"I'm not Tim"

VCT EXCLUSIVE:Source of Gregory Leak Revealed

According to an article in The Huffington Post, hackles are up on several executives over at NBC due to the leak surrounding David Gregory's ascension to the Meet The Press throne. What was most disturbing about this article was the scurrilous accusation that Chuck Todd was in some way responsible for the leak.

We here at Viva Chuck Todd found this libelous salvo beyond the pale of belief and responded accordingly by mobilizing our entire editorial staff late last night to get to the bottom of who exactly is responsible for the leak and hopefully inoculate The Chuck from any further blame. Our findings as of this morning were both shocking and disturbing.

According to our reporting, it appears that not one, but several people were responsible for the Gregory leak. One of the most surprising aspects of this story is that the leak came not from the news division, but from the entertainment division. Their apparent motive was a complete takeover of the news division paving the way for a revamp where a variety/game-show format would be pursued. According to multiple anonymous sources, the leader of this group was germ-phobe and host of NBC's Deal or No Deal, Howie Mandel. Sources tell us that Mandel has always had an eye on the Sunday morning news show as an excellent vehicle to parlay the success of Deal or No Deal.

The Viva Chuck Todd editorial offices have also come into possession of Mandel's notes where he sketched out changing the Meet The Press set to resemble the Deal or No Deal set where political newsmakers would sit before the 26 terraced briefcase-schlepping models and be directed to get their questions by calling on a girl one at a time who would then open the case and read the guest a probing well-researched news question or in some cases a light-hearted general interest question submitted by a viewer. The Mandel notes also revealed that back-channel arrangements had already been made to have former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton be the first guest of the new show along with a whole new round table discussion group consisting of Ben Affleck, Star Jones, Ann Coulter and The Obama Girl. There was also to be a closing musical number planned for each show performed by cross-dressing manazon RuPaul. A musician who had been hired for show's band revealed that the first number was to be a take-off on the RuPaul hit Supermodel where the main chorus lyric "you better work!" was to be aimed towards the incoming Obama administration.

Where David Gregory fits into all of this is still unclear, but the same musician who revealed the first closing number told Viva Chuck Todd that Gregory would of most likely been retained after the "coup" for his dancing and comedic talents. Over the years, Gregory has displayed an uncanny flair for R&B interpretive dance and impersonations.

While Mandel was the front man for this cadre, the true puppet master was acclaimed West Wing creator, Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin apparently was still harboring ill will towards NBC for the cancellation of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and felt that this remaking of Meet The Press would be the right formula of news and entertainment he failed to capture with Studio 60. As of this morning, representatives for Mr. Sorkin were refusing comment and directed our inquiries to their legal counsel.

Shortly before press time, NBC released a statement saying that this Sunday's installation of Gregory as the new host of Meet The Press will go ahead as planned. No decisions have been made as to whether charges will be filed against Sorkin and Mandel.

really?

Well, according to Politico.com and The Huffington Post, David Gregory is getting the MTP gig.

I'll leave the comments to all of you.

The Chuck on his last pre-election Meet The Press

Is it just us or are they trying awfully hard to make it look like this election is even going to be close? The Chuck puts up the unicorn and dice landing-on-their-corners scenarios for McCain.

The Chuck on the Meet The Press

So in case you missed it: The Chuck tickled the Surface, McCain's screwed electorally and Scarborough was part of the round table. Yeah, Scarborough. I know, as if five days a week weren't enough.

The Chuck:keeper of the scorecard

Hey, when Brokaw labels you twice in one day with colloquial titles - you take'em and like it.

With that said, The Chuck brought his A-game to Meet The Press this morning. Like we're shocked.

The New York Times on Meet The Press post-election and the influence of Brokaw

"...but it is leaning toward an ensemble of hosts that would be led by Chuck Todd, NBC’s political director, and include David Gregory, a correspondent and MSNBC anchor, according to a person who had been briefed on the proposal but was not authorized to comment, partly because the plans were not set. Like the turnover of anchors at all three network newscasts, the process of choosing a successor for Mr. Russert has been closely watched in media and political circles."

48 or above

To say The Chuck has been coming into his own lately would be an understatement tantamount to we've had a pinch of bad weather in the gulf.

This morning on Meet The Press, The Chuck minced no words as to where Obama's numbers need to be the Sunday before the general election in order to win. Our favorite part of this clip is The Chuck's closing facial expression. It almost says, "You can take that to the bank Suckas, I'll be over here lounging with my mojito while you people wrack your brains for the next 50 days."

Meet The Press 08/24/08: The Chuck's game is solid for the week ahead

Although it will be hard for you to believe, we're going to be serious for a moment.

