My e-mail to MSNC on Lauer's Kitty Kelley "interview"

[BJ]

Even though I likely will not read Kitty Kelley's
new book on the Bush family, Today Show co-host Matt Lauer's
three-day interview of the gossip book author is not, in any
sense of the phrase, "fair and balanced."

This long time Today Show viewer, yes I remember
Dave Garroway, thinks that Mr. Lauer is less than objective.
He seems to be stooping to the kind of ad hominem
tactics associated with the likes of Sean Hannity.

Whether or not Today Show producers read this stuff is any body's guess. At the end of today's segment of Lauer's "interview," he promised, perhaps threatened is a better word, Ms. Kelley to read e-mails and blogs from viewers tomorrow. Ya just know it's all going to be "fair and balanced."

[Career Prole]

1. What's his e-mail address again, please? n/t

[BJ]

2. It's not Lauer's personal e-mail address.

Let's see....it's MSNBC's Web site contact.

Try [e-mail]

Yep, that seems to work.

Flame'em!

[Career Prole]

3. With pleasure...thanks. I watched him get all red-faced with her this

morning. Farthest thing from detached professionalism I've seen. He was even worse than wolfboy.

[Bunny]

4. He got real twitchy with Michael Moore, too.

He must believe this makes him look like a no-holds barred, hard-hitting journalist. Seeker of wisdom and truth. Or something.

[Generic Other]

5. Good for you! I went after him too! I went for the jugular!

My name is GW Bush and I approve of Matt Lauer's hatchet job!

Matt Lauer plugs his ears and hums whenever negative stories about Bush threaten his cozy relationship with the White House. Like most of the rest of the mainstream media, he has done nothing but produce infomercials for the GOP. Instead of taking his job seriously, he chose to ignore the lies and distortions of the Bush administration for four years. He chose to focus on the shallow and the trivial. Now, Lauer has the monumental gall to attack Kelley's credibility like he did Michael Moore's a few months ago as if Lauer had any credibility himself. The tone of his interview suggests he believes his reporting on the Today Show somehow rises above the level of Kitty Kelley's work. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Journalists like Matt Lauer got American soldiers killed for a lie because they were more interested in ratings than truth, more interested in access to the White House than in doing hardhitting stories or asking tough questions. At least Kelley's work doesn't need to be prefaced with the endorsement: "My name is George W. Bush and I approve of this message" as all of Lauer's stories should be labelled.

[BJ]

6. Good e-mail!

Humorous yet biting.

[Crankie Avalon]

7. Thanks for the reminder to send an e-mail...

...this was what I just sent:

If Matt Lauer suddenly wants to be a serious journalist, he ought to start acting like one. Simply trying to ad hominem attack someone who wrote a well-researched book about a political family does not qualify as the sort of action that will achieve Mr. Lauer's newfound desire to be taken seriously as a journalist. Frankly, Mr. Lauer should be looking up to Ms. Kelley; she works a thousand times harder than the Matt Lauers of the world.

If Mr. Lauer really wants to make a career change this late in his life, he should start by foregoing the golf games with patriarchs of political establishment families, get off his fluffy morning show couch, and start doing some investigative journalism that takes on all sides with a critical eye--especially those sides in power and with an unfortunate influence on real people's lives. Frankly, I don't think real news is in Mr. Lauer's range.

Just because you went bald doesn't mean you stopped being a blow-dried mannequin, Mr. Lauer.