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David Gregory's House of Pain
Posted on 01/30/2012 by Peter Hart
At a time when millions of Americans are are experiencing massive unemployment, a painfully slow economic recovery, wage stagnation and the after-effects of the bursting of a multi-trillion dollar housing bubble, isn't it time someone demanded that they suffer a little bit?
Of course not, you might say. But that's why you don't work in the media big leagues.
Here's NBC Meet the Press host David Gregory yesterday (1/29/12), speaking to Obama adviser David Axlerod:
But if you look at how dire the fiscal situation is in the country, we just came off a debt debacle this past summer. Alan Simpson, responding to the State of the Union, said: Where's the guts? Where's the hard stuff? Where's the beef? Where are the hard choices that Americans are going to have to make? What are Americans going to have to do with less of if this president gets re-elected?
Axelrod, to his credit, noted that plenty of people are actually hurting. But that didn't seem to impress Gregory:
GREGORY: But we're not dealing with the big drivers of the debt, as you know. The debt commission that the president convened is not advice that he acted on. And the reality is that the fiscal situation is dire. If we're not dealing with entitlements–what, you talk about shared sacrifice, would the president…
AXELROD: Listen, the…
GREGORY: Wait a second. He–there was a stimulus plan. There was a new healthcare entitlement, but there was nothing dealing with the big drivers of the day.
It's hard to overstate just how committed elite media are to the concept of government austerity as the fix to our current economic problems. Economists like Paul Krugman and Dean Baker might disagree, and the public would seem to think the "hard stuff" could be spending less on, say, the military. But that doesn't seem to register with people like David Gregory, who demand that politicians must be brave enough to cut Social Security–a program he's falsely declared to be one of the "big drivers" of the debt.
This entry was posted in Budget, Economy, NBC, Social Security and tagged David Axelrod, David Gregory. Bookmark the permalink.
30 Responses to David Gregory's House of Pain
Ever notice that those demanding "hard choices" never find themselves in the position of having to do so?
Unless it's deciding whether to have the escargot or the vichysoisse.
Screw it. Order them both.
(Apologies for my ignorance regarding whether that would be a realistic choice involving haute cuisine. I've never inhabited that world.
Nor would I ever wish to.)
As Dean Baker never tires of reminding us: there were no recommendations of the debt commission. The proposal of the chairmen failed to get a majority.
David Gregory, and Peter Heart (the author of this article ) fail to mention the biggest driver of the debt…The Bush Tax Cuts… that disproportionately benefit the 1 %.
Just letting the Bush tax cuts expire would make us fiscally sound without ANY cuts in programs that benefit the 99%. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire is something Obama has called for repeatedly.
thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/07/238602/chart-debt-without-bush-tax-cuts/
Whatta One Percenter House of PRE$$TITUTION!
Your expectations of David Gregory are of course unreasonable as he is NOT one of the 98 %, nor will he ever need to rely on Social Security to live !!!!
Key: "David Gregory of NBC News tried to get an interview with the sleazy governor by reassuring him that 'Meet the Press\' allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to.'"
mediamatters.org/blog/201001220019
The same provision of 100% Talking Points applies to David himself, who, as an elite corporate puppet, will mouth any lines guided by his ventriloquists.
Further clarity: it's all an ACT: World Stage Actors:
seaclearly.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/world-stage-actors-terrorism-and-propaganda-rules/
The Republicans and the Media never want to mention Military cuts and doing away with Bush's Tax Cuts to the Super-Rich.
They never hesitate to demand that the strugling middle-class must sacrifice again and again.
David Gregory care? He laughs all the way to the bank.
David Gregory is the propagandist for Comcast/GE. What else do we need to know.
GE-Monsanto-MSNBC-NBC-Dick Gregory! GE paid no taxes last year. GE gives millions to political campaigns. The ads that come from those campaigns give millions to the network who in turn pay Gregory his bloated salary. It is quite clear to see where Dick Gregory is coming from.
I think that David Gregory's disrespectful, insistent and authoritative tone are at least as bad as his actual words. Just listen to the difference in tone when he talks to Axelrod compared to when he talks to Romney or one of his flaks!
He is a disgrace as a journalist and msnbc should also boot the young Russert out who is more interested in gossip than facts and often misspeaks even about the state a congresscritter is from and noone else on the stage even bothers to correct him for the audience's benefit.
I'm reminded of my favorite political movie, Bulworth, when Senator J. Billington Bulworth (Warren Beatty) addresses a bank of TV news anchors who bear a strong resemblance to David Gregory.
"Come on, why are you here? Listen a minute, you're here because you're making a bundle, right? Oh, you mean you're not here because you're getting paid a bundle of money. Come on, come on. You've got three pretty rich guys here, getting paid by some really rich guys to ask a couple of other rich guys questions about their campaign. But–our campaigns are financed by the same guys that pay you guys your money. So, I mean what are we talking about?
