of the Peter Principle. If ever an employee has risen to his level of incompetency it is the painfully incompetent host of Meet the Press.
And if ever a program has grown more irrelevant, a slide that began with former host, Tim Russert, it is Meet the Press. The ultimate insider inside-the-beltway "news" program, MTP has become the main dumping ground for pundit and political hacks who talk only to each other, attend each other's soirees and regurgitate each other's useless opinions 24/7 on regular and cable TV.
In short, the pundit/political world that Meet the Press rules over has turned into an incestuous swamp filled with self-important capitol parasites who come together to blow smoke up each other's . . . well, you know. While he's certainly not solely responsible, David Gregory has become the poster child for everything that's wrong with the Washington media.
If it wasn't obvious in his totally inept interview with President Obama during the first thirty minutes of yesterday's Meet the Press, it became screamingly clear in the round table discussion that followed. After he and fellow panelists Tom Brokaw (why won't this man retire?), Jon Meacham, David Brooks, Chuck Todd and Doris Kearns Goodwin offered up their useless comments (except for Doris, who is never useless) on the substance-free interview that had just taken place, David Gregory whined to the others that they, the Washington press corps, are being unfairly criticized for their practice of equally blaming both Democrats and Republicans for the mess the country finds itself in. After all, he intoned gravely to the instant agreement of Brokaw, Brooks, Meacham and Todd (Doris, god bless her, didn't weigh in) all the American people see is a government where nothing's getting done, and the President, a Democrat, is in charge.
Where the heck was Rachel Maddow when you needed her??? She would have pointed out that President Obama is exactly that, a president, not a king. He is one branch of a three branch system of government and every indication is that the other two branches have lost their minds. Were we not recently treated to the jaw-dropping spectacle of the Republican Minority Leader in the senate filibustering a bill that he had just introduced 10 minutes before rather than let it come to a vote and give the President a win? Haven't we watched a Republican controlled House who has offered up over 30 anti-abortion bills, but not one single jobs bill during the last two years, refuse to bring the President's jobs bill up for a vote? Hasn't it been the Republicans who have filibustered and voted against bills that they not only supported under a previous administration, but often authored themselves, rather than vote for anything President Obama supports? And speaking of the filibuster, hasn't it been the Republicans who have invoked it more times in the last four years than in the entire history of its existence, bringing government to a virtual standstill?
On the reverse side, haven't we liberal Democrats been screaming our displeasure at the President for negotiating with himself and caving in to Republican demands on so many of the issues we care about? The stimulus package he initially proposed had jobs and infrastructure components that would have assured a recession recovery by the time he ran for re-election. He took those components out at the request of Republicans in order to get their support. They rewarded his compromise by giving him not one single vote for his stimulus bill which began an infuriating series of one-sided compromises that would set a pattern for almost every bill he proposed throughout his first four years.
Poll after poll has shown that the American people are well aware of who is to blame for the current state of affairs in Washington D.C. and as they have overwhelmingly indicated, it isn't President Obama and the Democrats. This is no thanks to a
Washington press corps intent on perpetuating the myth that somehow both sides are responsible. I'm sure Mr. Gregory would say that he and his other overpaid, under-qualified brethren are simply maintaining an objective neutrality that partisans like me can't understand. Well, maybe that makes them feel better about themselves but it's my belief that real journalists don't see the most important aspect of their jobs as maintaining an objective neutrality, they see it as reporting the facts. Those of us who are old enough to remember real journalists would never mistake David Gregory and his fellow toad-eating punditocracy as that sadly vanishing breed.