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You are here: Home / I don’t understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck

I don’t understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck

by DougJ|  April 12, 20105:45 pm| 114 Comments

This post is in: General Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives

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Dancin’ Dave has been an even worse MTP host than I had expected:

[A]ccepting a challenge from New York University’s Jay Rosen, interim host Jake Tapper has arranged for the St. Petersburg Times’ PolitiFact site to fact-check what “This Week” guests say after each program.

An “interesting idea,” Gregory allows, but not one the NBC show will be emulating. “People can fact-check ‘Meet the Press’ every week on their own terms.”

What the hell does that even mean? I guess I don’t care anyway, given how completely irrelevant “Meet the Press” is.

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114Comments

  1. 1.

    Steve

    April 12, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    I think what he means is that it wouldn’t look very impressive for them to copycat the competition.

  2. 2.

    mistermix

    April 12, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    I ran it through Google Translate, Douchebag->English version, and it spit out “Fuck You, Proles”.

  3. 3.

    cleek

    April 12, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    i – they don’t have no function

  4. 4.

    jl

    April 12, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    Means Gregory is admitting he is an abject meritricious corporate hack.

    IMHO.

    Also.

    Too.

  5. 5.

    Sentient Puddle

    April 12, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    It means he’s too lazy to do his fucking job.

  6. 6.

    Bnut

    April 12, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    Yay, another GOP meme waiting to happen. This country will believe it. GD it.

  7. 7.

    DougJ

    April 12, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    @cleek:

    i – they don’t have no function

    Yup.

  8. 8.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    April 12, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    “Everyone is allowed to have their own set of facts.” – David Gregory

  9. 9.

    John Cole

    April 12, 2010 at 5:54 pm

    It means, loosely translated- “fuck you.”

  10. 10.

    Elizabelle

    April 12, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    Blog hogging. Here’s my post on the Pulitzers.

    Pulitzer Prizes announced. Politico did not win one. Pro Publica did.

    The Washington Post took home four, including one to Kathleen Parker for commentary.

    NYTimes got three.

    Hank Williams awarded a posthumous Pulitzer citation because he “expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.”

    http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/washington-post-wins-four-pulitzers-new-york-times-gets-three/?hp

    Well well about the Post. Surprising to me. (Anthony Shadid, Post international coverage winner, has moved to the NYT.) But still …

  11. 11.

    John Cole

    April 12, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    We really should try to start a boycott of Meet the Press.

  12. 12.

    Lisa K.

    April 12, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    How did Kathleen Parker win crapall??

  13. 13.

    Incertus (Brian)

    April 12, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    @John Cole: Can I really boycott something I wouldn’t watch if you paid me?

  14. 14.

    Lisa K.

    April 12, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    @John Cole:

    We really should try to start a boycott of Meet the Press.

    I’m doing my part. I haven’t watched it in ages.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    April 12, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    David Gregory is such a disappointment.

    What a jackass.

    Isn’t fact-checking kind of, you know, the job of journalism and public affairs?

    Can we help ourselves at home to some of his outsized paycheck too? I mean, since he’s outsourcing ….

  16. 16.

    DougJ

    April 12, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    @Lisa K.:

    How did Kathleen Parker win crapall??

    You know, she probably is the best columnist at Kaplan other than Dionne and Ezra. For what that’s worth.

  17. 17.

    John Cole

    April 12, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    Although, in fairness, it seems people started boycotting as soon as Gregory took over.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    April 12, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    Yeah, re Kathleen Parker.

    At least it wasn’t one of Fred Hiatt’s team of “former G W Bush White House speechwriters.” I forget how many are on board now …

  19. 19.

    Loneoak

    April 12, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    MTP should run a little box in the corner with Luke Russert nodding affirmatively with everything Graham, Lieberman, and McCain say for their “fact check.”

  20. 20.

    Rhoda

    April 12, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    He’s such an unabashed nitwit.

