Meet The Future

of Meet The Press

Tom Brokaw will be the Interim Moderator of Meet The Press through the November election. Although this is a safe, chair warming pick on the part of NBC, I think it speaks poorly of what everyone at NBC and MSNBC has been calling the legacy that Tim Russert left for them to follow. Picking Tom Brokaw says they aren’t ready to name someone. The life work of Tim Russert was grilling politicians. One of the central things he interrogated presidential hopefuls was about preparedness for office. This issue is always paramount in the selection of a vice-presidential running mate. God forbid, if a president died, the vice-president must be prepared to carry on–right now. Why should it take NBC 6 months to figure out who they will name?

Let me just put out the ProConPundit two cents on who should and should not be considered.

First, NBC will separate Russert’s two positions and fill them separately. Tim was Washington Bureau Chief and Moderator of Meet The Press. These positions will be filled by different people.

NO...
Brian Williams–He has his hands full with Nightly News
Tom Brokaw-He’s semi-retired and would be too nice.
Chris Matthews- I love the guy. I think Hardball has him too typecast to take over Meet The Press. He would do a good job. He and Russert were cordial and generally liked each other, but they were rivals. Russert’s sway from the grave may keep Matthews out of the running.

George Stephanopolous- He is a smarter version of David Gregory, but he would be a rejected transplant.

ABSOLUTELY NOT...
Keith Olbermann–He is on record as stating that he is unqualified. I have never agreed with him before, but he is correct. He is not even being considered.
David Gregory- This clown will lobby heavily to get it. He doesn’t have it. He’s a self-absorbed jerk.

My two/three picks–
BRITT HUME–He would be superb but NBC is too liberal to consider him.

ANDREA MITCHELL AND CHUCK TODD.
I think Meet The Press has to change to survive. Any one person will have a rough time trying to fill Russert’s shoes. All of the Sunday political shows are hosted/moderated by men. Now is a good time for NBC, in this year of glass ceilings being shattered, to pick a woman. There is no one more qualified than Andrea Mitchell.

CHUCK TODD is arguably Tim Russert’s hand picked successor and protege. Russert made him political director of NBC. Todd is a brilliant political analyst–in the strictest sense. He can crunch the numbers. Like Russert, he has an uncanny handle of facts, trends and stats. Just like Russert, he is a masterful political clinician and statistician. Unlike Russert, he doesn’t have the connections, relationships, access.
If you put Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd together–you’ve got a great team.
I would have a format where the first half hour one of the two of them does interviewing and the second half hour is the other one moderating a press panel.
They would be a good team and the naming of them would do justice to Russert’s legacy.

Brian Williams moderated Meet The Press Sunday. I wondered how he would handle Russert’s signature closing. "If It’s Sunday, It’s Meet The Press." If he said it, I thought it might seem copy cat. If he didn’t, it would feel like we were missing something. He did the precisely appropriate thing. He closed by saying, "And as a great man said every week, "If its Sunday, It’s Meet The Press."