What a crybaby and pompous French-puppet-dork he is.
Posted on 08/20/2004 1:24:08 AM PDT by kattracks
Preening? Egocentric? Tom Brokaw?NBC News' 63-year-old alpha male - already annoyed that nobody from NBC was picked last Friday to moderate this fall's presidential and vice presidential debates - is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.
He blew a gasket this week after debate honcho Janet Brown told The New York Times that star network anchormen are unsuitable.
"For fear that they would overshadow the events," The Times explained.
"It's important for the moderators to focus attention on the candidates," said Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Brokaw took it personally.
Brown's remark "leaves the undeniable impression that you believe if we were moderators, we'd be preening, egocentric performers," the anchor wrote in a scorching letter to Brown. "I deeply resent that implication." (Brokaw sent copies of his screed to various and sundry, and predictably the letter quickly reached me.)
Brokaw - who's giving up his anchor perch for Brian Williams right after the election - went on to recount, at considerable length, his experience moderating political debates and conducting interviews with candidates and actual Presidents.
"Not once did candidates, campaigns or press critics suggest I was more concerned with my role than with the role of the candidates," Brokaw claimed.
"I am particularly outraged that the commission failed to choose anyone from NBC News personnel for a moderator's role."
Brokaw's parting shot: "For a commission that has assumed primary power in the exercise of the democratic process, you have a peculiarly autocratic style."
Brown - who instead picked ABC's Charlie Gibson, CBS' Bob Schieffer and PBS' Jim Lehrer and Gwen Ifill to moderate the debates - declined to comment on Brokaw's letter.
A spokeswoman for NBC News - whose president, Neal Shapiro, complained to the commission from NBC Olympics headquarters in Athens - said Brokaw was on vacation and unreachable. The spokeswoman referred me to a previous NBC News press release expressing "surprise" and "deep disappointment."
[snip]
Personalities is it? Why not let Bill O'Reilly do it?
NO... TOM you miss the point. It was the viewers who konw you are more concerned with your own ego than the role of the candidates.
Tom's questioning the selections screams that he is far more concerned with the participants than the public whom the debates are supposed to server.
If you weren't an ego maniac Tom, you would be concerned about the quality and the integrety of the questioners rather than demanding network anchors be used as the questioners.
The Peacock Throne is or was, in Iran. Maybe he should go cover the news there.
First presidential debate:
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
Thursday, September 30
Jim Lehrer
Anchor and Executive Editor, The NewsHour, PBS
Vice presidential debate:
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
Tuesday, October 5
Gwen Ifill
Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator, Washington Week, PBS
Second presidential debate:
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Friday, October 8
Charles Gibson
Co-Anchor, ABC News Good Morning America
Third presidential debate:
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Wednesday, October 13
Bob Schieffer
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Moderator, Face the Nation
http://www.debates.org/pages/news_040813.html
poor crybaby, what a whiner
President Ronald Reagan clearly won his first election by his stellar performance over Jimmy Carter in their presidential televised debates.
President Reagan's timing and delivery of devastatingly powerful punch lines such as "There you go again." and his magnetic personality earned him the title of "The Great Communicator."
Hope Dubya is watching some of those debates between now and September.
What a polite way to say you don't have DNC operatives moderating a Bush-Kerry debate.
What a crybaby and pompous French-puppet-dork he is.
Thank you for your reply.
We particularly would like to thank for removing any doubt as to whether you or any other NBC News personnel might be thought of as "...preening, egocentric performers,".
Your letter clears this matter up quite nicely.
Best wishes.
Ms. Janet Brown,
Executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Why are they only having sneaky liberals? I just don't get what input the Bushies have had in this.
I can't even single anything out to laugh at! They're all hilarious!
"For fear that they would overshadow the events," The Times explained.
Cut it out, already! Yer killin' me! And was His High-ness afraid this bunch wasn't liberal enough?
*snort* *chortle* *wipes tears* *laughing too hard to imitate a man who speaks as though he has a mouthful of hot mashed potatoes*
When big media is nothing but a cheer leading squad for the liberal candidate, fairness would dictate that they should look elsewhere for debate monitors.
What the media types and many on the right fail to see is that the general public tends to see through them. Don't ever underestimate the publics ablitiy to see through a set up.
The media constantly puts a Republican candidate in the position of being an underdog. What they fail to understand is that this nation has a long and complete history of rooting for the underdog.
Gore and the media failed to understand that in 2000, and it appears Kerry and the media have learned nothing in 2004.
When the media hands up softballs to Kerry and Hard balls to Bush, it is hard for Kerry to win. If Bush handles the hard balls well, Kerry can't win that contest.
Kerry can't help but come across as a pompous condescending a$$. Bush will come across likeable. That is a hump that Kerry can only hope to climb.
Look at the approval ratings of the media.. few if any are on the media's side because of the media.
Tommy is leaving? GOOD. Take the other two buttheads with you, danny boy and that anti American canadian.
This line up of journalists is not good news for our side. Lehrer was terrible to W. in 2000. And the rest are not exactly conservatives.
Perhaps Ms. Brown should've told Brokaw that they didn't choose him because he sounds like he has a mouth full of marbles.
I think Licorice needs to comment on comparing the arrogance of Brokow vs. Kerry.
Magnetism works both ways. It can repel as well as attract. For example, consider Jacques Kerrie's repellent personality...
Sounds like whining to me. I'll personaly attest that Brokaw is a "preening, egocentric performer".
Ha! That pretty much sums it up Tom.
<img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p13eb3b7147f7ecbe84f9ef7ceeeb90f9/f758f5d3.jpg"
Oh, Tom, Tom....
Oh, Tom, Tom....
Someone explain to me why the Bush campain can not insist on moderators who are not either liberals or part of liberal meida outlets. Why is Britt Hume not moderating one of the debates?
When it comes to the media they constatly wimp out. When the networks choose to use rude Bush haters (like Moran and Gregory)to cover the White House; why don't they just make them sit in the back and not call on them. Since these people are not there to report, but rather to put a left spin on the news, the White House is under no obligation to show them any respect.
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