    At least Russert tried to screw w/the folks who came on his show; he’d dig through and put up the clips, put out the video, make them answer for changing their mind. It was obnoxious because folks should be able to change their mind; but at least it was confrontational.

    That’s the job of journalists: to confront and challenge the powerful. Russert got that.

    Dancin’ Dave is just gushing about his plasma tvs and that he can sit and stand now. Which was classic, that just made me laugh and laugh. I mean damn, that man was made to do weather and he’s stuck trying to fake being a reporter.

  21. 21.

    John Cole

    April 12, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Kathleen Parker is a pretty good read, actually. She occasionally thinks for herself, and it shows.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    April 12, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    I don’t watch MTP. Too early and don’t want to go Elvis on the TV.

    Fareed Z seems to be the only Sunday morning show worth watching. Later online, or reading the transcript.

  23. 23.

    Bill Murray

    April 12, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    I only follow the Bobble Speak Translations of MTP

    http://moonshinepatriot.blogspot.com/

  24. 24.

    Violet

    April 12, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    @John Cole:

    We really should try to start a boycott of Meet the Press.

    Started doing that when Gregory took over. Gave him a week or two, then turned off the TV.

  25. 25.

    kth

    April 12, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    Just occurs to me that ABC may have stolen this idea from the unwatchable ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption”, which has the inferentially-retarded, comically mis-nicknamed John “Stat Boy” Reali at the end of each show correct whatever errors made by Kornhiser and Wilbon that were blatant enough to penetrate his thick skull.

    Good for ABC, but scary to think PTI is something for the Sunday shows to aspire to.

    (edit) the google says that at least 3 other people on the internets already made this connection, including 1 here at Balloon Juice.

  26. 26.

    John W.

    April 12, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    A sports show (Pardon the Interruption) has done this since they started years ago, but it’s an outrage to even suggest it for a political show?

    WTF is wrong with us.

  27. 27.

    Violet

    April 12, 2010 at 6:07 pm

    NBC may decide to dump Dancing Dave if this newfangled fact stuff helps ratings for This Week. Along with Amanpour, of course.

  28. 28.

    DougJ

    April 12, 2010 at 6:07 pm

    @kth:

    Good for ABC, but scary to think PTI is something for the Sunday shows to aspire to.

    It is, though. More generally, national tv sports reporting is at a much higher level than national tv news reporting.

  29. 29.

    John W.

    April 12, 2010 at 6:07 pm

    @kth 25

    How the hell did you beat me to this by a mere seconds?

  30. 30.

    slag

    April 12, 2010 at 6:08 pm

    Dancin Dave’s definitely not foxy to me.

  31. 31.

    eemom

    April 12, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    “COULDN’T really give a fuck.” And “COULDN’T care less.” Please, on behalf our poor beaten language, these honorable words that long to retain their actual meaning and not be colloquialized into gibberish ………I’m begging you.

  32. 32.

    ronathan richardson

    April 12, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    Fact check on your own terms=compare what is said to conservative mythology, decide if it is blasphemous; if yes, throw a fit.

  33. 33.

    jl

    April 12, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    @eemom:

    Sarcasm is an art, not a science.

    And I hate English grammar. Phooey.

  34. 34.

    arguingwithsignposts

    April 12, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    @DougJ:

    It is, though. More generally, national tv sports reporting is at a much higher level than national tv news reporting.

    PTI is hardly what I’d call “reporting.” It’s the sports version of Crossfire with an old hack who whines too much, and Wilbon, who at least seems to know what he’s talking about most of the time.

  35. 35.

    jacy

    April 12, 2010 at 6:12 pm

    @John Cole:

    I’ve been boycotting MTP for years and years. I’m a trend-setter!

  36. 36.

    prufrock

    April 12, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    @kth:

    For those scoring at home, “John” Reali’s given name is “Anthony”.

    You could have used a fact checker!

  37. 37.

    El Cid

    April 12, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    ‘Fact checkers? What for? I got a show, damn it, and we get big names on there — BIG NAMES — and you fucks want to waste my time with ‘ooooh is this true is that true’? Get outta my fuckin’ way.’

