NYT: Brokaw got KO and Tweety taken off their election night anchor jobs and will be the moderator

[hisownpetard]

of the 2nd Presidential debate. I never liked him, but now I really can't stand the guy.

>>>... But less widely known is that Mr. Brokaw has also played a pivotal role out of public view, both within NBC and in its dealings with the campaign of John McCain in particular.

In an interview here after Sunday’s broadcast, Mr. Brokaw said that over the summer he had “advocated” within the executive suite of NBC News to modify the anchor duties of the MSNBC hosts Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on election night and on nights when there were presidential debates. Their expressions of strong political opinions from the MSNBC anchor desk has run counter to the more traditional role Mr. Brokaw played on “NBC Nightly News” for more than two decades. NBC said earlier this month that the two hosts would mostly relinquish their anchor duties to Mr. Gregory, while being present as analysts.

“Keith is an articulate guy who writes well and doesn’t make his arguments in a ‘So’s your old mother’ kind of way,” Mr. Brokaw said. “The mistake was to think he could fill both roles. The other mistake was to think he wouldn’t be tempted to use the anchor position to engage in commentary. That’s who he is.”

Mr. Brokaw said he had also conducted some shuttle diplomacy in recent weeks between NBC and the McCain campaign. His mission, he said, was to assure the candidate’s aides that — despite some negative on-air commentary by Mr. Olbermann in particular — Mr. McCain could still get a fair shake from NBC News. Mr. Brokaw said he had been told by a senior McCain aide, whom he did not name, that the campaign had been reluctant to accept an NBC representative as one of the moderators of the three presidential debates — until his name was invoked.

“One of the things I was told by this person was that they were so irritated, they said, ‘If it’s an NBC moderator, for any of these debates, we won’t go,’ ” Mr. Brokaw said. “My name came up, and they said, ‘Oh, hell, we have to do it, because it’s going to be Brokaw.’ ”


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/arts/television/30bro...

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. Oh give me a break!!!!!

Shuttle diplomacy? He's in the infotainment business, not international relations. I used to think there was something redeemable about Brokaw, something in his midwestern roots that might keep him tethered to the humble earth, but no. He's so full of himself, and his false humility is hard to bear.

[hisownpetard]

5. I always suspected he was in the tank for McCain, but this confirms it.

He should not be masquerading as a journalist. He's just another shill.

[ihavenobias]

19. Amen n/t

[roguevalley]

60. isn't he the one who never graduated high school? what a stuffed

shirt. seems to think he invented the greatest generation. between Brian Williams supporting Rush Limbaugh and this douche bag, there is no one on the networks that I can stomach.

[Thrill]

2. No surprise. And replaced by Gregory. NBC is losing a lot of respect

[hisownpetard]

13. David Gregory, the dancing Rovebot.

[Cha]

3. Tom Brokaw is a Fucking hypocritical, john mccain shill and

the biggest political advocate there is for the repuke heads.

Are we as a country going to let tom brokaw get away with this blatant abuse of power?!

[hisownpetard]

11. Him telling NBC that Olbermann and Matthews are no good, and then - surprise! - getting anointed

to host the 2nd debate...hmmm, what does that remind me of?





Oh, I know! Dick Cheney's Vice Presidential Search Committee.
Riiiiiiight.

[Cha]

22. Thanks for this news, Petard.. this is all

good information when tom brokaw acts like a repuke shill for mccain as moderator for the Debate when he and mccain gang up on Obama a la the primary debate with charlie gibson as moderator.

[hisownpetard]

27. Yeah, zidzi - another case of that famous liberal bias in action!

[Cha]

30. My only comfort right now is that

Obama Team must be prepping in accordance with the tom brokaw factor.

tom brokaw needs to be exposed for what he is and needs to go down.

[hisownpetard]

39. He should re-retire, and STAT.

[Cha]

42. This is why Frenchie's thread on contacting tom brokaw and nbc

is uber important!

FrenchieCat (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-30-08 03:07 PM
Original message
*ACTION NEEDED! Contact NBC and Request that Tom Brokejaw Recuse himself from Next Prez Debate!
MoveOn calls for apology from Brokaw
http://pol.moveon.org/emails/brokaw_poll.html
On Sunday's Meet the Press, NBC's Tom Brokaw allowed McCain strategist Steve Schmidt to falsely claim that John McCain had called for Don Rumsfeld to be fired. That's an old lie that the McCain campaign had abandoned long ago -- but Brokaw let Schmidt get away with bringing it back.

Even worse, Brokaw ended the segment by announcing -- "in fairness to everybody here" -- that the "latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll" found that John McCain "continues" to lead Barack Obama on the question of who is "best-equipped to be commander in chief."

Yesterday, Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars pointed out that the numbers Brokaw read did not, in fact, appear in the "latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll."

Now MoveOn says they contacted NBC -- and "it turns out Brokaw was referring to a poll taken weeks ago--right after the Republican convention and well before Friday's big national security debate. And in each of NBC's last two polls, Americans chose Obama over McCain."

MoveOn thinks Brokaw should apologize.

That's a good first step. He might also want to figure out a way to reassure the public that he'll do a better -- and more fair -- job when he moderates the October 7 presidential debate.

He probably won't spend much time doing that, though -- his days are apparently pretty full acting as NBC's liaison to the McCain campaign. In that role, Brokaw works to assure the McCain camp that "Mr. McCain could still get a fair shake from NBC News."

After Brokaw's performance on Sunday, NBC should be scrambling to assure the Obama campaign of the same thing.
http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200809300005



Contact Tom BrokeJaw http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152

Call Meet the Press and leave a message! Tel [phone]

Call NBC/MSNBC Phone: [phone]
Fax Your letter!: [phone]


Write to MSNBC/NBC news programs and tell them to pass on the message to Mr. Tom!
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: [e-mail]
NBC News Today: [e-mail]


IT MAY NOT WORK, BUT IT WILL PUT HIM ON NOTICE.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[spanone]

4. he did us a favor, now olbermann is still on and free to speak his mind

[amandabeech]

45. I like Olberman much better as a commentator than an anchor.

Like you say, he is now free to speak his mind early and often.

I blow hot and cold on Tweety, but, again, he's a better commentator than anchor, although I think that he is a little better than Olberman at playing the straight guy.

During the fiasco, I actually turned off MSNBC because it often deteriorated into a food fight. As much as I think Brokaw may lean McCain, I think that he is better prepared to keep Rachel Maddow from strangling Pat Buchanan on camera. As much as Pat can be a real a******e, I don't want to watch him being murdered (or having a coronary for that matter) on the air.

Brokaw may be able to keep relative order, but if Brokaw starts to silence the crew, then I'll be upset.

[VolcanoJen]

6. Brokaw takes a ride on the tire swing!

[JohnMcCant2008]

7. When did Brokaw become such a dick?

[hisownpetard]

14. What's his date of birth?

[WinkyDink]

38. His book. He became a worshipper of warriors.

[RichGirl]

8. We need to blast them with complaints.

We won't watch their network if we have to listen to mumble mouth!!

And while they are at it...take him off MTP. I would have to believe ratings are going down.

[hisownpetard]

15. Done. Please do it, too, and tell all your friends.

[asjr]

18. Aha! I finally realized who Brokaw reminds me

of -- a character in Dick Tracy named Mumbles, and did he ever mumble. Whenever he was in the comic section of DT it would be mumble, mumble mumble.

[hisownpetard]

24. Did you know that that's a DU nickname for him? "Mumbles."

[1corona4u]

26. I'm with ya.

[hisownpetard]

28. Thanks, 1c4u.

[Bucky]

9. Both Scarborough and Tweety acted like utter embeciles during the conventions

They deserve to get downgraded. KO behaved himself, but he's been hanging out with the wrong crowd (and clearly was egging Tweety along).

Sending in Brokaw isn't a pro-McCain twist. It's NBC sending in a babysitter to handle MSNBC

[tularetom]

10. God forbid that "the place to go for politics" might feature "strong political opinions"

I think its OK to have strong political opinions as long as they conform with what top management at NBC believes.

[hisownpetard]

25. Yup!

[maseman]

12. I was never a fan of KO with Tweety

Pretty awful and clearly they don't like each other. I would rather have them both be able to open up more and be themselves.

[AndyTiedye]

16. Every Day in Every Way They Must Help McCain "Win"

Orders are orders.

[graywarrior]

17. I cannot stomach that guy.

Jesus, what an ego.

[hisownpetard]

29. I always had a suspicion that he was the unknown commentator mentioned as having jockeyed for

Russert's position at Timmy's funeral.

He has the ego to make that plausible.

[graywarrior]

32. He sounds like he's eaten dirt....no boulders.

Grrrrr. Go away Tommy.

[Drunken Irishman]

20. It was probably smart. MSNBC was losing its cool.

And becoming a laughing stock.

I like Olbermann and Matthews, but everyone knows it was getting way too testy during the conventions.

[Bucky]

21. It was fun watching KO pester the Tweetster, but bringing in a babysitter is a good idea

Matthews could snap at any moment. Adult supervision is certainly adviseable here. And Brokaw ain't so bad. He's more reliable than Russert was.

[Binka]

34. "Everyone" Knows It?

You are a cocky dork. Welcome to ignore.

[Drunken Irishman]

35. Sorry, everyone with a brain knows it.

My bad.

[hisownpetard]

40. Who is this "everyone" you refer to?

[Drunken Irishman]

47. Everyone who watched them.

The week of the primaries, MSNBC anchors were fighting all over the place and ready to pop.

That's not the image MSNBC wants.

[Doremus]

48. "Everyone" knows? A bit presumptious, dontcha think?

You don't speak for me. I happen to enjoy hearing progressive points of view, and yes, a few dustups, for a change and I'm sure I'm not alone.

How anyone can actually prefer to listen to thinly-veiled RW talking points, aka the rest of the MSM, is beyond me, but that's your prerogative. I do NOT, nor do I appreciate your suggestion that we need yet ANOTHER network spewing them in primetime.

The fact that you label progressive points of view as a "laughing stock" is also quite, shall we say, interesting. 'Nuff said.

[RagAss]

23. A piece of corn filled shit !!!!!!!

[Overseas]

31. K&R to highlight Brokaw's extreme bias !!

EXTREME BIAS !!

Mr. Brokaw said he had also conducted some shuttle diplomacy in recent weeks between NBC and the McCain campaign. His mission, he said, was to assure the candidate’s aides that — despite some negative on-air commentary by Mr. Olbermann in particular — Mr. McCain could still get a fair shake from NBC News.

Brokaw thinks that commentary critical of McCain is NOT GETTING A FAIR SHAKE? I beg your pardon? That is extreme bias.

[greyghost]

33. There is no doubt about Brokaw being in the tank...

for McSame, he showed his true colors during Rayguns funeral.

My main complaint about him is that he's so F'ing BORING. It's either his personality or the alcohol, I can't figure out which.

[hisownpetard]

49. Yes - boring as anything! And that voice, droning on and on. Makes me feel like I

can't breathe!

[jillan]

36. It is OUR job to make sure the ratings go way down.

Turn of msnbc on election night.

We need to send a message to the management that we watch msnbc for Keith and Rachel ( and sometimes Tweety).

No KO - no watcho.

[hisownpetard]

50. That's exactly it, for me - Keith, Rachel and sometimes Tweety. Period.

I just can't tolerate listening to anyone else anymore.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

37. I don't think Brokaw is the real problem

Brokaw is just a news reader. How did he get his power with the network executives? I think it's because he's someone who plays ball with the corporate heads. If it wasn't Brokaw, it would be someone else just like him. Olbermann and Maddow, no matter how much in advertising revenues they generate, will never have the final word with General Electric.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

41. Why do you hate America? Mr. Brokaw is just trying to be fair and balanced!

[hisownpetard]

52. Smart aleck.

P.S. That little smiley is the cutest thing ever!

[renie408]

43. I heard that Brokaw had to have titanium rods installed in his neck so that it could support his

HUGE head.

[Jackinbox]

44. I understand your point but.....

Think of the other point of view here. Something like this could lead to a Hannity or Fred Barnes moderating a debate one day. None of us want that. I'm fine with KO as an analist rather than an anchor. It was painful watching him bite his tongue during the RNC even though he was at a desk in NY.

[hisownpetard]

53. Could be! (P.S. If a bicyclist is someone who rides a bicycle, what would an analist be?)

I think you meant "analyst."




And welcome to DU!

[On the Road]

46. I Had No Problem with KO's Role in the Debate

he was quite prominent. So if he doesn't anchor, it's no big loss.

Maybe Brokaw will draw more viewers who will become KO fans.

[hisownpetard]

54. What irked me was the idea that Brokaw was criticizing KO and Tweety to the fat cats at the channel,

and then, miraculously, *he* gets assigned to moderate the 2nd presidential debate.

As I said upthread, it's a little too Cheney-esque for me.

[budkin]

51. Lost all respect for Brokaw...

Wasn't he a Democrat at some point. I remember election night in 1992 he seemed pretty happy about Billy C.

[Hansel]

55. Why should they do anything to placate any politician?

It's not their job to be even handed and fair. It's there job to report the news and inform the public as objectively as possible. If McCain is a liar and an ass hat, then it's their job to let the audience know that before he ends up being elected president.

Many hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved, as well as our treasury, if the media had done their job with Bush. And now they are going to give this unstable man the same pass? How about the 24/7 loop of the Rev Wright tapes? That apparently is what Brokaw thinks is a "fair shake." If he was giving Obama a fair shake, they should be showing the "witch doctor" tape on a loop and then huff and puff over it.

And he should be blasting Andrea Mitchell for her race baiting this morning.

God these people are tools.

[hisownpetard]

56. What did Andrea Mitchell say?

[Beacool]

57. Tweety deserves it.

The guy is a disgrace with his sexist comments and tingling leg.

[jrockford]

58. F*cking spare me. Then Don't Go, see what happens you whining bastards! nt

[pklaz96]

59. How do you contact NBC and the Debate chairperson....

I tried in vain to find an email or some way to protest Brokaw being a moderator of a debate, considering his connection with the McCain campaign. I also wanted to protest any electronic devices (ear pieces, electronic packs stored under clothing).

I did not have much luck. Any help would be appreciated.

[hisownpetard]

63. Here's where to contact him:

Tom Brokaw, Meet The Press feedback form: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152 /

Thanks, and welcome aboard!

[endthewar]

61. Olbermann hosts two Countdowns, 1 right before the debate and 1 right after.

Can't get much more Keither than that.

[hisownpetard]

64. Well, the Keithier the better!

[slay]

62. Ego much Mr Brokaw?

God's gift to ""journalism"" I guess.

[hisownpetard]

65. He sure does think highly of himself.