn’t carry Friedman’s wind when it comes to being a blowhard.
Laura W
@Napoleon: I’ve been trying to recall Colbert’s quip this morning too since I just watched it last night. I was online and only half listening, though. I think it was to the effect of giving Gregory major grief for not doing his damn job in the Iraq war run-up, right? I thought that was what I heard, but as you say, neither Gregory nor the audience seemed to catch it and they might have cut to break right after. Sad. A lost opp. to call him out and then boot him out.
(and I don’t care enough to subject myself to it again. In my attempt to find the tape I’ve already watched Gregory on TDS online, not being awake enough to realize that I was watching a 1/5 show, and the wrong damn show, until I’d endured the whole video.)
linda
dancin’ dave shook his ass for karl rove.
he’s such a slobbering bush toady — and continues to be one to this day. he will be a leading media figure in the gwb history rewrite.
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
Aw, why leave Boehner, et.al., out of it? After the last 28 years of bullshit, it’s kind of ironic hearing the GOP ask for a shovel.
.
Person of Choler
Seanly (20) you are correct. Big infrastructure projects require qualified and experienced engineers, construction managers, surveyors, designers, foremen, skilled workers (rod busters, welders, dozer drivers, tower crane operators….), not to mention accountants and financial controllers to keep track of the money. A shortage of qualified people is probably the main bottleneck in the suggested public works bonanza.
Besides the people, material like fabricated steel has to be specified and delivered and the required heavy equipment has to be operated and maintained by people who know what they are doing.
"Shovel ready" applies to manual digging of ditches, but to nothing more sophisticated than that.
sgwhiteinfla
One thing about David Gregory invoking the ass hat Boehner today is that he didn’t point out that the jack ass has been on his website openly begging for economists to tell him what he wants to hear, namely that stimulus spending doesn’t work. Now I am sure that at some point Boehner will appear on MTP. Who wants to take bets that Gregory never brings it up?
dmsilev
@Anton Sirius:
If nothing else, David Gregory should be forced to watch and rewatch this until he starts to cry. Then, maybe then, he’ll acknowledge his hackitude.
-dms
JGabriel
Joshua James:
Or: Gregory remembered that he was on a comedy show.
OK, that’s pushing it. You’re right, he’s in denial.
.
Just Some Fuckhead
Game Night ends in tragedy, mystery. More later.
Shawn in ShowMe
Gregory should do the right thing and resign, endorsing Gwen Ifill as his replacement. She’s basically been doing the real MTP for 10 years anyway.
maya
Would burying what’s left of the Republican party be a"shovel ready" job?
It would be entertaining if someone, anyone, who comes on MTPutz, were to ask Gregory to give his Top Ten Really Tough Questions I Have Asked The Bush Administration. The answers given and/or accepted by Gregory to his Top Ten should also prove amusing.
But I don’t think NBC would allow for that much dead air time.
wilfred
Our media is a disgrace because Gregory asked Emanuel a question you don’t like?
Our country has become a fucking disgrace because journalists never asked enough questions we don’t like.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: I figured something big must’ve happened to suck you away from further exploring the fantasy of me and a pizza delivery chick at a clandestine gas station rendez-vous.
Oh sorry. Was that O/T?
Joshua Norton
I imagine a lot of people need shovels after a taping of MTP. It gets high and deep around Stretch’s chair. He’s always "shovel ready".
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Well, not quite, they suckered me into playing Apples to Apples, which I lost over and over. One bright spot: I played Republicans on the Risky card and won. Then tragedy, followed by mystery. More later.
JL
@Just Some Fuckhead: Time for some ginger tea?
Shawn in ShowMe
@maya
I think the toughest question Gregory asked the Bush administration was "Sir, I’m sorry, is success contingent upon capturing or killing Saddam Hussein, in your mind?"
Or to paraphrase, "I’m already onboard with the mission but are we going to kill the SOB or not?" Unfriggin’ believable.
Laura W
Just when I thought I’d clear my head with an hour of sanity with Fareed, he has Noonan and Buchanan on HIS show.
A very prescient post, Mr. Cole.
donovong
Why all this vitriol aimed solely at His Royal Doucheness Gregory? Snuffleupagus was on his program falsely equating every dollar of the proposed stimulus as a dolloar for a job – which he expressed as $275K per job saved or created. I guess this means the fucking bridges, schools and broadband stuff are free of charge?
Collective stupidity, brought to you by GE and Archer Daniels Midland.