  38. 38.

    Silver Owl

    April 12, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    It means quality is not part of Gregory’s repertoire. He’s more of a fictional soap opera kind of professional. lol

  39. 39.

    cleek

    April 12, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    @eemom:

    it’s a song lyric.

    Range Life.

  40. 40.

    eemom

    April 12, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    and Kathleen Parker?? Puh-fucking-leeeeze.

    Until this moment, I don’t think I understood quite how low our standards have sunk.

    But all these emmessemm hacks win Pulitzers at some point, anyway, so who cares.

  41. 41.

    MattR

    April 12, 2010 at 6:19 pm

    @DougJ:

    It is, though. More generally, national tv sports reporting is at a much higher level than national tv news reporting.

    I used to think that, but not anymore. To me the only difference is that sports facts are much more black and white which is the reason why PTI’s fact checking works. Nobody is going to dispute the career ERA of Greg Maddux. Politically, there are more shades of grey which allow both sides to claim that their version of the truth is correct no matter what the fact checker says.

  42. 42.

    Midnight Marauder

    April 12, 2010 at 6:19 pm

    @John Cole:

    It means, loosely translated- “fuck you.”

    “I don’t think we’ve made mistakes.” — David Gregory, January 22, 2010, when asked what mistakes he had made in his first year at Meet The Press.

    David Gregory has been saying “fuck you” for a long time now.

  43. 43.

    ExtremismInTheDefenseOfLiberty

    April 12, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    Back in the days of Lawrence Spivak, MTP was journalists asking questions that had some basis in rationality and some value in terms of being on point.

    Today, the self styled pundits ask things that begin with phrases like “Some of your critics say ……” Now MTP is just an amplifier for whatever idiotic noise is on the wires at the moment. Little wonder that the noise machine operators have learned to play these shows like Wurlitzers. It’s easy, any eighth grader could do it.

    As much as I would like to see MTP go away, I can’t get with a move to boycott it. That would just attract attention to it and make things worse.

    The antidote to bad information is good information. The antidote to bad government is good government. The antidote to bad punditry is good punditry. Etc.

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    April 12, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    To think I used to think David Gregory had aspirations to be a real reporter, just because he’d ask followup questions in the Bush pressers.

    But, now that he’s moving up, the ass kissing has to turn pro.

  45. 45.

    kth

    April 12, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    @prufrock: that’s right, it’s Tony. Not sure how I misremembered that, I used to have little enough to live for that I watched Around The Horn almost daily.

  46. 46.

    Dreggas

    April 12, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    Gregory has said before that he doesn’t feel it’s his job to press people on issues or investigate/fact check anyone or anything. He just is a stenographer.

  47. 47.

    slag

    April 12, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    I don’t think we’ve made mistakes.

    I seem to recall a certain someone else who made a very similar claim several years ago. Peas in a pod these people are.

  48. 48.

    ellaesther

    April 12, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    “People can fact-check ‘Meet the Press’ every week on their own terms.”

    You know what – no. Mostly? We can’t. That’s why we have a press. That’s why the fourth estate exists. Because the average Jane Six Pack cannot, in fact, fact check everything that gets said on a news or interview or commentary program.

    In most cases, Jane Six Pack a) wouldn’t know where to start

    b) would likely not know who to ask, or how and

    c) might be in need of some of that good ol’ investigative journalism there, the kind that good journalists do WHEN THEY FACT CHECK, because maybe the people in power might just be trying to hide something!

    (Obviously, there’s a level on which citizen journalists/bloggers/plain old news hounds do fact check and that’s great, and taking responsibility for your news consumption is a good thing — but to have David Gregory stand there and tell the world that he’s just going to leave it up to his consumers to figure out if he sold us prime rib or rancid chuck is so fucking lazy as to have me head-desking, even as I type [no mean feat!])

