David Gregory's 'Grand Wizard' Comment About GOP Lands Him In Trouble (VIDEO)

"Meet The Press" host David Gregory apologized on Wednesday for what he called a "very poor choice of words" about the GOP during a "Today" appearance.

Gregory was on the morning show to talk about the mounting sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain. Host Ann Curry asked him if the GOP wishes Cain would "just go away."

"Well, there is no grand wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue," Gregory replied. The term "grand wizard" was what got him into trouble, since that is also what the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan were once called.

After conservatives pounced, Gregory took to Twitter to recant his phrasing:

@davidgregory
David Gregory

"Wizard" remark this morning was a very poor choice of words. Did not mean to make that connection at all. Was not thinking. I apologize

November 9, 2011 2:43 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry® Reply Retweet Favorite

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Comments

[losmarfiosos]

10:22 PM on 12/13/2011

david gregory looks like a monkey his face lol lol

[Israel4Ever]

10:36 AM on 11/15/2011

The comment is perfectly valid, he should not apologize. it does, however, speak to the fact that at some level Gregory thinks the GOP is racist organization and it slipped out. That is why the Republicans are demanding a pound of flesh...because they understand that this shows DG is no friend of theirs and they want him removed before his now-clear bias damages them.

Anyone who doesn't think the GOP and TB isn't the party of racism and racialism simply doesn't know many members in the party. You speak to enough baggers and mainstream republicans (not that I see any difference policywise) and you find an endless supply of racism. Sure, not all are racists..but many are, and unapologetically so.

[Gal Murphy]

09:31 AM on 11/18/2011

But wasn't it the democratic party that fought against the civil rights act and had Byrd as a KKK member?

[Israel4Ever]

09:57 AM on 11/18/2011

Of course...there are remnants of the old Democratic party still at play, and especially when there are politicians still in it from pre-civil rights days. These guys are going to show extremist backgrounds without question. The TB and the Republicans always talk about how smart the American people are, but then act as if the vast majority of blacks and latins who vote for Dems are foolish or ignorant. You cannot have it both ways. The people have voted with their vote on whom they think more represents the civil rights needs of minorities in this country and it is obviously the Democrats. I could talk about how Lincoln went to war with the South and ask you to defend the Republicans love affair with the South. I could talk about how Lincoln was a strong believer in Federal vs. States rights and thus was able to issue and enforce the emancipation proclamation and ask you how the Republican party of today claims to be a statist entity (though it really is nothing of the sort). I guess my basic answer is, things have changed over time and the mantle of rights leadership and tolerance has fallen to the Democrats for now. Will things swing again in the future, possibly. But for now, the Republican party, and that includes mainstream and baggers, is the party of entrenched racism.

[Mike Conley]

12:23 PM on 11/14/2011

Rush Limbaugh is the Grand Wizard of the GOP (Gang Of Pirates.) Everybody knows that.

[Israel4Ever]

10:32 AM on 11/15/2011

Great one.

[delirioso]

02:58 AM on 11/14/2011

Cain shouldn't feel the need for apologizes since there's no more racism in America...right??? Well at least for the rest of America according to him and excluding himself of course.

[adgreener]

02:45 AM on 11/14/2011

I've always thought David Gregory was a republican hack.

[MakersMark]

04:39 PM on 11/13/2011

I can still see him dancing with M C Rove!

[El Chingaso]

03:11 PM on 11/13/2011

Americans always want some boob on TV (or radio) to apologize for...something they said. Who really cares. Don't some entertainer control your thoughts & emotions. Be strong.

Despite all of this PC stuff, the essence of the U.S. was founded on the concept of free thinking and free speech. As Patrick Henry proclaimed, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it?" No one has guts like that today (they just have lawyers in their hip pockets...and associated "outrage").

[Gal Murphy]

09:32 AM on 11/18/2011

Agree with you that there should be free speech but those days are long gone now with everyone being offended every single minute of every day.