Fulcanelli
@wilfred:
Huh? Our country has become a fucking disgrace because journalists never asked the kind of relevant and tough questions that would get them banned from WH Press Conferences and tossed out of a job.
Helen Thomas is the only WH reporter I’ve ever seen grow a pair and go after a President mano-y-mano, face-to-face. The rest defer to the ‘decorum and dignity of the Presidency’ and toss nerf balls. A little old lady has to do the job.
I heard there’s a cardboard box near the entrance to the WH press room where the mandatory kneepads with the Presidential Seal are kept that you need to wear as you enter. Fox News bought ’em.
Gregory isn’t going to jeopardize his indoor gig after standing out in the heat, rain and snow doing his live feeds for so long. He’s a fucking dull tool.
Gwendy
Someone release the inner Rahm. He could administer the shovel beating. David Gregory was a horrible choice for the show. I didn’t always like Russert, but with Gregory, I don’t get the sense that he has a real innate interest in the politicians and politics he’s covering that Tim Russert did. It’s all status and conventional wisdom. Conventional conservative wisdom. It comes across like he reads Drudge for his research.
different church-lady
Third, should something happen to Gregory, particularly in the manner described, the police would be forced to take action. Personally, I support a lifetime ban of premeditated intentional injuries like this, and that is even if the Balloon-Juicers are the ones who do it.
I understand the need to trash talk, but this just sort of seems stupid.
Cain
@Person of Choler:
I was thinking the same thing. It’s like putting all these shovel ready projects out, and not having a system to pay for the work. (eg no accounts payable, nothing) YOu have to have the infrastructure, and plans in place before you can start doing it. Hell, it takes time for me to mow the fucking lawn, cuz I need to check oil and gas every time. Asshats.
cain
burnspbesq
@sgwhiteinfla:
I’m sure Mankiw would be willing to do the deed. It’s fun to watch Krugman and DeLong shred him every time he says or writes anything.
Bob In Pacifica
In New Jersey we’d to say, "I got your shovel-ready job right here" and then grab crotch. I guess you couldn’t say that to Sunday morning talking heads, though.
debbie
Sure but it doesn’t matter. Nothing Gregory says will move opinion.
The key fact members of Congress care about is that Obama’s approval ratings are really, really high. That is a huge political resource for him. The first 100 days will be HUGE and Gregory can chirp all he wants. No one gives a shit.
Shawn in ShowMe
Imagine pussycat: 1980, United States. It’s the eve before the Reaganites take power and Cronkite, Brinkley, Chancellor, Rather and Mudd are the preeminent forces in the MSM.
Eight years later the old guys have been replaced with stenographers and face men. Rather is declawed by new management. Talk about wiping out all opposition, Capone couldn’t have been anymore thorough.
Kit
Gregory launched one republican attack after another and his tone of voice was very accusatory – What a tool!!
Most "toolish"
burnspbesq
@Kit:
The problem is that no one will give the correct answer to that question.
Q: "What do you say to critics who claim that the Democrats have a socialistic agenda?"
A: "I say they have no idea what socialism really is, and they are lying to the American people in pursuit of a radical right-wing agenda that Americans would overwhelmingly reject if they were ever told the truth about it."
JGabriel
@Bob In Pacifica:
I don’t know why not. I’m sure the ratings would improve.
.
burnspbesq
@Bob In Pacifica:
Stop talkin’ like that. You’re makin’ me homesick.
magisterludi
What I’m wondering is -is Bush gonna pardon Scooter or not?
It would seem to be really assholish if he did it late Monday night, wouldn’t it?
But will he leave office without pardoning Scooter? That would be a fuck-you to Cheney, eh? It’s a pet cause of Dick and the Weekly Standardians.
burnspbesq
Bird and Fortune’s latest on the financial meltdown is at Calculated Risk. Painfully funny.
Napoleon
I don’t understand what you two guys are talking about, any kind of project like that is carried on by a general contractor that has the front office staff, often most or all of the equipment they would need for the project (with the remainder available to rent) and a list of employees or subcontractors to do the work. With the commercial construction section now in the dumper I bet they are ready to go right now on a project. The long lead part is actually having the engineering and permitting done and in the can so that the construction people can me mobilized now on the project, instead of 36 months out.
maya
I’d say shove it up your booty sideways, David. And I mean that in a nice way.
Brown Man
"Take a shovel and hit him in the head" was the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
These guys can take the "news" out of "newsreader" without even trying hard.