This morning's round table discussion on Meet The Press was one of Chuck Todd's finest moments. Not exceptional in what was discussed, but exceptional in how it was discussed and by whom. The Chuck sat down with three of the most respected journalists in the area of politics. Tom Brokaw, the lion sage with a trusted timbre and historically sentimental publishing cred that has gained him respect beyond his newscaster days. Gwen Ifill, host of PBS's Washington Week and Senior Washington Correspondent for the News Hour with Jim Lehrer was herself a front-runner seriously speculated on to inherit the Meet The Press chair in the days after Tim Russert's passing. Her strength and intelligence were never more apparent as in the 2004 Vice Presidential debates which she moderated. It was there she reined in a pugnacious Dick Cheney like a calm assertive school marm (gender be damned). And lastly but not least, John Meacham, Editor of Newsweek magazine and eloquent author of one of the more gifted theses on the influence of religion on the founding fathers. These three are not from your usual chattering class and The Chuck was holding his own right there with them.

In fact, each member of the panel at one time or another agreed or referenced a point The Chuck made prior. The Chuck was succinct, yet conversational and possessing the radiance of someone who still can't believe their good fortune.

The Chuck spoke of how the Democrats are beginning to bristle at the the McCain POW defense for all things sensitive to the GOP candidate. He also put into context what Biden is truly going to be from now till November 4th: "Obama hired himself a defense lawyer" Adding to that pithy summation that he was also going to be his working-class ambassador where in "one speech, he can sell the [Obama] biography better than Obama himself can do." Agreeing that The Chuck was right on the points mentioned, Meacham gave the Democrats some steel by imagining that a "Democratic Fight Club" has been established in light of their prospects and McCain's aggressiveness.

After discussing the tired but vexing question of Hillary voters and what they'll do, The Chuck complimented the McCain buzz machine for keeping in the news and probably pushing the Biden announcement to the last minute with headline jockeying stories such as Lieberman's consideration and the like. Brokaw brought up Colin Powell being floated as a potential McCain VP shortlist occupant. Everyone agreed this was dangerous and The Chuck offered up some great points to the group. One being that Powell is over 70 and that would be an immediate detriment and he also gave fantastic insight on how Powell should be pleased about the Biden pick considering the productive and friendly working relationship they shared back in the day. Meacham called it a "nightmare scenario" for McCain if Powell announces, after the convention dust settles, that he's endorsing Obama.

Brokaw closed the segment by half-joking but also making sure everybody knew that The Chuck would be on from midnight to midnight for the remainder of the week. The Chuck warmly shot back at Brokaw reminding him that he would be right there with him burning the midnight oil.

Who do you think Obama will pick?

So The Chuck let David Gregory enjoy his chair this past Sunday on Meet The Press, where he was also joined by the always lovely Andrea Mitchell and Joshua "Batman-kinda intense" Green from The Atlantic. It was all quite boilerplate and nothing new really. The Chuck set the tone by discussing his electoral map containing the "lean states" that Obama is "putting away" and the states that McCain is just holding onto. The round table discussion soon moved to the topic the pending VP announcements from both campaigns; Obama's presumably coming first. The group seemed to lean Biden. What say you?

Since Chuckolytes are some of the most politically astute individuals in America, we thought we'd get your choice for Obama's upcoming pick. This poll will run till the announcement:

The Chuck on Meet The PressSomebody get Judy Woodruff a Mimosa STAT!

This morning's Meet The Press was pretty standard fare for all of us political junkies who are adrift in these Horse Latitudes of the election season; no Veep pick, conventions are off in the distance, the candidates are about a hair's breadth from T.P.-ing each other's house, etc.

So you try to pull together a group to talk about something until the Olympics get here. The Chuck worked with what he had. Mike Murphy let loose the most unfortunate of Freudian slips replacing Chappaquiddick for Chappaqua. The Chuck hit him with a rock while he swung in the wind by saying, "You Republicans are programmed (unitelligible)." We believe we heard The Chuck say, "You Republicans are programmed with that story as children to make you fear getting in cars with Senators and/or strangers."

But somewhere in all this snooziness Judy Woodruff was not buying what The Chuck was selling. We here at the Viva Chuck Todd offices challenge anyone out there to review the broadcast and let us know if Woodruff looked at The Chuck more than two times. We believe that lady doesn't like The Chuck. She tried to undermine The Chuck's historical argument of citing the 1988 general election where Lloyd Bentsen outclassed Dukakis and Dan Quayle kept asking Bush Sr. if he could go pee-pee. Illustrating that a VP choice can seriously affect perception if gravitas or experience levels are seriously out-of-whack. Woodruff debated that point by saying even though Bentsen "cleaned Dan Quayle's clock" it made no difference. She also referenced Spiro Agnew as another bad choice that didn't effect the general election. She almost had us until she torpedoed her own argument by referencing LBJ bringing in Texas for JFK. The Chuck piled on by referencing Al Gore bringing Tennessee for Clinton.

