He'll Need A Weekend To Come Up With A Good Question

I guess we now know how to "fall up" at NBC/MSNBC.

Just ask a couple of idiotic questions at a Presidential Press Conference.



Word came last week that The Freak Show Defender is, perhaps, not filling Little Timmy Russerts' shoes very impressively, so, the suits at NBC are going to give Chuck Todd a crash course in Show Anchoring 101;

MSNBC Developing a Weekend Politics Show for NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd

Get ready for more of the "Goateed Guru."

According to multiple network sources, MSNBC is in the process of developing a weekend political show to be moderated by Chuck Todd, the network’s political director and chief White House correspondent.

[Snip]

The new show on MSNBC, to debut in late spring, would give Mr. Todd more experience as a political moderator and provide him with a good opportunity to develop his long-form interviewing skills. At the same time, it would give MSNBC an original political program to show off on a weekend schedule that is currently dominated by crime documentaries and taped content.

According to sources, the specifics of the show—live vs. taped, one-on-one interview vs. a panel of guests, half-hour vs. an hour, Saturday vs. Sunday—are still being worked out. Presumably the show will originate out of NBC’s Washington D.C. bureau, where Mr. Todd is stationed. Staffing has yet to be determined.

Yeah, that will be a real ratings barn burner - a weekend political show in the heat of the summer.

Ron Chusid, over on Liberal Values points that out;

The only problem is that there are now far too many political shows to even try to keep up with, unless someone wants to spend a big chunk of the weekend watching television. Besides the major interview shows from each network there is a growing number of additional shows. Chris Matthews has one Sunday show where he is generally calmer than he is on Hardball. Perhaps the best of the newer Sunday interview shows is Fareed Zakaria — GPS on CNN.

The Garlic, as did others, noted last month how Todd, for the second time, got called on by President Obama, during a press conference, and absolutely "screwed the pooch" on both occasions.

Apparently, the Obama Press Office hasn't wanted to pull his credentials, feeling, it is good to have a moment of levity during those things.

As the article also noted how Todd was a "breakout star" and was "seriously considered", at the time, to take over MTP.

It would seem like much safer ground, and better juice, for Todd to keep that designation, of "almost getting MTP", than actually opening his mouth and, well, show us all his, ahem, political instincts.

Yeah, he dazzled us during the campaign last year, when he was just a numbers cruncher ("He came to prominence during the 2008 political campaign, when his encyclopedic knowledge of electoral mechanics became a great asset to MSNBC and NBC News during the hotly contested and drawn out Democratic primary."), which, I guess, NBC and MSNBC was hedging their bets that we all couldn't log on to a computer, and pull up Nate Silvers' FiveThirtyEight.com, who was even more dazzling, and dead-on correct with his number-crunching.

A guy that hits home runs in the minors, gets called up, and consistently lines into double-plays, or worse, whiffs at a high percentage, doesn't, typically, last that long.

That NBC/MSNBC will hand Chuck Todd a show at this point, bucks against that old saw.

Hey, maybe they can plug Jay Leno in, since they're going to keep him hanging around.

Chuck Todd Disappointed Americans Aren't Begging In Bread Lines

Or: "Hey Brother, Can You Spare A Good Question?"

If you are Chuck Todd, of NBC News, it must be terribly difficult to get through the day.



That screening room in his head, going on 24/7, playing all those black-and-white, or sepia-colored, reels, of shack towns, breadlines and soup kitchens, people walking miles-and-miles, carrying sacks and boxes of their possessions, must send him staggering, when he looks around, and sees, in technicolor, well, life, pretty much, as normal.

I don't think, if you look up in a dictionary the word "obtuse", you will find a picture of Todd, but after last night's Presidential Press Conference, I don't know, all bets may be off on that.

Jesus, what the hell was Todd thinking?

Was he trying to chide President Obama?

Or just get himself to stand out, as a primo fucking dunce?

Afterall, the last President, The Commander Guy, in a time of crises, exhorted us citizens to go shopping.

He must have thought Obama has dropped the ball, you know, that movie in his head, screaming at him, forcing those words down and out his mouth.

The former NBC/MSNBC Houdini-numbers guru, last evening, asked President Obama the following;

Okay. Chuck Todd.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Some have compared this financial crisis to a war, and in times of war, past presidents have called for some form of sacrifice. Some of your programs, whether for Main Street or Wall Street, have actually cushioned the blow for those that were irresponsible during this -- during this economic period of prosperity or supposed prosperity that you were talking about.

Why, given this new era of responsibility that you’re asking for, why haven’t you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?

" ...why haven’t you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?"

Oh, my Good Lord!

Chucky Todd, apparently, doesn't watch much television, including the channels he works and reports for.

Massive unemployment ... Massive foreclosures and evictions ... Massive layoffs ...

When there's no money, no job, no home, what is it, exactly, that Chucky T. expects Americans to sacrifice?

The Anonymous Liberal also noticed this boneheaded question;

Second, while I hate to pick on Chuck Todd, his question was really dumb. We're in the middle of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Millions of people are losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their health care, every day. And he asks why the President isn't asking the American people to sacrifice? Huh? What exactly did Todd have in mind? Should we be offering human sacrifices to appease the Gods?

So did Ryan Tate, over on The Gawker;

Chuck Todd, NBC News. For being weirdly sadistic toward struggling Americans, AGAIN.

He asked if "some form of sacrifice" should be made to the Wall Street gods, like maybe a homeless person? He kept asking about sacrifice among "the public" and "the American."

Yes, because economic collapse, sharply higher unemployment and looming depression are not enough. We should be starving in the street and setting ourselves on fire. "The American people are making a host of sacrifices in their individual lives" was how the president put it. Duh, Todd.

This is the same guy who asked, last time, if consumers were poised to spend way, way too much money, as they were being laid off and evicted from their homes. Strike two for NBC News' new man at the White House.

I mean, Jesus, you could have come up with a better question using a Magic 8-Ball.

And, think back, Chucky T's name was bandied about as a possible replacement for Little Timmy Russert's chair on MTP.

He would be more pathetic than Russert.

Keep this up Chucky, and you'll be finding yourself getting tosses from Lester Holt, on those back-road-filler stories for the weekend news, or worse, you'll be banished to Doc-Bloc land.