Chuck Todd

Landrieu Doubles Down on Racism, Sexism Excuses
By Tom Blumer | October 31, 2014 | 9:26 PM EDT

Curtis Houck at NewsBusters noted late Thursday that on that evening’s NBC Nightly News, incumbent Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu told NBC's Chuck Todd that President Barack Obama is unpopular in the South because the region “has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans” and thus “[i]t’s been a difficult time for the President to present himself in a very positive light as a leader." Landrieu also said that "It’s not always been a good place for women to present ourselves. It’s more of a conservative place."

Houck described the race-based portion of Landrieu's lament as a "gaffe." The Senator apparently disagrees, as she doubled down on both aspects of her "woe is me" remarks in a statement today. Politico's James Hohmann waited an incredible 11 paragraphs to get into her embarrassing double-down:

NBC: Possible Republican Midterm Wave = 'Hold-Your-Nose Election'
By Kyle Drennen | October 31, 2014 | 9:59 AM EDT

As the chances of Republicans gaining control of the Senate in the upcoming midterm election remained high, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd appeared on Friday's NBC Today to pour cold water on the possibility: "...definitely feels like a hold-your-nose election....talking to voters that I did, they'd like to punish the President's party without rewarding the Republicans. And in many cases, they're sort of sitting on their hands, they're not sure what to do....They're probably leaning against the President, but they're not happy about it."

Grimes Says She's Won't Be 'Bullied' by McConnell ... or Chuck Todd
By Tom Blumer | October 24, 2014 | 6:21 AM EDT

Imagine the pile-on that would be occurring from other members of the nation's establishment press if a Republican or conservative U.S. Senate candidate went after an individual member of the press as Alison Grimes just has against NBC/MSNBC reporter Chuck Todd. The "How dare you?" cries would be everywhere.

It's hard to see how employing such a tactic works to get votes, but Grimes, the Democrats' candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, seems to think that acting as if she's standing up to playground bullies might get her some mileage. Todd, along with incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, is one of the supposedly all-powerful bullies. Video follows the jump:

'Meet the Press' Panel: If GOP Wins Senate, They'd Better Not Oppose ObamaCare
By Kyle Drennen | October 22, 2014 | 10:14 AM EDT

At the end of Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd led his panel of guests in warning Republicans against any effort to oppose ObamaCare if they win the Senate majority in the upcoming midterm election: "...the biggest, I would argue, false promise of the...midterm campaign has been about [repealing] the Affordable Care Act....[Mitch McConnell's] never gonna have the ability to do it."

Politico's Manu Raju asserted: "That's right. Even if he gets the majority, it's going to be a 51-49 majority." Todd wondered: "Are Republicans over-promising here? Because their base is gonna expect to see that and it ain't gonna happen." Raju agreed: "It isn't gonna happen."

'Stubbornly Neutral' Todd 'Physically Ill' Over His Comment's Harm to Grimes Campaign
By Tom Blumer | October 21, 2014 | 9:53 PM EDT

On Friday in a Facebook hangout, in a statement noted Saturday afternoon by Tim Graham at NewsBusters, MSNBC's Chuck Todd described himself as "stubbornly neutral." Sunday, Mr. "Stubbornly Neutral" attacked the NRA on "Meet the Press" for having the nerve to oppose President Obama's Surgeon General nominee, a man who is obsessed with gun control.

'I Think You Made Another Ad': Chuck Todd Says Staten Island Race 'Fight Between Mob Families'
By Mark Finkelstein | October 21, 2014 | 8:29 AM EDT

Did Chuck Todd just do it again?  His comment a couple of weeks ago that Dem Alison Lundergan Grimes "disqualified herself" for refusing to say whether she voted for Barack Obama was quickly made into an ad by the McConnell campaign.  On today's Morning Joe, Todd made a highly quotable claim about another race.