We believe The Chuck was making the argument in the context of 2008, where the Vice Presidency has been elevated to a much more powerful and high profile office where the candidates are now more than appendages and funeral goers. Obama is, well, Obama so that needs a whole new vetting matrix and McCain needs to cast for understudies like a Broadway producer in 1996 who has a show with George Burns headlining.

With that said, the Viva Judy Woodruff domain is now for sale if anyone wants it.

NBC News Names D.C. Bureau Chief

Just announced. The following was taken from TIME's The Page by Mark Halperin

The network announces Monday that Mark Whitaker, an NBC News Senior Vice President, will take over Tim Russert’s role as Washington, D.C. bureau chief.

His position includes executive oversight of “Meet the Press” as well as network election and political coverage.

Whitaker will also continue in his current role as SVP.

Comments?

The Chuck and David Gregory on Meet The PressTwo men enter-One man leaves

The Chuck had a blisteringly great performance on Meet the Press this past Sunday where David Gregory made a fine Goose to The Chuck's Maverick. The Chuck pretty much laid out a chronological formula as to when Obama is going to make his VP announcement, spoke authentically about average voter perception regarding Iraq withdrawal and named the first logical bipartisan congressional agenda item in a McCain presidency. Oh Chuck...you make it look so damn easy. Gregory followed up each point The Chuck raised citing his White House sources.

But the best moment came at the closing (47:18) when Tom Brokaw threw Gregory a bone basted in irony and Chuck Todd fans a big brightly wrapped Christmas present with the following remarks:

Thank you very much David Gregory, our NBC White House correspondent, and of course star of MSNBC, "The Road to the White House." Chuck Todd, our political director, we'll be seeing a lot more of you here on MEET THE PRESS and, of course, on all the platforms of NBC News and MSNBC in the weeks to come.We have to leave it there. We'll be right back.

"Star". "Star"? Who calls the anchor of a fancy webcam show, that when viewed through the prism of ratings is doing slightly better than Tucker which it replaced, a "star"? The New York Observer did a whole piece on Gregory's Sunday MTP appearance and the pentimento-like subtext surrounding the sign-off. The article especially savored the part where Brokaw got Gregory's show's name wrong - it's "Race for the White House" not "Road to the White House" - ouch.

And then there was The Chuck who essentially got handed the proverbial keys to the executive washroom by Brokaw. "We'll be seeing a lot more of you here on Meet The Press and, of course, on all the platforms of NBC News and MSNBC in the weeks to come" - ouch, again.

In the world of metaphors, it pretty much shakes out like this: the president of the math club who plays a mean french horn just beat the smarmy quarterback for homecoming king.

Viva Chuck Todd Caption Contest

One of our fantastic readers suggested that we here at the Viva Chuck Todd offices should take a crack at slapping a caption on this chestnut of a photo from yesterday's Meet The Press. But being the good folk that we are, we could hardly deprive our readers the fun of taking a whack at a picture of The Chuck standing above Brokaw and jamming a finger in his face. Give us your best caption by midnight - Wednesday, July 2nd and you have a chance to win a free Chuck'08 mug (no limit to entries).

We have to recuse ourselves obviously now that we're judges, but anything that starts with, "Listen here Brokaw..." gets pushed to the top of the stack. Send your entries here.

photo credit David J. Swift, via Getty Images

New York Times reviews yesterday's Meet the Press

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times reviews yesterday's program and comes away with what I believe we were all feeling; that it was a neutered hour that had one bright spot: The Chuck. She also caught the uncomfortable and hypocritical chiding Brokaw leveled at The Chuck. We like to think Ms. Stanley reads Viva Chuck Todd. Then again, we like to think a lot of things.

Brokaw and The Chuck square off :The Chuck wins

The only place with more tension than Jackson Hole, Wyoming this morning was in Oprah's Spanx - pow zing!

The Chuck made his first post-Russert appearance on Meet the Press this morning mano y mano with Mr. Tom Brokaw. One had to keep a large dish towel under the television to sop up the excess testosterone oozing from the screen as these two conversed. The Chuck sat there relaxed with the Grand Tetons providing a breathtaking backdrop and Brokaw leaned forward in his chair, shoulders hunched looking like he was about to spring up to wag his finger in The Chuck's face for driving the family station wagon without his permission.