[BigLeftbowski]

03:04 PM on 11/13/2011

David Gregory should have given the republicans a dose of their own medicine and made an off-the shelf GOP "I'm sorry if I offended anyone." appology.

[barbiegonebad]

12:06 PM on 11/13/2011

The righsters brag continually that they are the party of the the Right, Limbaugh and the rest of the stable of talkies use terms like Nazi, Communist, brain-dead, clueless, creepy to talk about Democrats and now want Gregory removed from his job. Wow. Mr. Kettle meet Mr. Black.

[smitthy]

08:52 AM on 11/15/2011

I think they are sensitive that there is an elephant in the room... and has been for a long time. In fact, elephant is the GOP symbol... it fits.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

11:06 AM on 11/13/2011

The GOP has become such a enclave of right-wing extremism, that it likely has any number of 'grand wizards' as members

[beardown]

05:54 AM on 11/13/2011

Only a liberal could make a comment like that and get away with it!

[JohnBryansFontaine]

11:08 AM on 11/13/2011

Only an extreme conservative would also be a grand wizard.

[beardown]

11:43 AM on 11/13/2011

No! not a extreme conservative. A extreme Hater! big difference.

[Stopinstigating]

04:15 PM on 11/14/2011

Feel free to post their names here. The late Sen. Robert Byrd would be a good start.

Until then we'll just consider you another sanctimonious liberal promoting bigoted stereotypes to demonize people you've never met and know nothing about. Its a shameful and wicked tactic taken right out of the Progressive playbook:

"The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow"
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_birth.html

[BigLeftbowski]

03:06 PM on 11/13/2011

Only a republican could have a rock at the entrance to their property with the word "N***irhead" on it and get away with it.

[beardown]

04:56 PM on 11/13/2011

Not true! Wasnt even hie land!

[AgentGrey]

05:38 AM on 11/13/2011

It's worth discussing the mental associations that might have induced such a slip, devoid of malice as it was. It's certainly worth a brief apology on his part (done). But to treat it like a scandal and an outrage would be a false gesture, indicative of a desire to appear socially enlightened even as we remain complicit in society's real inequities, racial and otherwise.

[Stopinstigating]

04:21 PM on 11/14/2011

Its a scandal to anyone honest enough to recognize the obvious double standard being applied simply on the basis of politics.

[smitthy]

09:05 AM on 11/15/2011

So, who or what are we specifically talking about here -- as in the obvious double-standard? Who was fired on the Right for a slip of the tongue? Liberal Rick Sanchez for his remark about Jon Stewart. Other liberal journalists let go: NPR host for OWS involvement, Keith Olbermann over campaign contribution. Juan Williams fired from NPR for Muslim remark. Liberal Washington Post journalist, Wiegel fired for anti-conservative emails. Rush and Hannity have been going strong w/ their obvious bias and controversial comments for ages. Glenn Beck? I think Fox finally had to pull the plug, but still has air and new media.

[Israel4Ever]

10:40 AM on 11/15/2011

Nobody deserves an apology because the observation that GOP/bagger party is a the party of racists and racialists is an accurate one...though certainly there are plenty of memebers who are not racist at all. The point that it speaks to DG's no-longer-secret opinion that the GOP is what it is, should certainly give them pause. He is a big media presence and now they know he doesn't much care for them and they want him punished...understandable, but he should resist it.

[AgentGrey]

11:58 PM on 11/15/2011

I'm just saying it was unprofessional and DG knows that, so a simple, undramatic apology to the general viewing public seems appropriate to me. And that's what he offered.