Tony J
And Gregory’s inevitable defence to all accusations of douchbaggery will be to wail that libruls are hypocrites because, when it was a Republican in office, they were demanding relentless, fact-free attacks on everything the Administration did, but now it’s a Democrat in office they want kid-gloves and a safe place to "catapult their propaganda".
And the hungry snake goes "Outhch".
Zuzu's Petals
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Hey, Apples to Apples is my Game Night standby too. Great icebreaker.
TheHatOnMyCat
Gregory is the first guy I’ve seen on NBC that I thought had the potential to finally kill Meet the Press.
A couple years of this and nobody is going to pay any attention to that self important show any more.
Apparently he thinks that he has to explain the stimulus to the chain gangs who are watching tv on Sunday Morning.
Zuzu's Petals
@Kit:
You’re kidding … that actually came out of his mouth?
If so, I hope the response was the same one Biden gave to the blonde/pastel suit newsreader in Florida: "Is this a joke?"
Andrew
Panjandrum: Taibbi’s takedowns of Friedman’s stupid books are the most wonderful things ever.
gil mann
Rove’s Fly Girl? Fuck that guy.
He was an embarrassment to what’s left of his profession on The Daily Show. Imagine being such an idiot that you can take potshots at Harry Reid and be wrong.
Twice during the interview he trotted out some bullshit about how he totally nailed Reid for having said a couple years ago that the Iraq war was lost. These fucking establishment douchebags just can’t understand what their readership knows for a fact: Yes, the surge has tamped down violence, because that’s what happens when occupiers escalate military, but no matter what becomes of Iraq—and let’s set aside the fact that by "winning," we’ve brought Sharia law to the only country over there that treated its women as something approaching equals—it’s wrong to invade countries for no reason.
I’ve heard a million reasons for why these guys are so on Bush’s dick and none of them make sense. It’s like they suck at their jobs just to annoy me personally.
Fulcanelli
So after the
coronationinauguration can we haz r ouwn network too, like Fox? Or is Rachel Maddow as close as we’ll get? I could live with that, although she does hyperventilate and clutch her pearls a little too tightly sometimes. She’s smart, funny at times, and doesn’t insult my feeble intelligence and she has been getting some pretty good guests.gil mann
Militarily, not that anyone’s paying close attention to my primal scream therapy session.
Xenos
@magisterludi: Interesting point about pardons — where are the damn pardons? Most of the White House staff has left, everything is being packed up… and no leaks about last minute pardons. Maybe he has just blown them off.
Is W going right some names on a cocktail napkin after desert Monday night and call it done? Pardons don’t need a lot of work, but they do need to be written up and delivered to the people involved… Any chance that imperfect pardons will be the last of the fuckups?
gopher2b
I do not think its a silly line of questions – Obama said no pork, so the media should hold him to it. That being said, Gregory didn’t even do that effectively. How about specifically asking him how the mafia museum or some of the other garbage in there will create jobs, etc. Instead, he let Rahm get away with giving a 15 minute speech about how Pell grants were good things (which, btw, I fail to see how giving needy students an extra $500 is going to transform our economy 20 years from now but no one cares what I think so…)
bago
Maddow is smart, silly, respectful, and intelligent. Damn.
machine
Forget "shovel-ready", the real question should be: "Is it shovel-worthy?"
I don’t want to read about ground broken for a chewing gum museum, a refurbished marina in a gated community or any porky bullshit like that.
Lancelot Link
Oh, don’t you worry. I’m sure the WH press corps will toughen up in just a few days.
gopher2b
@magisterludi:
I’m willing to bet they come out Monday night or even Tuesday morning. I’m less interested in Scooter than I am war crimes related pardons. IMO, Pelosi is trying to bait him into doing it.
Hyperion
@jurassicpork: sorry. i did not mean to offend or imply anything. obviously it’s your story. but C&L led me to your post. maybe i am not aware of all internet traditions.* i thought i should credit C&L for pointing me to this story, which is incredible IMO. just when you think you’ve heard it all, something like this comes along. how can it NOT get covered?
*what IS the proper use of hat tip?
Kyle
Oh, don’t you worry. I’m sure the WH press corps will toughen up in just a few days.
But they won’t toughen up in ways that promote accountability and effective government.
They’ll go from being Bush’s bootlickers to the catty Heathers of the Clinton era, relentlessly sniping over petulant bullshit like the Blowjob That Destroyed America.
Either way, they’re obedient little corporate tools serving the corporate-crony Repigs’ trivialization and distraction machine.
izerc
Blogging from Indianapolis
The Honorables
Catch Inaugural Fever
http://www.izerc.com/?p=284