Abracadabrah<br><br><i> I create as I speak</i>: David Gregory, the George Clooney of the press corps

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

David Gregory, the George Clooney of the press corps

Mark Steyn's brilliant skewering of NBC reporter David Gregory as the George Clooney (1) of the press corps seems particularly apt here, where Gregory shows off his more charming side in public.

Gregory asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan about the Cheney hunting accident.

'David, hold on, the cameras aren't on right now,' McClellan replied. 'You can do this later.'

'Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras,' Gregory said, voice rising. 'Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question.'

'You don't have to yell,' McClellan said.

'I will yell,'' said Gregory, pointing a finger at McCellan at his dais. 'If you want to use that podium to try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that's wrong.'

'Calm down, Dave, calm down,' said McClellan.

'I'll calm down when I feel like calming down,' Gregory said. 'You answer the question.'

'I have answered the question,' said McClellan, who had maintained that the vice president's office was in charge of getting the information out and worked with the ranch owner to do that. 'I'm sorry you're getting all riled up about.'

'I am riled up,' Gregory said, 'because you're not answering the question.'"

Didn't there used to exist public standards of grown up behavior, otherwise known as decorum, for people who served in the White House Press Corps? Not to mention Gregory's bad pun on taking pot shots at him. (O! that someone would. Hopefully an MSNBC producer, which would get him off the air, unmartyred by the left.)

Michelle Malkin notes that after Vince Foster famously, um, turned up dead, there was a 30 hour delay that Hillary insisted on before his suicide note was reported to the press. And the press wasn't offended then.

And what's the difference now? That liberals can't stand Bush. That makes the incident "suspicious" as opposed to unfortunate.

(1) See Mark Steyn's brilliant skewering of George Clooney here.
It's a like a series of Escher mirrors. Each skewering contains a reference to yet another brilliant Mark Steyn skewering.

[Hat Tip: Gene on the Post graphic though, doubtless, he won't be thrilled with my take on the matter.