Amazing.
NBC's Chuck Todd
has this very revealing bit in
Politico today.
Targeting, among
others, Glenn Beck (by name) and, not by name, Roger Ailes and
Arianna Huffington.
Dissing Beck as a
"radio DJ" using "crazy language" to deliver
"outrageous rants," for which he should be taken off the air,
Todd goes on to foam that "actual journalists" may be headed
toward a Beckian world of Howard Beales, the unhinged TV star
from the film Network.
"It's getting nuts
that the folks who are creating the perception of an
ideological/polarized media world are people who have never
really spent their lives being journalists. Whether it's former
political consultants-turned-TV execs or former radio DJs, or
former California socialites, the folks helping to accelerate the
public's perception of the media off a cliff made their livings
trying to do other things."
Hmm… News flash for
Chuck. Here's a list of liberals/progressives who "never really
spent their lives being journalists." I don't recall a word about
them from you.
Tim
Russert -- the onetime aide to
Democratic New York Governor Mario Cuomo and Democratic New York
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was made the host of Meet the
Press by NBC. That would be Chuck's
network. Where Russert was also the Washington bureau chief for
NBC News.
Bill
Moyers -- the onetime ordained
minister from Texas began his career in the mailroom of
Democratic Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. From the mailroom Moyers
worked his way to being a senior political aide to Senator
Johnson, the liaison between 1960 Democratic candidates JFK and
his running mate LBJ. Next he was a Kennedy appointee as Deputy
Director of the Peace Corps. When LBJ became president, Moyers
went along as a special assistant and then White House press
secretary, the Robert Gibbs of his day. He is now the host of his
own TV show on PBS, has been an editor and commentator at CBS
News and the editor of Newsday.
Chris
Matthews -- former aide to Democratic
U.S. Senators Frank Moss (Utah) and Edmund Muskie (Maine). Next
there was time as a speechwriter for Democratic President Jimmy
Carter and senior aide to Democratic House Speaker Thomas "Tip"
O'Neill. In case you've missed this, Chuck, Chris is the host of
a television show called Hardball on, well, MSNBC.
George
Stephanopoulos -- former aide to Democratic
Congressman Ed Feighan (Ohio), Democratic Presidential nominee
and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, Democratic House
Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (Missouri) and, last but not least,
a senior aide to President Bill Clinton. George is now both the
host of ABC's This Week with George
Stephanopoulos and the Chief Washington
correspondent for ABC News.
Paul
Begala -- Ex-Clinton White House aide
became a co-host of CNN's Crossfire and is now a network
commentator.
One could go on --
and on -- here. This list also contains names like MSNBC's Joe
Scarborough (ex-Florida Republican Congressman), ABC's Diane
Sawyer (ex-White House aide to P resident Nixon), MSNBC's Pat
Buchanan (who actually began his career as a newspaper journalist
before becoming famous as an aide to President Nixon).
For the record, as
someone who is listed as a contributing editor to The
American Spectator and writes a column -- I too
worked for a U.S. Congressman (Bud Shuster, R-PA), U.S. Senator
(John Heinz, R-PA), a President ( Ronald Reagan) and a Cabinet
Secretary (Jack Kemp.)
Oh. Let's not
forget that billboard salesman named…Ted Turner.
Truth, Chuck? If
all you people who spent a life in journalism hadn't turned
journalism into a codeword for liberal political activism, maybe
Roger Ailes and Glenn Beck and all the rest of us would be doing
something else.
Come to think of
it, if you believe this strongly about this, will you be quitting
journalism when your network hires Robert Gibbs?
