David Gregory famously defended the media, widely seen as having fallen down on the job in the run-up to the Iraq war, with this: “I think there are a lot of critics who think that . . . . if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you’re a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn’t do our job. I respectfully disagree. It’s not our role.”
Nope. His role was to ask questions like this of President Bush:
“Mr. President, good evening. If you order war, can any military operation be considered a success if the United States does not capture Saddam Hussein, as you once said, dead or alive?”
And his hard-driving follow-up:
“Sir, I’m sorry, is success contingent upon capturing or killing Saddam Hussein, in your mind?”
Brilliant. As Oliver Willis wrote:
That’s it. He just asked, will it be awesome if Hussein is captured, or just kind of awesome. He doesn’t ask, if it’s a good idea, or what the president thinks of the opposition to the war, or the fact that most at the time didn’t support intervention without U.N. support.
So we know how Gregory thinks those in power should be treated. But what about the rest of us? Does he show the proper reverence for the views of U.S. citizens? Take a guess. (Derived from actual quotes:)
No matter how heinous the issue, David Gregory will find a way to trivialize it. He is a prince among other hacks, like Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, who so distinguished themselves during the election debates.
National embarrassments
With people like these in the so-called mainstream, it almost seems unreasonable to pick on the pundits at Fox News.
Presumptuous Insect 