Tom Brokaw Acting As NBC Liaison With McCain Camp
Liberal independent media.
source:
The Huffington Post
Tuesday's New York Times features a profile of Tom Brokaw ahead of the October 7 presidential debate being hosted by the veteran NBC newsman. The Times reveals that Brokaw has "played a pivotal role out of public view, both within NBC and in its dealings with the campaign of John McCain in particular."
Mr. Brokaw said that over the summer he had "advocated" within the executive suite of NBC News to modify the anchor duties of the MSNBC hosts Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on election night and on nights when there were presidential debates. Their expressions of strong political opinions from the MSNBC anchor desk has run counter to the more traditional role Mr. Brokaw played on "NBC Nightly News" for more than two decades. NBC said earlier this month that the two hosts would mostly relinquish their anchor duties to Mr. Gregory, while being present as analysts.
"Keith is an articulate guy who writes well and doesn't make his arguments in a 'So's your old mother' kind of way," Mr. Brokaw said. "The mistake was to think he could fill both roles. The other mistake was to think he wouldn't be tempted to use the anchor position to engage in commentary. That's who he is."
Brokaw said he has also conducted some "shuttle diplomacy in recent weeks" between NBC and the McCain campaign.
His mission, he said, was to assure the candidate's aides that -- despite some negative on-air commentary by Mr. Olbermann in particular -- Mr. McCain could still get a fair shake from NBC News. Mr. Brokaw said he had been told by a senior McCain aide, whom he did not name, that the campaign had been reluctant to accept an NBC representative as one of the moderators of the three presidential debates -- until his name was invoked.
"One of the things I was told by this person was that they were so irritated, they said, 'If it's an NBC moderator, for any of these debates, we won't go,' " Mr. Brokaw said. "My name came up, and they said, 'Oh, hell, we have to do it, because it's going to be Brokaw.' "
The article led off with the news that NBC is considering an ensemble of hosts for "Meet the Press," led by Chuck Todd:
[The network] 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.
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source:
The New York Times
September 30, 2008
NBC Plans Future of ‘Meet the Press’
By JACQUES STEINBERG
WASHINGTON — Sometime between Election Day and early December, NBC News will make a final decision about who will replace Tim Russert and his interim successor, Tom Brokaw, at the helm of “Meet the Press,” Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, said in an interview.
Mr. Capus refused to characterize the network’s intentions. 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.
In the meantime Mr. Brokaw has been given an unexpected encore. Since taking over for his close friend Mr. Russert following his death, Mr. Brokaw has lent on-camera stability to “Meet the Press,” which continues to be the most watched of the network Sunday public-affairs programs. He has also appeared in guest spots on “Today” and on MSNBC that might have otherwise gone to Mr. Russert.
But less widely known is that Mr. Brokaw has also played a pivotal role out of public view, both within NBC and in its dealings with the campaign of John McCain in particular.
In an interview here after Sunday’s broadcast, Mr. Brokaw said that over the summer he had “advocated” within the executive suite of NBC News to modify the anchor duties of the MSNBC hosts Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on election night and on nights when there were presidential debates. Their expressions of strong political opinions from the MSNBC anchor desk has run counter to the more traditional role Mr. Brokaw played on “NBC Nightly News” for more than two decades. NBC said earlier this month that the two hosts would mostly relinquish their anchor duties to Mr. Gregory, while being present as analysts.
“Keith is an articulate guy who writes well and doesn’t make his arguments in a ‘So’s your old mother’ kind of way,” Mr. Brokaw said. “The mistake was to think he could fill both roles. The other mistake was to think he wouldn’t be tempted to use the anchor position to engage in commentary. That’s who he is.”
Mr. Brokaw said he had also conducted some shuttle diplomacy in recent weeks between NBC and the McCain campaign. His mission, he said, was to assure the candidate’s aides that — despite some negative on-air commentary by Mr. Olbermann in particular — Mr. McCain could still get a fair shake from NBC News. Mr. Brokaw said he had been told by a senior McCain aide, whom he did not name, that the campaign had been reluctant to accept an NBC representative as one of the moderators of the three presidential debates — until his name was invoked.
“One of the things I was told by this person was that they were so irritated, they said, ‘If it’s an NBC moderator, for any of these debates, we won’t go,’ ” Mr. Brokaw said. “My name came up, and they said, ‘Oh, hell, we have to do it, because it’s going to be Brokaw.’ ”
Mr. Brokaw will moderate the second debate, on Oct. 7, in Nashville.
