David Gregory for Meet the Press? ZZZZzzzzzSNOREzzzzzz!

Although NBC is denying it (so far), speculation on the Internet is rampant that David Gregory will be the next moderator of Meet the Press, a move that is about as energizing as a triple dose of Ambien with a side order of Tylenol PM.

Gregory, affectionately nicknamed "Stretch" by the outgoing President, the extra-tall newsman came to prominence for posing some pointed questions to the White House a few years back.  But despite these few flashes of actual journalism, he also clearly showed his affection for everything Bushie, an affliction that blossomed into full-fledged hackery when MSNBC rewarded him with the awful "Race to the White House" program (now called 1600 Pennsylvania Ave).

Gregory is one of the chief offenders of creating false equivalencies.  You know how it goes.... McCain says Obama is a socialist, says he associates with terrorist and questions his patriotism.  But wait, wait argues Gregory, Obama had a negative ad too that questioned the effectiveness of McCain's tax policies.  So that's a fair, equal comparison?  Apparently so, according to Gregory.  

False equivalency. It's the mother's milk of today's traditional media and David Gregory has been raised on this method of distorting the news. Here's how it goes: If you have one dude who says X and another guy who says it's not X, that's journalism.  Present two sides and declare yourself neutral, that's all it takes.  No need to question either side about the validity of their points, probe their reasoning or take a stand on the facts (Yes, reporters, I know this may come as a shock but there are such things, commonly known as facts, which can be reported as definitive truths and are not open to debate).

Gregory also is a proponent of forcing some notion of conventional wisdom down the throats of viewers (even when those pesky facts would indicate that that wisdom maybe is not so wise).  Almost nightly in the months prior to the election, David Gregory would, in his most concerned newsguy voice, raise issues of "concern" about the Obama candidacy.  Every day, he would ask "Is the sheen off the Obama candidacy?" and "Why can't Obama get over 50 percent in the polls?" Even when Obama was leading consistently by several points in the final weeks of the campaign, Gregory would pop every night and say "Why can't Obama close the deal?"  His nightly whine was so predictable, after the election, I expected him to mournfully ask, "Why couldn't Obama get all 538 electoral votes?"

He's a lazy, formulaic reporter.  Think I'm too harsh?  Check out this write-up of Gregory's razor-like butter knife questioning during a stint as MTP host in August of this year. (And let's not forget, Mr Gregory's famed stint at interpretative dance with none other than Karl Rove.)

In the last several months, Tom Brokaw's simplistic, phoning-it-in stewardship of Meet the Press put the once-venerated Sunday mainstay into a coma; with David Gregory at the helm, call the mortician... this television program is a goner.