[Brunilda Dienes]

03:51 AM on 11/13/2011

Mr. Gregory just proved to us that he is obviously veeery familiar with the hierarchy in his favorite liberal organization.
Let me clarify one point for him as well as for the host: Mr. Cain IS NOT a GOP candidate, he is the PEOPLE'S candidate; therefore, the GOP HAS NO AUTHORITY over Mr. Cain. WE THE PEOPLE do, and we want Mr. Cain to stay exactly where he is, get it? Stop losing sleep over this matter and move on.
STOP using the term 'sexual harassment' because no such thing ever happened, and you understand that very well.
You people in the liberal media opposed Troy Davis' execution only a few weeks ago, claiming a lack of evidence (ignoring the fact that there was plenty), and now you want to destroy the character and the life of an innocent man based on your own opinions and on baseless, vague, unsubstantiated allegations of money hungry gold-diggers?
I guess that all the images of a lynching dancing in your little heads caused Mr. Gregory's dream of having a Grand Wizard carry out Mr. Cain's lynching to 'slip out'.
I have the incredible pleasure of informing you that times have changed, and there will NOT be a lynching, so you can put away your white robes, hoods & rope and find something else to amuse yourselves with.
Ms. Curry, you need to relax before you become completely unhinged. It is very unbecoming to watch a TV host react in such a bewildered manner.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

11:12 AM on 11/13/2011

Amazing how you forget that 'grand wizards' were and remain the leaders of a right-wing extremist organization.

As for Herman Cain, now even the leader of the Tea Party, the very conservative Judson Phillips, wants Cain to step down as a candidate.

[mbpeck55]

09:55 AM on 11/14/2011

Yeah, its amazing how you forget that the Democrats started the KKK AND voted against teh 1964 civil rights bill. Dems= RACISTS. Get your facts straight.

[TommyObama]

11:35 AM on 11/14/2011

Most likely a really clever Freudian slip, but considering that GOP candidates have joked about "second amendment solutions" to Obama in recent years, I see no harm at all even if it were a completely conscious slip! I think his gross error is in saying there is no grand wizard in the party right now. I'd bet good money there is. More than one.

[Israel4Ever]

10:58 AM on 11/15/2011

You know, Cain fans can continue to say they support him despite the harrassment claims, and that is their right...but they cannot say these things did not happen because there is record of them from LONG before HC chose to run...You have the right to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

Clue to you, btw...most democrats don't fear Cain IN THE LEAST. We would love to have this guy run against Obama. There is no way Republicans in the south and the middle of the country are going to vote for a black man...and there goes 5-8% of much needed votes. And this guy is so inarticulate and ill-informed he is darn near non-functioning on the stump. Sure, you like him, because your entire criteria seems to be fielding a candidate that irritates Democrats...but you are NEVER going to pull the middle and white blue collar votes for Cain...but have fun trying, I wish you luck.

So believe me when I tell you, Democrats don't like anything that endagers the long-term electoral prospects of BIG GOP CRAZY...and Herman "I hear God Talking" Cain is second on the crazy hit parade...right behind Bachman. Mitt and Huntsman scare us...Cain, heck...if we could vote for him in your straw polls, we would.

[ARTIST50]

04:55 PM on 11/12/2011

Actually most of the Grand Wizards until after 1964 were Democrats - so he's an equal opportunity offender. Let's all be offended and move on - I'm not sure most high school or college kids would know what we were talking about, which is the real progress - the Klan is pretty much dead.

[T2]

06:07 PM on 11/12/2011

There is no equal opportunity to it lady. The same people before and after 1964 -- they just changed parties..

[JohnBryansFontaine]

11:14 AM on 11/13/2011

Precisely. They were right-wing extremists before and remain so.

[Israel4Ever]

10:49 AM on 11/15/2011

The more honest answer is that the wizards were all southerners. When the Republicans were the party of Lincoln, the south was democrat...when the democrats started supporting civil rights, the south turned republican. Let's just own up and admit the south is for whoever most hates the blacks at any time..

[ARTIST50]

10:10 PM on 11/16/2011

Not true. The Grand Wizard was from Indiana in the 1980's. I live there and was ashamed.

[PickOneTwoThree]

04:50 PM on 11/12/2011

Everyone knew what he meant. Since Republicans are so adamant about not being PC, don't start NOW.

Who cares what Gregory says anyway. I stopped watching when he took over MTP - he is NO Tim Russert.

[dennis1943]

07:45 PM on 11/12/2011

The fellow gives me the creeps.............as soon as i see him i turn the channel..........