  49. 49.

    mistersnrub

    April 12, 2010 at 6:25 pm

    Let’s take a look at the gem by Gregory this weekend:

    :MR. GREGORY: Senator Leahy, isn’t it important that the president select someone who unites the country?

    SEN. LEAHY: Well, I think that there is–right now, as Justice Stevens himself has said because of some of the decisions of the Supreme Court, they are beginning to lose credibility with the American people. Actually, and not for the reasons you may think, I agree with what Jeff Sessions has said, they have rewritten the law. This is a very, very activist court, the most activist court in my lifetime. They rewrote the law to say that–so they said that women could be paid less than men. They rewrote the law to say that age discrimination laws won’t apply if corporate interests don’t want them to. They rewrote the law to give ExxonMobil a $2 billion windfall. And they rewrote the law to say that corporations could come in and meddle in elections in this, in this country. All of those things went against the precedent…

    MR. GREGORY: OK.

    SEN. LEAHY: …and went against the laws of this country.

    MR. GREGORY: Senator, the question I asked is whether you think a nominee should unite the country?”

    I almost threw something at the television. I can’t tell if Gregory’s devout focus on “optics” in lieu of any substantive policy discussion stems from willfulness or abject stupidity. His enfeebled attempt to “pin down” Leahy on this fatuous question betrays the latter.

  50. 50.

    fourlegsgood

    April 12, 2010 at 6:28 pm

    Gregory is an idiot. The average person depends on the press to point out when people are lying on these TV shows.

    And that’s why I don’t watch his wretched show. I’d rather sleep in.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    April 12, 2010 at 6:31 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Pulitzer Prizes announced. Politico did not win one. Pro Publica did.

    The National Enquirer wuz robbed. They should have won something for nailing John “Loverman” Edwards.

    Dancin’ Dave has been an even worse MTP host than I had expected

    Is that still on? I thought it had been cancelled and replaced with Dancing with the Politicians.

  52. 52.

    ExtremismInTheDefenseOfLiberty

    April 12, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    @mistersnrub:

    I heard that exchange too. It must rank as one of the most shockingly stupid and inane lines of questioning in history.

    I wish I had been Leahy that morning. I’d have said to Gregory, “Isn’t it important that Meet The Press unite the country, David?”

  53. 53.

    Eric U.

    April 12, 2010 at 6:36 pm

    I always wondered why they had these shows. I think they were for people that were too lazy to read the Sunday op-eds.

  54. 54.

    maya

    April 12, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    An “interesting idea,” Gregory allows, but not one the NBC show will be emulating. “People can fact-check ‘Meet the Press’ every week on their own terms.”

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, DD knows he only has temporary custody of MTP until Luke finished puberty. So why bother putting any effort into it?

  55. 55.

    DougJ

    April 12, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    @mistersnrub:

    Do you have a link for that?

  56. 56.

    Zifnab

    April 12, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    @mistersnrub: GOTCHA!

  57. 57.

    John W.

    April 12, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    I ran an anti-Gregory blog for a couple weeks, until i gave up when he was hired.

    He’s’ the epitome of awful.

  58. 58.

    El Cid

    April 12, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    Why should a billion dollar news corporation do all the work of “verifying” their stuff and “making sure” they’re looking into what are demonstrably important questions?

    Heck, why don’t all you worthless jerks out there working your shitty jobs — you ain’t got nothing better to do — why don’t you get on the internet and do all the work?

    It’s not our job to go on TV and worry “OMG is this ‘true’ or ‘important'” or not, it’s our job to go out there, look good, and talk to the Big Names, get the management and ownership feeling like they got somethin’ out of the show.

    Look, if a bunch of important right wingers show up claiming that they have secret evidence which they can’t show us but they really promise that Saddam Hussein is about to kill us all with magic beans nuclear weapons, it’s not our job to figure out of those claims are true; it’s our job to talk about it real serious and heavy-breathing like.

    Same way — a couple of right wing douchenozzles show up with a bit of video they claim that shows the nation’s largest advocacy group for housing and financial rights for the homeless and poor communities doing criminal stuff? We’re gonna run with it.

