Re: Raging Grannies Goodbye

August 12th, 2005 9:11 AM

In one of the replies to Brent Baker's Grannies post, Phil R. took exception to the "good luck" comment NBC anchor Natalie Morales gave the "Raging Grannies" the other morning, raising the question: how much can we complain about anchors' well-wishing at the end of interviews? We hate to sound uber-touchy. Certainly, a certain amount of politeness is required, both for guest and viewer. Matt Lauer said "good to have you here" to Bernie Goldberg yesterday, for example. But our Geoff Dickens was struck by what Morales said:

Morales: "Pat Birnie, Dorothy Richmond, Betty Schroeder and Connie Graves. Thank you all so much for your time this morning. And good luck to you."

Raging Granny: "Come join us."

Another Raging Granny: "Spread the word."

Morales: "Alright, well, I think we did spread the word here."

It's one thing to say "good luck," which at least signals "good luck to your political cause," but then to add the hey-we-spread-your-propaganda-here note was a little more notable, especially since the Raging Grannies story was almost completely one-sided. The commenter is absolutely right in asking whether NBC would wish "good luck" to anti-abortion protesters. Obvious reply: as if NBC would grant a whole interview to anti-abortion protesters.