Tina Brown: Give "Meet The Press" To Rachel Maddow

The Daily Beast:

The Meet the Press panel needs fewer David Broders and more Christopher Hitchenses--irresponsible wits who can challenge the B-list senators and warhorse commentators who trundle on and download all that sonorous received wisdom. And for the top spot, how about going way outside the box? How about bringing in the cool forensic skills of a David Boies? Or the fresh intelligence of a web star like Josh Marshall or Glenn Greenwald? Or the political/policy smarts of a journalistic intellectual like the Guardian's Michael Tomasky?

Or how about... a woman? Since NBC has not heeded my last suggestion to appoint either the unsung cable Rottweiler Greta Van Susteren or a reinvented Katie Couric, I say give Meet the Press to Rachel Maddow. She's smart. She's quick. She's witty. She does her homework. And she listens to what the person she's talking to is saying. She doesn't just go to the next question on her list.

If Obama is post-racial, Maddow is post-gender--divested of hair-frosted femininity in the anchor genre and more appealing because of it. Like him, she's a calm, unflappable new era phenomenon. Sure, she's a lefty, and in the past week she's been swinging away at Obama's cabinet choices, but I suspect she's ambitious enough to dial it back if she had to. (She also has that weird TV gene that's so hungry for air time she'd probably insist on keeping her five-day job at MSNBC. Russert himself was on every show except Project Runway.)

Read the whole story: The Daily Beast

Comments

[ebanks84]

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. MY SUGGESTION FROM THE GIDDYUP!

Rachel is the perfect MTP host and the only one to pick up from Tim Russert. She will do a terrific job and will make the show a SUPER HIT!

If the head honchos at MSNBC can't see this, they don't need to be anybody's boss because they're throwing the winner down the drain for NOTHING!

[ebanks84]

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. MY SUGGESTION FROM THE GIDDYUP!

Rachel is the perfect MTP host and the only one to pick up from Tim Russert. She will do a terrific job and will make the show a SUPER HIT!

If the dummies at MSNBC can't see this, they don't need to be anybody's boss because they're throwing the winner down the drain for NOTHING!

[lmvd3]

Okay, okay, okay ebanks84..­.you made your point!

[AZDEM08]

I'm a big fan of Maddow ... but agree that it may be a bit soon for her to get the big seat on MTP ...
Let Gregory hold it down for a few years ... and then bring in Rachel during Obama's second term

[R2D2-51]

Trying to replace a person with the guts of Russert to confront his guests with hard facts and not afraid to call a spade a spade is a tough sell. Finding someone tough enough, especially given the enormity of lies and wickedness coming down the pike from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and tacit procuration from Congress, Gregory and Maddow in my opinion both have the maxi to be confrontational with skill, subtlety, and style. However, while I would lean with Rachel on these scores as my own personal bias, in the interest of not losing the vast spectrum of political perspectives held by its long standing viewer ship, I think Gregory in the end was why he was selected, and I can live with that.

[majorteddy]

First of all it is moxie. Second, Gregory is a cream puff pansie-butt. Every time Bush called him Stretch , he just melted. What a KA.

[Letterman]

Two words...Sa­rah Palin.

Just kidding..L­ove Rachel, but Chuck Todd would be my pick with Luke Russert doing
a segment of some sort...

[bazokbros]

Rachel can be a winning personality at times, but no way for MTP! Her show has turned into a point-counter-point and a bit whiny at times. No, no, no!

[ella52]

I would love to see it go to Gwen Ifill, who Russett mentored in the biz. But also because she is such a smart cookie. i never miss Washington Week. Don't judge her on the VP debate... there are no winning journalists when it comes to debates whose format is already determined.

[vinny]

good pick.

[galisteo]

Rachel would be great on MTP! She gets my vote.

[demfriend]

Not one of the list I have seen with Ifil, Gregory and Todd with another I forget, on it would be close to what Rach could do as she knows her stuff and rarely lets a weinie get through and lie or bs her witout a comeback. The others with maybe Todd as a exception fails to do anything for me as far as digging the truth out.

[UnknownSoldier]

I think the safe choice would be Andrea Mitchell GREENSPAN, although I personally find her not qualified, but she is a Washington Insider. If it had to be a woman, I would go with Norah O'Donnell

[darthdarcy]

Meet The Press should really be called:

Meet The Oppressors­..!

[Sweetie4Obama]

I like Rachel, but I don't think she's quite ready for a job as such. After a bit more polishing and on-camera experience, I think she'd be great. Although she's considered a progressive, I think she can be very fair when asking questions to guests.

[Deparis]

The idea of Rachel Maddow is good (I love her), but I would prefer Gwen Ifill as the host of MTP.

[zurcl]

yeah, me too. maddow is great, but ifill has the gravitas mtp requires.

[ObamaEdwards]

We love Rachel Maddow!

[katmeyster]

First of all, I saw Tina Brown trying to be a pundit and she only had canned sound bites to add --- not someone I want to listen to as an expert. Secondly, I do enjoy Rachel Maddow's show on TV, but she is a different person on her Air America radio show. Without the bright smile and face, she comes across as fairly harsh sometimes. I just heard her rail against Obama as not choosing any progressives on his team, but this was not something she was willing to confront him on while she was attempting to get him elected. Reading his books, I would consider him liberal, but very pragmatic; willing to work in a bi-partisan way, and willing to compromise to get things done. He does not apologize for this viewpoint, and in fact promotes it. So he will not make progressives happy, and Rachel will not be happy with him. So knowing this, I'm not sure whether she will be a good moderator for Meet the Press (or maybe that is why she will be good?). But it sure would be great not to look at jowly white men telling me how the world works -- there are other perspectives out there.