    You schmucks can get out there and beat the pavement or “log on” and do all this grunt work, ’cause our work is done by getting these people who are Beltway and right wing favorites on the air.

    Just think of how much work it would take to look into whether this or that or whatever is ‘true’ or ‘relevant’, and plus, all this just so some of our most valued guests would get mad at me and my show?

    You can forget it.

  59. 59.

    PanAmerican

    April 12, 2010 at 6:40 pm

    @mistersnrub:

    Krusty: [chuckles] Good evening. Tonight my guest is AFL/CIO chairman George Meany, who will be discussing collective bargaining agreements.
    Meany: It’s a pleasure to be here, Krusty.
    Krusty: Let me be blunt: is there a labor crisis in America today?
    Meany: Well that depends what you mean by “crisis”…
    [Bart groans]

  60. 60.

    Mark S.

    April 12, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    PTI : Around the Horn :: Paradise Lost : The Da Vinci Code

    @mistersnrub:

    Why on earth would a SCOTUS nominee unite the country? Has that ever happened before? Last I checked, people have pretty strong ideas about abortion, gay rights, etc. No nominee is going to unite the country.

  61. 61.

    geg6

    April 12, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Mr. Cole, I may very well be the one person on this blog who is proud to say that I am directly responsible for the huge ratings hit taken by MTP since Stretch took over. (He will always be Stretch to me since that was Shrub’s nickname for him. He should die and be buried with that name as a mark of shame.). I can say this now that it’s over. I was a Neilsen household, with the meters on the tv and everything, for the last five years. And I watched MTP every week. Not because I was a Russert fan (horrors!), but because I knew it was the most pure distillation of Village wisdom as anyone can find. And I watched the first show with Stretch and the next week, I started watching OnDemand or the Food Network, with a stop at This Week with George Stephanopolis’ Hair when he had someone other than McCain on or Krugman on the panel. Now, I know I’m not single-handedly responsible for the MTP ratings slide, but I like to think I can take some credit in making Stretch even more irrelevant than someone who is happy to be a backup dancer for Karl Rove already was.

  62. 62.

    ellaesther

    April 12, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    @slag: Indeed.

    Any fool who doesn’t think he’s made mistakes is no one I want to trust to take care of my dog, much less give me my news (or run the country, but thank God, that’s over!)

  63. 63.

    ellaesther

    April 12, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    @geg6: And a humble nation thanks you for your service.

  64. 64.

    kay

    April 12, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    @mistersnrub:

    It’s just a ridiculous question. Did he get his cue cards mixed up, or something?

    “Unite the country” around what? The Supreme Court nominee?

    That seems like a heavy burden for one judge. I don’t really know if he or she can “unite the country” in hearings that no one watches. If we’re still fighting about abortion or health care after confirmation hearings the judge is a big fat failure? Wow. When did that become the measure? This is going to have to be one extraordinary nominee.

  65. 65.

    ExtremismInTheDefenseOfLiberty

    April 12, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    @El Cid:

    Just have two words:

    Richard.Jewell.

    NBC really didn’t learn much of anything from that debacle, did it?

  66. 66.

    jl

    April 12, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    @geg6: thanks from me too.

  67. 67.

    Gravenstone

    April 12, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    As Colbert so presciently noted, reality has a well known liberal bias. Gregory doesn’t need any of that there liberal reality interfering with his well crafted bullshit talking points.

  68. 68.

    Chad N Freude

    April 12, 2010 at 6:48 pm

    @ExtremismInTheDefenseOfLiberty:

    “Isn’t it important that Meet The Press unite inform the country, David?”

  69. 69.

    MikeJ

    April 12, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    Hey DougJ, didja see Think Progress’s follow up on Paladino? Apparantly. he just forwards email without knowing whats in them, and it’s all the fault of Democrats.