Todd described the campaign for a congressional seat in a district located in Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn as  "a fight between mob families."  That sent Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough scrambling to disassociate themselves from the Meet the Press moderator.  And at the end of the segment, Mika told Todd: "I think you might have made another ad!"  Retorted Todd: "I'll never come on the show again."

Tom Brokaw Appears Unhappy on 'Meet The Chuck' -- So Much for The 'Original Format' Idea
By P.J. Gladnick | October 13, 2014 | 9:12 AM EDT

Tom Brokaw was the NBC news anchor for over 20 years yet "Meet The Chuck" aka "Meet The Press" had him sit at the table with the other panelists while Chuck Todd conducted solo interviews with the guests at a separate desk. As you can imagine, Brokaw was not pleased with that format and he visibly displayed his irritation when Todd returned to the panelists sitting uselessly at the "kiddies table."
 

Chuck Todd: GOP Doesn't Like Regulation Unless It's On Abortion Clinics
By Kyle Drennen | October 6, 2014 | 4:14 PM EDT

While interrogating Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, host Chuck Todd spat out a nasty attack line against the GOP regarding a new Texas law requiring abortion clinics to have hospital-level medical standards: "One of the things about the Republican Party is you don't like a lot of regulation on businesses, except if the business is a abortion clinic."

Todd continued his rant: "80% of these abortion clinics in Texas are going to be basically out of business because of this new law. Too much regulation? Is that fair? Why regulate on the abortion issue now?...Why restrict a business now in the state of Texas?"

Chuck Todd: Attorney General Eric Holder 'Wasn't Political At All'
By Kyle Drennen | September 25, 2014 | 11:45 AM EDT

Appearing on MSNBC's News Nation on Thursday to react to Attorney General Eric Holder announcing his resignation, NBC's Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd had the audacity to proclaim that Holder "wasn't political at all" during his tenure at the Justice Department. [Listen to the audio]

This is the same Eric Holder who declared America to be a "nation of cowards" on race, was held in contempt of Congress for not handing over documents related to the Fast and Furious gun running scandal, and who just in April implied to Al Sharpton's National Action Network that Republican criticism of him and President Obama was racially motivated.

Ken Burns Excuses Media Covering Up 'Distracting' 'Gotcha Things' for JFK and FDR
By Kyle Drennen | September 22, 2014 | 4:32 PM EDT

In an interview with Ken Burns on Sunday's web-based Meet the Press feature Press Pass, moderator Chuck Todd asked the historian and film-maker about his PBS documentary on the Roosevelts: "It's amazing what the press didn't cover....I mean, and if they had, obviously it could have changed history." Burns responded:

It could. But I think we focus too much – we presume that because there was a gentleman's agreement to turn off the cameras as he [FDR] started to stand up or when he started to sit down, that we know less...."Wasn't that quaint an arrangement? They sort of looked the other way when JFK did that or they, you know, didn't really notice Franklin Roosevelt's illness." They actually did and they actually knew more and had better and more intimate access to power, and that's an important thing. [Listen to the audio]

MRC's Notable Quotables: Media Bash Obama for Delaying Amnesty
By Rich Noyes | September 22, 2014 | 8:40 AM EDT

Instead of worrying whether President Obama’s planned Executive Order on amnesty might violate the Constitution, journalists upbraid the President for delaying the step until after the election. “A promise is a promise,” Univision anchor Jorge Ramos scolded on Twitter.

NBC Reveals Latest Poll on Scandal-Plagued Administration...Of the NFL
By Kyle Drennen | September 19, 2014 | 11:39 AM EDT

On Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer brought on political director and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd to discuss the latest NBC News/Marist poll on a major American institution being rocked by scandal. It wasn't the Obama administration getting the bad press, it was the National Football League.

That's right, NBC News conducted an entire poll just on the controversies surrounding the NFL and then put its chief political expert on air to analyze the findings. Not a single mention of President Obama's sinking poll numbers was mentioned during the Today segment, not even any reference to politics. [Listen to the audio]