With that said, we're happy to say we've never seen The Chuck more at ease. He was authoritative and exuded a cool confidence that contrasted heavily with Brokaw's staccato delivery. About two minutes into the segment we asked each other, "Is Brokaw giving off some weird passive-aggressive vibe?" Then the most uncomfortable dead air occurred around two and a half minutes in when The Chuck finished up telling Tom about the battered Republican brand and then...crickets for the longest three seconds of your Sunday morning.



Then at about four and a half minutes in, The Chuck did what he's paid to do: prognosticate based on careful examination of current trends and data. Specifically, Obama not winning Montana and North Dakota. This set Tom off to quickly chide The Chuck in one might say, a condescending way: "Now be careful what you say at this stage about what he's going to win and what he's not going to win." The Chuck politely deferred to grandpa Tom's scolding and got back in the flow.



Now be careful? Be careful?! This is The Chuck we're talking about here. This ain't no Chris Matthews betting the house on Rudy Giuliani becoming the likely Republican nominee. This is The Chuck laying it out there based on he and his staff doing their homework. You say "Now be careful..." to a nine-year old when they're about to cross a street. You don't say it on-air to The Chuck!

Okay, we're calm now.

Montana Can Wait:Tom Brokaw gets the MTP chair through 2008 election

A decision like this makes the past week's speculation seem juvenile and vulgar. Of course Brokaw was going to moderate Meet The Press; what were we thinking? The voice, the Beltway gravitas and the friendship between him and Russert almost vaults this into something of a Greek tragedy: The other warrior king emerges from retirement to carry on the fight with the eventual denouement being a proper laying down of his comrade's shield who fell in the midst of battle.

Our best wishes to Mr. Brokaw and the MTP team - Go get'em.

TOM BROKAW TO SERVE AS MODERATOR OF “MEET THE PRESS” THROUGH 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

(New York) – June 22, 2008 – Beginning on Sunday, June 29, NBC News’ Tom Brokaw will serve as moderator of “Meet the Press” through the 2008 presidential election. The broadcast will continue to originate from the NBC News Bureau in Washington D.C. The announcement was made today by NBC News President Steve Capus.

http://thepage.time.com/nbc-release-on-brokaw-and-meet-the-press/

Sunday is going to come whether we like it or not

You've heard it, we've heard it - The macabre murmur of necessary speculation on who will fill Tim Russert's chair. Politico.com and National Review Online have already weighed in on the potential heirs as have multiple blogs with insightful, albeit biased, yet consistently respectful opinions on the next chapter of Meet The Press.

The reason that we've decided to chime in on this uncomfortable subject is because at last count by our editorial staff, Chuck is at the top of most lists. As you read their observations, you understand that Chuck is the visceral choice. He emulates the qualities that Russert did; a warm humility, disarming intelligence and a voracious appetite for all things sport and politic. On the flipside, the logical choice is David Gregory. Logical in the sense that he's a known quantity by having been a guest-moderator several times before and is a fixture of the NBC News Political team. But what echoes constantly when Gregory's name is brought up is his elite arrogance and cozy relationships he shares with key political figures sometimes skewing his objectivity.

Andrea Mitchell, Gwen Ifill and Chris Matthews (I know) have been suggested as well. Even Tom Brokaw is making the lists. The new talent such as Keith Olbermann (not new per se, but new to this level of serious consideration for political coverage) and David Shuster have been hinted at with the all usual right-wing pot shots reserved for Olbermann.

Many people have pointed out the similar backgrounds both Chuck and Russert shared. The humble roots, strong family ties and respect for the golden rule. Some of the more heart-wrenching moments on Friday were when people like Andrea Mitchell and Keith Olbermann introduced Chuck as essentially one of the best things that happened to the NBC news team in a long time and each one emphatically praised Russert for being the one responsible for bringing Chuck on.

Let's just put it out there and freely admit that this is hardly the repository for objective analysis on Chuck Todd and the NBC News Division. We all want the best for Chuck and Meet The Press. What we don't want is a hasty solution in the midst of this historic election that causes a truncated epilogue to the tragedy that was Friday.

That's why we want to hear from you. Knowing that the vast majority of us would want nothing more than to see Chuck ascend to this role - we also know that there will be some decisions made on grounds antithetical to emotion. With that said, vote in the poll below and leave comments on why Chuck should get the job or why he shouldn't. Perhaps the right people who have influence read Viva Chuck Todd. We certainly like to think Tim Russert did.

The Chuck brings a gun to a knife fight

Allen, Cowan, Gregory, Mitchell and O'Donnell. The whole lot of them brought opinions to the Meet The Press table this morning. The Chuck, he brought numbers.

Check it: