Tom Brokaw
Radical Cheeky! Prop. 8 Mishegoss Is Makin’ Me Militant
Turn on. Tune in. Drop … off your dry cleaning and head to a demonstration!
No, seriously, I am having such a totally tumultuous ’60s moment! My life has gone from light and fluffy to totally heavy, man. Everything’s coming up protests and peace signs. It’s a freaky scene. When I’m not on some crazy demo, I’m slapping counterculture slogans on Barneys’ windows and cramming them with Woodstock-abilia. Don’t get me wrong: I’m hardly Hanoi Jane. Call me Weatherman-lite. I am really more like Streisand in The Way We Were, only without that diabolical frizz.
What’s brought on the Barbra moment? Oh, just the quest for my civil rights, that’s all. read more »
Tom Brokaw Explains Not-Quite-Retirement to Jon Stewart
NBC's Tom Brokaw appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night.
The droll former anchorman made a number of jokes at his own expense and mocked his post-retirement ubiquity on both NBC and MSNBC—which includes acting as interim host of Meet the Press and moderating a presidential debate—by saying, "Medicare payments are dropping off so I've got to do what I can to make them up."
On a more serious note, Mr. Brokaw said, "I had hoped that I would go down into a lower gear, but we lost Tim [Russert], obviously a great personal loss, as well as a great loss for the organization. So I stepped up in Meet the Press. I've always loved doing politics."
Obama Gets Powell, and Powell Gets Obama
For nearly two decades, Colin Powell has been one of the most respected public figures in the United States, a man who very well could have claimed the presidency in 1996 had he wanted it, and whose dramatic (even if it really wasn’t a surprise) endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday just might put this year’s Democratic nominee over the top.
The roots of Powell’s popularity—his inspiring personal story and his highly visible leadership during the 1991 Gulf War—are understandable, but its endurance is somewhat puzzling. This is the same guy who allowed the Bush administration to harness his sterling reputation to sell the Iraq war to the American public. read more »
In a Stifling Town Hall Debate, the Tie Goes to the Front-Runner
There are two possible ways in which the Oct. 8 presidential debate will be interpreted by most of the media over the next several days – and both are favorable to Barack Obama.
The most likely outcome is a general press consensus that the town hall forum was roughly a draw; that both Obama and John McCain had their moments, but that neither delivered a memorable line or introduced any kind of game-changing wrinkle into the mix. This, obviously, would constitute good news for Obama, who entered the debate with his largest polling advantage since the summer conventions, and with the daily drip of devastating economic news seemingly draining the life from McCain’s campaign. read more »
Clinton Avoids Helping Obama, World Doesn't Come to an End
It’s not too surprising that the financial crisis has triggered a timely political windfall for Barack Obama, whose poll numbers have steadily climbed since the magnitude of Wall Street’s collapse became clear just over a week ago. When campaigns are defined by economic unease, Democrats tend to benefit – especially when it’s the Republicans who’ve run the White House for the eight previous years.
But the crisis has been timely in another way for Obama, because it has drowned out what otherwise might have been an unhelpful development: The re-emergence of Bill Clinton.
Officially, the former president has been making the media rounds for the same reason he always does every September, to promote his annual Clinton Global Initiative conference, which is held in conjunction with U. read more »
Bloomberg Jokes He'd Like To Take Over as Moderator of 'Meet The Press'; Brokaw Not Amused
On Sunday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on NBC News' Meet the Press to talk about the financial crisis on Wall Street.
At one point, interim moderator Tom Brokaw asked Mr. Bloomberg about the possibility of running for a third term in New York. With a slight smile on his face, Mr. Bloomberg tried to turn the tables on his interviewer.
"I have 466 days left to go on my job," said Mr. Bloomberg."I was sort of thinking of maybe to be host of this program. That would be a nice job for me. Probably pays a little bit better than the dollar-a-year I get now. read more »
Bloomberg Acts Like a Man With Options
When Michael Bloomberg sat down with Tom Brokaw to discuss the Wall Street crisis on Sunday’s Meet the Press, he did so as a lame duck, a 66-year-old politician not running for office this year and barred from seeking a third mayoral term next year. At least he’s supposed to be a lame duck.
Even though there’s little more than a year left in his mayoral tenure, Bloomberg is only becoming more vital to the political scene, as opposed to polishing his legacy and slowly fading from relevance like most lame ducks do. Officially, he was on Meet the Press to offer his perspective as a titan of the financial world and as the leader of the city most acutely affected by the current economic chaos. read more »
Tom Brokaw Calls in to Set the Record Straight
The Observer just spoke with Tom Brokaw who felt that our recent characterization of his role at NBC and stance towards MSBNC were inaccurate. At no point, said Mr. Brokaw, has he ever complained about the broad editorial environment of MSNBC to General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, NBC Universal's president and CEO, Jeff Zucker, or NBC News' president, Steve Capus. Furthermore, Mr. Brokaw said he had in no way appointed himself as "the custodian of the Russert legend," as our source suggested.
Back in August, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis sent a letter to NBC News' Capus, complaining about NBC News' coverage of Mr. read more »
Tom Brokaw Had a Hamburger and Danny Meyer Had Fried Chicken Last Night at the CNN Grill
Tom Brokaw dined last night with the restaurateur Danny Meyer at the CNN Grill, a watering hole of sorts right outside the convention gates where members of the media can be seen all week sheepishly eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner for free. CNN set the thing up over the weekend, outfitting with new signage, new paint, and twelve TVs what used to be (and will be again once the convention leaves town) the Eagle Street Bar & Grill. Overseeing operations in the kitchen is Michael Romanos, the star chef from Mr. Meyer's banner New York spot, the Union Square Cafe.
"I had fried chicken and uh. read more »
Brian Williams to Gulf Coast, Tom Brokaw to St. Paul, Keith Olbermann to New York
Tonight, Brian Williams will interview John McCain from the Gulf coast in the pathway of Hurricane Gustav for Sunday's Nightly News. In the meantime, Tom Brokaw will be heading up the network's coverage of the RNC convention in St. Paul.
Over at MSNBC, Dan Abrams will be anchoring the channel's primetime hurricane coverage on Sunday from a studio in New York. On Monday, Mr. Abrams will handoff to Keith Olbermann. Chris Matthews will be anchoring the convention coverage from St. Paul.
More from the NBC release:
NBC News' Ann Curry, Lester Holt, Al Roker and a team of correspondents including Contessa Brewer, Don Teague, Janet Shamlian, Kerry Sanders, Lee Cowan, Mark Potter, Mary Murray, Michelle Kosinski, and others, will also be on location.
Commission on Presidential Debates Teams Up with MySpace on Fall Debates
Today executives with News Corporation's MySpace announced that they have formed a partnership with the Commission on Presidential Debates to create MyDebates.org—a site that will include a downloadable application capable, in part, of streaming the fall presidential and vice presidential debates live.
Yesterday, the commission announced the slate of moderators for the fall debates, which will include PBS's Jim Lehrer, NBC's Tom Brokaw, PBS's Gwen Ifill, and CBS's Bob Schieffer. It's an esteemed group. But also one that's somewhat long in the tooth.
Back in April, we wrote about Google's frustrated attempts to team up with the commission on some sort of new media debate. read more »
Lehrer, Ifill, Brokaw, and Schieffer to Moderate 2008 Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced today the roster of moderators for the three presidential and one vice-presidential debates coming up this fall.
PR Newswire has the details:
First presidential debate
Friday, September 26
The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.
Jim Lehrer
Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS
Vice presidential debate
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
Gwen Ifill
Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor,
Washington Week, PBS
Second presidential debate (town meeting)
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
Tom Brokaw
Special Correspondent, NBC News
Third presidential debate
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Bob Schieffer
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation
Not on the list: Katie Couric, who was the only broadcast evening news anchor not to moderate a single debate in this year's primary season. read more »
VP Speculation Is Much Ado About Something
Every four years, just as the speculation over potential running mates reaches a fever pitch, contrarian voices speak up to dismiss it all as much ado about nothing. They are wrong.
Take, for example, this Sunday’s Meet the Press. After discussing this year’s usual VP suspects with the shows’ other two panelists, moderator Tom Brokaw turned to Judy Woodruff, cited the example of 1988 – when the Democratic ticket received no tangible Election Day boost from Lloyd Bentsen’s utter dominance of Dan Quayle in the VP matchup – and asked: “In the final analysis, Judy, how much difference does it make?”
Woodruff took the cue. read more »
Lots of Questions, Still No Answers on V.P. Choices
Not surprisingly, Tom Brokaw tried six different times to prod Barack Obama into saying something revealing about his running-mate deliberations on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” And not surprisingly, Obama refused to play along.
For the record, Brokaw specifically inquired whether Obama: (1) feels extra pressure to put a national security expert on his ticket; (2) is inclined “to break the old rules” and ignore geography in his selection; (3) might be tempted choose “a Southern white male Protestant,” the demographic designation that has correlated with most of the Democratic Party’s national victories since 1960; (4) is considering Hillary Clinton; (5) is, as claimed by a Hillary backer who received a phone call from Obama recently, less inclined to pick her because of her husband; (6) will, because of timing issues related to the Olympics (which will be broadcast by NBC!), wait until the Democratic convention in late August to announce his selection. read more »
Tom Brokaw to Moderate Meet the Press Through the End of the Election
Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of the NBC Nightly News, will moderate Meet the Press on Sunday mornings for the rest of the election year.
Brian Williams, the current anchor of the NBC Nightly News, made the announcement at the end of Sunday's Meet the Press.
Since the sudden passing of Tim Russert, there has been much speculation about who would take over the role as moderator of the number-one-rated Sunday morning public affairs program. By naming Mr. Brokaw to the position on an interim basis, NBC executives have essentially bought themselves more time to find a long-term replacement.
"I volunteered," Mr. read more »
Morning Memo: We Have A Theory About American Apparel--They Like to Shock Us!
New Line Cinema and Radio City Music Hall are in a spat over whose fault it was that nearly 1,000 ticket holders were turned away at Tuesday's Sex and the City premiere. Meanwhile some are saying that the film's plot is based on the affairs of Ellen Barkin with Jonathan Tisch and Ronald Perelman. [P6] read more »
Lineup for April 30, 2008
If you remember this year's White House Correspondent's Dinner, you weren't there. Felix Gillette, John Koblin, and Choire Sicha flood the zone in D.C..
Janet Silver is moving from Houghton Mifflin to Nan Talese's imprint at Doubleday. Leon Neyfakh checks in with with Ms. Talese who says, "I called Janet and she sent us a list of the authors she had worked with and the ones who’d said they wanted to come with her, if not immediately then eventually." That list may include Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer. Plus: Islam observers on Wieseltier's Amis review; James Frey's PR Dream Team; Spitzer's bio; Nabokov's unfinished novel. read more »
How Green Is His Valley? At Vanity Fair's Enviro-Bash, Brokaw Brags of Bison
On Monday, April 28, in the subterranean auditorium of the New York Public Library, Vanity Fair hosted a cocktail hour and convocation of experts grandly titled “Redesigning the World: A Green Way to the Future.” And environmentally concerned New Yorkers Mary Richardson Kennedy (wife of Robert Kennedy Jr.< read more »
Imus: Brokaw Is 'Not the Most Courageous Person I've Ever Met'
Since returning to the air December 3, Don Imus has seen many of his regular guests come back to the show.
But one probably won't be returning. During an on-air conversation with the columnist James Brady Wednesday, the Post's Page Six reports, Mr. Imus had these words for the former NBC anchor: "He [Brokaw] is not the most courageous person I've ever met in my life," Imus told his listeners on Wednesday. "He's not the guy I'd want to be in a foxhole with."
That came after Mr. Brokaw said in an interview last week that Mr. Imus "should have been fired" for his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team last April.
Brokaw on Bloomberg
Then, when asked about Romney’s critique of Hillary Clinton’s plan - saying it’s like socialized medicine in Europe - Bloomberg says that’s not such a bad thing.
Afterwards, Brokaw told me, “I think he did fine. Ducked and dodged and went on a little too long, but he knew what he was doing, obviously. “ He added, “I’ve known him a long time and I don’t think he’s closed the door on running for president, which doesn’t mean he’s going to do it. But I think he likes the public arena, which is a good thing.”
Also, in the Did You Know category, here's Brokaw's explanation of how he first got to know the mayor: “He dated a friend of ours, that’s how I first met him, fifteen years ago. Maybe longer.” read more »
And this: “The day after 9/11 I thought he would be elected mayor.”
Let's See George Bush Try That
Bloomberg explained that if, say, he wanted to change the direction of traffic on Fifth Avenue, “it may be a dumb idea, but tomorrow morning, there’d be a cop on every corner. Every sign would be changed. I mean, it would go northbound.” After some laughter from the audience, he said, “Presidents can’t do that.”
Bloomberg Booked for Potentially Eventful Engagement at Cooper Union
Michael Bloomberg will speak with Tom Brokaw in an installment of the Cooper Union discussions which have already featured presidential candidate John Edwards and presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich.
According to the advisory announcing the Sept. 25 event, which will be hosted by Mario Cuomo, the talk "will focus on finding solutions to the national challenges of education, poverty and the environment."
Cuomo has said the discussions - each usually an hour long - are a venue for detailed answers to the questions and issues facing national leaders, who often don't have the opportunity to get into the nitty-gritty aspects of policy while campaigning.
In an earlier interview in the Observer, Cuomo suggested that Bloomberg could yet have a big influence in the 2008 race for the White House, particularly if he chooses to criticize Rudy Giuliani. Could this be an opportunity for Cuomo to bring about a moment that would put that proposition to the test?
Presidential Funeral Affords Three Sightings of Wandering Sage, Brokaw
Mayor Gets Laughs for PJs, Brokaw Gets Applause for Congestion Pricing
Imagine this man in fuzzy slippers.
Bloomberg got some laughs when he showed slides of himself in plaid PJ's and blue fuzzy slippers, but it was Tom Brokaw, who was moderating a panel afterward, who got spontaneous applause for introducing the topic of congestion pricing: "Do you think the city may reap some financial rewards by charging fees for driving into the city and charging people more?"
The panelists generally liked the idea (except for labor leader Ed Ott, who warned it could penalize workers whose only hope of affordable housing lay in the Poconos). Bloomberg's solution to traffic woes, by contrast, was "adding to the capacity of our regional mass transit system."
For the video, try here. (The pajama slides start around 21:00.) The Web site for the sustainability initiative is here. read more »
- Matthew SchuermanThe Greatest Non-Candidate
Tom Brokaw Advises In West Side Race— For the Son-in-Law
CNN Is Clobbered By Fox On Cable, Revenges On Web