  70. 70.

    geg6

    April 12, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    ellaesther and jl: Oh, happy to be of service! I know they told me that I represented 25,000 people, so I figure I had BJ as a whole covered. At least, as far as the regulars go anyway.

  71. 71.

    kay

    April 12, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    @Mark S.:

    Agreed.

    I think he has a laminated card that says “unite the country?” and he just asks that question no matter what the topic.

    I would refuse to answer it. Leahy should say: “that’s ridiculous. Try again. I’ll wait”. Then he should start humming really loud.

  72. 72.

    El Cid

    April 12, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    @ExtremismInTheDefenseOfLiberty: I’m sure NBC learned to be more cautious about how it phrased things so as to assume no network responsibility, retreating more into “officials” or “unnamed sources” said.

    Did Judith Miller et al’s reign of false warhawkery in Gulf War II teach the New York Times to be careful about evidence and claims in the ACORN fraudulent reporting? Apparently not.

    The billion dollar news media works to get names & spelling right, usually, but real journamalism? Sure, occasionally. But it’s not necessarily the rule.

  73. 73.

    Chad N Freude

    April 12, 2010 at 6:53 pm

    @El Cid: Excellent manifesto.

  74. 74.

    El Cid

    April 12, 2010 at 6:53 pm

    @kay: Leahy could give Gregory a Magic 8 ball and say that this one has many more questions, try this…

  75. 75.

    Midnight Marauder

    April 12, 2010 at 6:53 pm

    @kay:

    That seems like a heavy burden for one judge. I don’t really know if he or she can “unite the country” in hearings that no one watches. If we’re still fighting about abortion or health care after confirmation hearings the judge is a big fat failure? Wow. When did that become the measure? This is going to have to be one extraordinary nominee.

    I hear that Harold Ford is available these days…

  76. 76.

    mistersnrub

    April 12, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    Here’s the link:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36362669/ns/meet_the_press

    I love how completely he has bought the line of bs that “activist judges” equals “liberals.” It’s like his brain short circuits with Leahy’s answer and he’s left sputtering, “but, but what about teh unitys and bipartisanship?”

  77. 77.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    April 12, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    To fact check would be to forfeit cocktail invitations, which would forfeit the opportunity to invite BIG NAMES onto MTP. It really is the worst kind of shame spiral.

  78. 78.

    ellaesther

    April 12, 2010 at 6:59 pm

    @mistersnrub: Wow. I just read this. Holy crow. That’s… that’s something else.

    like @kay: said: Leahy should say: “that’s ridiculous. Try again. I’ll wait”. Then he should start humming really loud.

  79. 79.

    Chad N Freude

    April 12, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    MR. GREGORY: Senator Leahy, isn’t it important that the president select someone who unites the country?

    I think this should be a test for every presidential appointment. Any nominee who doesn’t unite the country before assuming whatever position he/she was nominated for, isn’t fit to hold whatever position he/she was nominated for.

    Wait, maybe he meant unite the country after being approved. Then any nominee who doesn’t unite the country after assuming whatever position he/she was nominated for should be reject (before assuming whatever position he/she was nominated for).

    That may be the stupidest question ever asked on TV news. Why didn’t Leahy ask him how a nominee for any position could unite the country? What could the nominee do to unite the country?

  80. 80.

    slag

    April 12, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    @kay:

    I think he has a laminated card that says “unite the country?”

    More likely he writes it on his hand every morning.

  81. 81.

    kay

    April 12, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    @El Cid:

    Leahy just sits there and stares at him. Watch him sweat. Tick, tick, tick..that stupid question would just be hanging there. I would watch that.

    I can’t watch him because I hate how he screws up his face like he…can’t….manage…to…comprehend. Come on. It’s not like he asks difficult or specific questions. I’m thinking, “move it along, bud. We don’t have all day. You can catch up later”.

  82. 82.

    SIA

    April 12, 2010 at 7:05 pm

    @geg6:

    I know they told me that I represented 25,000 people

    You could totally have your own kingdom.

