Page Six: Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann Jockeying For "Meet The Press" Moderator's Chair

Brian Williams will be filling the "Meet the Press" moderator's chair this Sunday, and no permanent decisions have been made regarding a new moderator, but Page Six reports that MSNBC fixtures Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are both jockeying for the position. Further, the gossip (which has a vendetta against MSNBC/NBC News in general, and Olbermann in particular) alleges that Olbermann has threatened to quit if he wasn't named Russert's successor and that Matthews was overheard discussing the best way to pitch himself while still at Russert's memorial:

Tim Russert's body wasn't even cold in the ground before MSNBC anchors Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann started jockeying for his job, sources claim.

Matthews was heard loudly discussing what seemed to be his strategy for landing Russert's "Meet the Press" show at Wednesday's memorial reception for the NBC Washington bureau chief at the Kennedy Center in DC. After Brian Williams, Carl Bernstein, David Gergen, Barbara Walters and NBC brass eulogized their friend, Matthews huddled with an unidentified "agent type" and seemed to be plotting.

According to our spy, "Chris, with his loud voice, was going over a pitch for Tim's job. He was saying, 'You know, Tim's thing was this, and my thing is that.' It was unbelievably tacky."...

Meanwhile, Matthews' MSNBC cable cohort Olbermann, who was also at the memorial, is "threatening to quit if he isn't installed as Russert's replacement," another insider said. "I know, it sounds ludicrous, but, then, Keith Olbermann is ludicrous."

Both Olbermann and Matthews vehemently deny the allegations — Matthews claims he was discussing an upcoming speech with real-estate developer Bob Monahan, and Olbermann flatly denied the claim on Thursday's "Countdown" — and claim they are not interested in moderating "Meet the Press."

Watch and read more about Olbermann's denial here, and watch him call Page Six's Paula Froelich the "Worst Person in the World."

Comments

[08POL]

Gwen Ifill.

[vocalist]

Absolutely.

[MWChris]

Gwen Ifill would be an excellent choice. The personas Matthews and Olbermann have carved out for themselves are too opinion-oriented for MTP.

[damnadamson]

My money is on someone ... anyone else, but I would love to see Olbermann tear about guests from the right wing the way O'Really does it to the left.

[drzoon]

Lara Logan!

you gotta take a look at her as someone who takes over MTP.

she smart and tough and prepared and "gets it"

[rubberneck]

I believe it 100%. Both are megalomaniacs.

[drzoon]

if you held a pistol to matthews head.. he couldn't listen to an answered question!

he's a hack!

[radiclib]

.
.
They should let Stephen Colbert replace Russert.
If he plays it for laughs, it would be great, with more ``truthiness'' in his humor than you get in 24 hours of Fox News Channel.

And if Colbert played it straight, his informed intelligence would be like a crisp breeze on a hazy, humid day.
.
.

[ebanks84]

I think either one would do a good job. I can almost see Chris doing it though.

[marymansour]

It's obvious that Chris Matthews is angling for the spot. He referred to Tim Russert as 'a competitor' on air during the past week after Tim's death. Chris won't let anyone respond to his questions, once asked. He cuts in and you can see the irritation of his guests on occasion. Of the two, I much prefer Olberman in the slot.

[kmac23va]

I think Chris meant "competitor" as in "who will break the story first with their sources" to which Tim Russert would likely always come out ahead, given his many connections. But I agree that neither Chris nor Keith would be right for MTP given their attitudes on their shows.

[Axolotl]

both unqualified by wearing hearts on their sleeves. but they are smart, well informed, and personable enough. but their zeal as pundits, as opposed to straight journalists, is what disqualifies them. but they are still well worth viewing for news and entertainment value.

[castlerider]

There goes Rupert, Trashing the WSJ even further,
But then, most of us already knew it's little more then glorified, data filled trash.

That the WSJ would say anything around the death of Russert whatsoever involving his fellow workers at MSNBC is absolutely chicken sh*t.

[Raymondf]

Neither of them qualify for the job.

[joetalarico]

Olberman is right. He isn't qualified. Although I would love to see him in that role, he is too overtly partisan to host Meet the Press. Perhaps more importantly, if he was placed in that role, we would lose one of the few sources of daily truth that many of us have come to rely on. Sometimes he goes a little overboard, but overall he is a great asset right where he is sitting now.

[rubberneck]

He's as bad a Hannity.

[DeMock]

Joetalarico- (if KO got the job)" we would lose one of the few sources of daily truth that many of us have come to rely on"
Isn't that the truth! I would like to see a female host "Meet the press"... just a thought.

[vocalist]

Mathews and Olberman are so out if it, it is almost is funny, but really not, on the sad event.....
Pleeeze both, have some dignity .
Read somewhere, Russert wanted to distance himself from those two as much as he could .

[coolkraft]

these 2 dirtbags are so disgusting I have not watched them for ages...sad that msnbc has such low class employees (I would not even acknowledge that they are more than that) the only one I like is Chuck Todd....oh well back to the internet forreal news

[GiannaX]

You must be a fan of Bill-O.

[hcbuck]

Yes. Because everything on the internet is true.

[Prism]

Why would either man want the gig? They'd actually have to pretend to be objective journalists in search of the truth.

[KarateKid]

Page Six is a Fox program. What do you expect from the most biased network on television?