The further to the left or the right you move, the more your lens on life distorts.

Wednesday, October 09, 2019

Chuck Todd

Poor Chuck Todd. He's a lightweight clown who was asked to fill the shoes of legendary journalist, Tim Russert. Russert was a liberal, but he rarely allowed his personal ideology to interfere with an objective view of political events or a fair interview. Not so with Chucky—a trained hamster who now hosts Meet the Press, a once respected Sunday morning political show. Todd has become a vocal advocate for the Democrats, no matter how extreme their positions and how preposterous their faux outrage over Donald Trump. I suppose that's because Chucky shares their outrage.

Over the past weekend, Todd got into a shouting match with Senator Ron Johnson (R-UT) because Johnson had the temerity to suggest that the Ukraine phone call be put into broader context. Johnson suggested—correctly—that the Ukraine was ground zero for the Democrats' efforts in 2016 to besmirch Trump the candidate, and therefore, an investigation of the goings-on during that period had as much or more to do with election interference in 2016 as it does with Joe Biden's candidacy. Unfortunately, Chucky and the Dems don't want to go there ... because, impeachment!!! It might also be because a hard look might uncover some really dirty dealings on the part of the Dems, Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration, and yeah ... may even Joe Biden.

So Chucky got upset with Johnson, started yelling, and as a consequence he got criticized rather harshly by a few real journalists like Mollie Hemingway. She tweeted:
"The @chucktodd meltdown is instructional. It is clearly very frustrating for those in the media who are pushing impeachment (after the Russia hoax they pushed for years) that those outside of their bubble are not falling for this latest attempt to undo the 2016 election."
Mark Hemingway (spouse of Mollie) provides a more complete analysis of Todd's bias here.*

In response to the criticism, Todd tried to cover with this tweet:



With that, Sean Davis couldn't resist a snarky comment or two:
Chuck Todd, a reporter for NBC News and the host of NBC’s Meet The Press, appeared to imply on Twitter earlier today that reporters in politics are really no different than referees in sports. And that probably seems like a really great analogy if you’re someone who’s completely ignorant about reporters, politics, referees, and sports. If you happen to be an individual who knows a little something about any of those topics, then the inanity of Chuck Todd’s equivalence is readily apparent.

That declaration from Chuck Todd raises so many questions. Questions like, “You’re not really that dumb are you?” and “What brand of paint did you just huff off camera?”

The implication from Todd is that he and his reporter friends are just independent arbiters of the daily goings-on of politics. They have no skin in the game. They’re irrefutable experts on the rules. They’re highly qualified. They don’t care who wins or loses, just so long as the rules are followed.

The big problem is that the only people who believe these assumptions about Chuck Todd and his reporter friends are Chuck Todd and his reporter friends.
Chucky and his trained hamster pals in the mainstream media are anything but "independent arbiters." They don't like it one bit when they are called out for the biased hacks they are.

Todd and the army of trained hamsters who try to define what we think and more important, what we know, don't want to consider any facts that might threaten their preferred narrative, so they throw a hissy-fit when someone like Johnson defies the narrative. They shout "conspiracy theory" when faced with proven factually accurate assertions that they don't want to hear. They play defense for a politician, Joe Biden, who at the very least, allowed his son to use Biden's government position to enrich himself mightily. They obfuscate or ignore any independent investigation that begins to close in on political corruption on the part of the Dems (watch what happens when the long-awaited IG report is released).

Chuck Todd is an embarrassment to the legacy of Tim Russert, but worse than that, he's an embarrassment to a once respected profession that has now become a laughingstock.


FOOTNOTE:
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* In Mark Hemingway's commentary on Chuck Todd, he mentions that after Sen. Johnson correctly noted that an on-going coup attempt began before Trump's inauguration, Todd responded: “I have no idea why Fox News conspiracy propaganda stuff is popping up on here.”

Hemingway provides a few salient facts about Todd's "conspiracy theory" claim (something that is a go-to rejoinder by Democrats whenever facts get in the way of their narrative):
While Todd’s dismissal of Johnson was met with applause from fellow journalists, was this an appropriate stance from a newsman purportedly concerned with facts?

The Trump campaign and administration were investigated for several years both by an internal counterintelligence probe at the FBI and a powerful special counsel. Many apparent abuses of power at the FBI during that probe have been found and are being officially investigated.

In August, fired FBI Director James Comey was the subject of a criminal referral from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz for illegal leaks to the media meant to undermine Trump and further the Russia investigation. The DoJ declined to prosecute. Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe was fired after the inspector general found he lied under oath to investigators about his own leaks. Many other officials involved in surveillance of the Trump campaign were fired, transferred, or left under pressure. Peter Strzok, the nation’s former top counterintelligence officer, was having an extramarital affair with FBI colleague Lisa Page, and their text messages betrayed extreme bias and unprofessional attitudes. In one text exchange, Strzok suggested the probe of Trump was an “insurance policy” in case Trump won in 2016.

Attorney General William Barr is investigating how the theory of Trump collusion with Russia was used to launch a probe of the political campaign. Veteran prosecutor John Durham is also investigating the origins of the probe, which led to the use of wiretaps, human informants, overseas intelligence assets, national security letters, and other surveillance by the FBI. Barr has testified that he is also looking into the role agencies other than the FBI played in the surveillance.
Todd is either too stupid, too ideological, or too frightened of the consequences for Dems to fully grasp that Johnson's allegation of a conspiracy isn't a "theory." Rather it's a direct reference to proven actions on the part of Democrat partisans within the government who tried and failed to initiate a soft coup against a candidate and then election winner they didn't like.