  83. 83.

    mellowjohn

    April 12, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    prufrock @ 36: if you’re scoring at home, why are you reading a blog, too?

    h/t to keith olbermann

  84. 84.

    mistersnrub

    April 12, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    Obama should nominate Justin Bieber to the bench, for the sake of unity.

  85. 85.

    CybScryb

    April 12, 2010 at 7:14 pm

    The continuous lowering of expectations makes all things possible…even Sarah Palin.

  86. 86.

    kay

    April 12, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    This is off-topic, but I’m going to stretch, because I think it’s great.
    Mississippi’s declaration of confederacy month doesn’t mention slavery.

    BUT, the NYTimes article about it included this, almost as a rebuttal:

    Mississippi’s declaration of secession before the Civil War said: ”Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery — the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.”

    In our numerous discussions of the confederate history month lunacy, several people kept posting the various state declarations when they seceded. I hadn’t read those, so I was interested.
    And now the NYTimes is doing it too :)
    Bravo. They can’t keep lying with these declarations floating around.

  87. 87.

    WereBear

    April 12, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    @El Cid: Marvelous. The whole thing.

    And, sadly, true.

  88. 88.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    April 12, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    @DougJ: No love for Eugene Robinson?

  89. 89.

    bayville

    April 12, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    Is Meet The Press on Sunday or Saturday?
    And David Gregory?… Is Tim Russert on vacation?

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    April 12, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    @kay:

    I know that Haley Barbour wants to run for president, but I don’t think I’ve seen the press hate a Republican as much as Barbour since, well, forever. You’d almost think he was a Clinton.

    If it was the Mittster or Huckabee, they would have covered for him, but they really really really hate Barbour.

  91. 91.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    April 12, 2010 at 7:24 pm

    No tweeting for the Twit of Sunday Morning.

    Shorter Dancin’ Dave: Get off my lawn, you whippersnappers!

  92. 92.

    Chad N Freude

    April 12, 2010 at 7:25 pm

    @kay:

    They can’t keep lying with these declarations floating around.

    And why not?

  93. 93.

    ajr22

    April 12, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    @mistersnrub: That would unite the twitter universe. I saw a minute of mtp this week and it consisted of Gregory heading to commercial with some bullshit like ” The Obama nuclear treaty, people are saying it is making us less safe. We will discuss when we come back” I wanted to punch him. Nice framing of the issue, he might as well of said “Obama’s nuclear treaty the republican framing is we are all gonna die, so we will discuss the topic based on their spin after the break.”

  94. 94.

    SRW1

    April 12, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    “People can fact-check ‘Meet the Press’ every week on their own terms.”

    Translation:

    I got a pretty nice gig here and I’ll be damned if I agree to being shown up as the journalistic non-event that I am.

    And besides, taking your cues from David Broder can’t be all that wrong. That guy get’s invited to all the fancy cocktail parties around here.

  95. 95.

    kay

    April 12, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    It gets better. The confederate they contacted for comment (the governor neglected to respond) then compares the tea partiers to the confederates.
    I don’t know that they can whine they’re being unfairly portrayed when they’re making the connection themselves.

  96. 96.

    Archibald Leach

    April 12, 2010 at 7:59 pm

    @jl:

    Seeing himself called meretricious would make Gregory beam with pride.

    (Though he probably *would* know the meaning of “corporate hack.”)

  97. 97.

    ericvsthem

    April 12, 2010 at 7:59 pm

    Nothing to add except my thanks to DougJ for the song reference. I hadn’t listened to that song in a while. It’s a lot of fun to sing to my 7 month old son :)

  98. 98.

    El Cid

    April 12, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Perhaps to “unite the country” the administration could create a living, breathing, human-sized set of smoking WTC towers, complete with an eagle shedding tears over it.

  99. 99.

    sukabi

    April 12, 2010 at 8:02 pm

    @Steve: naw, what it means is that Dancin’ Dave is perfectly happy to have a fact-free show… it makes it much easier to be a ball-licker, and it’s much less stressful for him if he and his guests can just make shit up.

