In what amounted to a love letter to California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday’s NBC Nightly News, special correspondent Tom Brokaw gushed: “It’s not sunshine every day for the California economy, but Jerry Brown has not given up on big dreams. His new big dream, a high-speed rail line from the north to the south…”
Anchor Brian Williams set the scene for Brokaw’s fawning report: “California is mounting a comeback led by a man whose name has been synonymous with California government for decades.” Brokaw sympathetically declared: “The one-time boy wonder of California politics is now the state’s aging lion….Sticking up for his state.”
–”NBC’s Brokaw: California’s ‘Aging Lion’ Jerry Brown ‘Has Not Given Up On Big Dreams’” at The Media Research Center, on Friday.
Via POLITICO’s Reid Epstein, NBC News and Tom Brokaw are loudly objecting to the Mitt Romney campaign’s use of footage from the 1990s in an ad blasting Newt Gingrich over his House ethics charges.
Brokaw, whose statement noted he was speaking on his behalf, said, “I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do no [sic] want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign.”
(Hey, all Romney has to do is call for higher gas prices or denounce conservative bloggers, and all will be golden with the “non-ideological” Brokaw once again.)
– Saw/read both remarks by Tom Broke-jaw, which leaves one slacked-jaw.
Harumph! says Tom. Restore my journalistic good name! When you think about it, this is the closest he can get to that feeling aging rock stars have when they pull the ol’ cease and desist on a Republican campaign using one of their songs (“This is an outrage!”)
On the flipside, light rail is awesome and goes well with crippling regs and taxes — truly a time-tested formula for success. Google it.
Still looking forward to Brokaw’s return to the roundtable with Charlie Rose for the update on what they’ve learned since their last productive deconstruction of the wonder that is Obama. A little thoughtful chin stroking here, a humanizing anecdote or two from time spent at the Vinyard there — voila! — a depth of understanding even racist tea party types like myself can appreciate, no doubt.