Last week during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Mr. Brokaw said, he spoke briefly with Mr. McCain, who has not appeared on “Meet the Press” since Mr. Russert’s death. While Mr. Brokaw said he and the Republican nominee are not personal friends, he did say they are “friendly” and “always had a great relationship.”
Of the prospects for a potential booking, Mr. Brokaw said: “We’re going to get him. I don’t know exactly where or when.”
As for Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, thus far she has passed over “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” in favor of interviews with “World News With Charles Gibson” on ABC and the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.” She has also yet to accept an invitation to appear on “Meet the Press,” a point Mr. Brokaw said he raised with her when they met for a moment at the Clinton Global Initiative.
“I told her, ‘I’m the only one in this business who ever had Susan Butcher as a house guest,’ ” Mr. Brokaw said, referring to the Iditarod champion, who died in 2006. “Susan Butcher is to Alaska what Cal Ripken is to Baltimore.”
For Mr. Brokaw, who will mark the fourth anniversary of his departure from “Nightly News” in December, the work of the last four months has interrupted a life in which he had balanced outdoor recreation in and around his Montana ranch with long-form journalism, including books, magazine articles and documentaries.
Instead, on Sunday, he presided over a mini-debate between David Axelrod, the top strategist to Senator Barack Obama, and Steve Schmidt, Mr. McCain’s top aide. Asked where he would have otherwise been, Mr. Brokaw, said, “I would have been watching ‘Meet the Press,’ ” probably from Montana.
Last week, he interviewed former president Bill Clinton in New York and then traveled to Mississippi to watch the first presidential debate and provide on-camera analysis. In the preceding weeks, he reported from Beijing, London, and Denver and St. Paul, the sites of the two party conventions.
Mr. Brokaw is 68 now, and the strain of a frenetic travel and work schedule appears to show in ways it did not before. At times on “Meet the Press” or on “Today” in recent weeks, Mr. Brokaw’s eyes have appeared to be mere slits and he has seemed short of breath.
Relaxing in the green room of the NBC Washington bureau, as his taped interview with Mr. Clinton played on a monitor at the end of the broadcast, he pointed to the screen and worried aloud.
“My daughters will say I look tired,” he said.
Asked if he was exhausted, he said: “Yeah, a little bit. Who wouldn’t be?”
If the way he presided over the Axelrod-Schmidt joint interview is any indication, Mr. Brokaw will pick his shots at the debate on next Tuesday. He is often a lenient moderator, who prefers to let the participants fight things out. At times he also seems reluctant to ask a second follow-up question, to say nothing of a third or fourth, when he does not get an answer.
On “Meet the Press” on Sept. 21, for example, he asked Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York if he would seek a third term if the current two-term limit were eased. Mr. Bloomberg answered that he was thinking instead of hosting “Meet the Press.” Mr. Brokaw moved on.
At other moments, though, Mr. Brokaw can evoke Mr. Russert’s prosecutorial style. Throughout his interview with Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Axelrod, he interjected the kinds of provocative quotations from others that were a Russert trademark.
One, from The Wall Street Journal, and another, from Robert L. Bixby, a nonpartisan fiscal analyst, were critical of the economic approaches of both Senators McCain and Obama. Two other quotations cited by Mr. Brokaw, though, singled out Mr. McCain for criticism.
Asked if time he had spent with Mr. McCain — as contrasted with Mr. Obama, whom he does not know socially — would be of any help to Mr. McCain in the debate, Mr. Brokaw promised it would not. Indeed, after Sunday’s broadcast he expressed frustration with both candidates, particularly when it came to their comments in Friday’s debate on the economic crisis.
“They didn’t come very prepared on the economy,” he said. “They’re both trying to give the impression they’re involved, but plainly they’re not.”
“I was interested in how the two of them stuck by their budget programs,” he said. “There was nothing that Obama has proposed that he’s willing to cut. McCain insisted he could balance a budget with spending cuts. Give me” — and here he paused for emphasis — “a break. Nobody believes that, in either case.”
Mr. Brokaw’s obvious engagement left a visitor to wonder whether, come November, he would be reluctant to relinquish his ringside seat at one of the more important junctures in the nation’s history. He insisted he would be ready to step aside.
“This is not like wading into a trout stream,” he said.
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