  100. 100.

    different church-lady

    April 12, 2010 at 8:22 pm

    You could give a fuck?

    Under what conditions will you do so?

    Also: I guess what Dave means is that it’s now up to us to be our own journalists and wade through all the crap, insinuation, rumor, innuendo, and outright lying and try to pick out the grains of truth.

    Y’know, all the stuff we used to think that news programs and journalists would do for us.

  101. 101.

    Stan

    April 12, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    @eemom:

    “COULDN’T really give a fuck.” And “COULDN’T care less.” Please, on behalf our poor beaten language, these honorable words that long to retain their actual meaning and not be colloquialized into gibberish

    This crime wave is never complete.

  102. 102.

    WereBear

    April 12, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    Apparently Gregory thought he was getting a talk show, like Chevy Chase.

  103. 103.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    April 12, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    “Meet the Press”? The running joke about the show has been calling it ‘Press the Meat’. With his aversion to correcting/confronting blatant falsehoods that are regularly uttered on his show, may I suggest that Gregory rename it to:

    Stretch the Truth

    That name pretty much covers everything for me.

  104. 104.

    Culture of Truth

    April 12, 2010 at 8:53 pm

    Leahy had once said something similar about a Bush nominee.

    More ridiculous was Gregory’s terror that Iran is about to attack Bethesda and Obama isn’t doing anything to stop them.

  105. 105.

    prufrock

    April 12, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    @kth:

    Ah, yes. Jay Mariotti is reason enough to suppress the memory. Snarky objection cheerfully withdrawn!

  106. 106.

    DougJ

    April 12, 2010 at 9:31 pm

    @Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle:

    No love for Eugene Robinson?

    I’m not a big fan, honestly.

  107. 107.

    Mike in NC

    April 12, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Pulitzer Prizes announced. The Washington Post took home four, including one to Kathleen Parker for commentary.

    Lovely. Must’ve been for all the mash notes to “Old Soldier” John Frickin’ McCain. Now she’s moved on to cheerleading for the teabaggers.

  108. 108.

    Sly

    April 12, 2010 at 9:53 pm

    Not to get all contrarian, but fact checking doesn’t fit the design of Sunday Morning Shows.

    I’m not at all being facetious on this point: The purpose of these shows is not to convey accurate information to their viewers. The purpose is to have on guests that create “buzz” for the following week. The ratings for these shows have been abysmal for years because they’re really not meant for an audience wider than the NYC-Beltway circuit. Same deal with Charlie Rose. Nobody really watches these shows, but the important people watch them, and thats all that matters.

  109. 109.

    p m

    April 12, 2010 at 10:21 pm

    MR. GREGORY: What about the SCOTUS nominee? Does he unite the country?

    SEN. LEAHY: I know him, and he does.

    MR. GREGORY: Then you’re my fact-checking cuz’.

  110. 110.

    Lisa K.

    April 13, 2010 at 6:26 am

    @John Cole:

    Kathleen Parker is a pretty good read, actually. She occasionally thinks for herself, and it shows.

    Kathleen Parker-unlike, say, Peggy Noonan or Michael Gerson-is one of those people I consider too smart to be as stupid as they are. Thus, I have absolutely no respect for her andf she can fuck off and die as far as I’m concerned. No matter what, she hasn’t done anything to win a prize.

  111. 111.

    raptusregaliter

    April 13, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Shorter David Gregory: “I’m a potted plant.”

  112. 112.

    Ben A

    April 13, 2010 at 11:58 am

    Nice Pavement reference. (in title)

  113. 113.

    NG in SoCal

    April 13, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    @maya:

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, DD knows he only has temporary custody of MTP until Luke finished puberty. So why bother putting any effort into it?

    I think you might be on to something here.

  114. 114.

    brantl

    April 19, 2010 at 11:03 am

    @Rhoda: If Russert got that, then he had no excuse for very seldom DOING IT. His show became Cheney’s go-to place to lie his ass off.

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