I could tell you stories about getting money from these guys that would pin your ears back."
Well, David Gregory could have become a real actor, like Humphrey Bogart, even though he is over a foot taller.
This demonizing of the needy is really disgusting. What is it, something like 4% of the federal budget goes to programs that are directed towards the needy and disadvantaged? Wonder what percentage goes towards corporate welfare? I hope Mr. Gregory never finds himself in need of assistance from the government or charity.
"…….a new healthcare entitlement." What a disgusting choice of words. I mean, God forbid that someone should have the right to see a doctor when he's sick. Austerity for the sick so they don't drive up the debt! Indeed, these people have no shame.
The first time that I decided that the major media was crazily out of touch was during Hurricane Katrina.
Many broadcasters seemed to be amazed that people did not leave New Orleans. "Duh," I remember saying to myself, 'It's a few days before payday, and they don't have the money to leave." It took about a week for many in the media to finally reach that conclusion.
That is also crazily strange about social security too. Citizens pay into that and then they really seem to pay twice again with their taxes, where so much goes to the military. However, the military also seems to want to cut the pay and health benefits of the soldiers too, although cutting the military suppliers and closing some of the many bases would make more sense.
All of this has led my mind in some peculiarly strange directions As so many jobs have been outsourced, what's next? Will citizens next be outsourced to the jobs? I've always wanted to visit China, however, will I soon find myself sent to a "resort" called Foxcon? I wonder if SNL can do something with that, as they seemed more attuned to the "real" world than the media!
Just another example of the snot-nosed, pencil necked, trust fund babies who are the drivers of the media spin and our political decision making throughout America today.
Sometimes I wonder why people have such a hard time articulating simple truths.This whole thing could of been said in a better way.How bout this………How much longer will this president be able to print, and borrow money to keep a semblance of his vision for America, from becoming a sick horror film filled with bread lines and a beggared population?With only the rich keeping their heads above water…..for a time?
While David Gregory needs to bone up a bit on economics, Mr. Axelrod and others in the administration, and we — at least those of us committed to returning the House and Senate to Democratic, filibuster-proof majorities in 2012 — need to refute this misinformation, and the many lies like it, quickly, concisely and accurately.
Unless we do this we're doomed to another four or more years of Republican obstructionism, conservative-corporate Supreme Court nominees and justices, or worse.
Work for change: don't blink, don't rest, don't sleep.
I still cannot imagine how Gregory was picked to host of meet The Press. He does not have the intelligence required to learn, compare and contrast, and come up with intelligent questions.
Just another reason why I don't watch the corporate media and why so many people are so badly informed. Too bad Mr. Gregory hasn't learned to shut up and listen for a change.
We see now why David Gregory was chosen over Keith Olbermann (when he was still with them) or Rachel Maddow, or Lawrence O' Donnell. He was perfect as a host of the Conservative part of the NBC network an will not ask dangerous questions.
David Gregory lost all credibility when I saw him dancing and whooping it up at Rush Limbaugh's (most recent) wedding. Mind you, I saw it only once, and then that portion of the clip evidently disappeared forever.
Met DG in NH, and David Gregory is just another corporate robot. He walks at the speed of light to avoid talking to anyone. MSNBC is also of corporate bent, and its constant mocking of the personal quirks of Republicans has become a little too juvenile for me. They are simply rallying their masses to their corporate party, disguising the corporate bent of both parties. NBC is just the milder corporate version of FOX News, as they never quite cross that line and question the US economic system itself. GE/Comcast won't let them. Notice the limited number of guests they have. It gets repetitive. No Chomsky, and very little from Krugman, Stiglitz, or even Robert Reich. And , you can forget Professor Norman Finklestein. You just hear standard liberals of the Allen Combs variety. Notice, too, how MSNBC has now left the Koch Brothers alone. And the bantering for O'Bomber is just sickening. He is treated as some sort of patron saint. Alas, how I forget that MSNBC threw out Donahue and Olbermann, and gave Reverend Al the job over Cynk Unger only when the former pledged his days of criticizing O'Bomber were over. When he returns the now misplaced peace prize, I'll quit calling him O'Bomber.
Thanks for that, John Wolfe. Gregory was picked precisely because he's an imbecile who the honchos know won't ever vary from the script.
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Why doesnt msnbc find someone that can stand up to his republican friends. I have watched meet the press for 20 years and have never seen such a coward in my life.
They keep bringing our president down and he allows it without any response. He knows that the democrats will allow being stepped on, while the rep. Make him look like a big wusse.
One last suggestion for gutless Dave, you should tell your friends, the Rep. When they tell you that he hasn't accomplish on what he said while campaigning,
1. How can you accomplish anything while working with al the obstructionist on the right.
2.why don't you man up and hold them accountable for all the Lies they tell. But do it with some cojones. (BALLS). I.e economy in the toilet and two wars the day he was sworn inn. Un believable
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