MediaWatch: April 1991

Gumbel's Morning Gospel

NBC's Today does more than tell viewers what's happened in the world while they slept. Co-host Bryant Gumbel tells an unending story about the country's decline under Republican administrations, and how taxes must be raised and government expanded to correct that decline. To lay out the gospel according to Gumbel, MediaWatch has collected representative quotes from the last three years.

Reagan. Gumbel's legendary opposition to anything Reaganesque is still bursting from his lips more than two years after Reagan left office. In January, Gumbel refused to give Reagan any credit for the success of high-tech weapons in the Gulf War: "For that weaponry a lot of folks have been simplistically crediting Ronald Reagan, whose expensive procurements dominated government spending in the '80s. But as Capitol Hill correspondent Henry Champ reports, not everyone feels Reagan deserves the credit, or wants to return to Reagan-like levels of spending."

Just after Reagan left office Gumbel revealed his contempt. On April 21, 1989 Gumbel asked political cartoonist Jeff MacNelly: "But don't you miss the Reagan Administration? I mean, that's an administration that so unintentionally did so many things that were laughable." The day before, Gumbel had blamed Reagan for environmental problems: "The missteps, poor efforts and setbacks brought on by the Reagan years have made this a much more sober Earth Day. The task seems larger now."

Interviewing Richard Nixon on May 1, 1990, Gumbel asked: "In [your] book, you bemoan the increase in style over substance. You say that politicians should not be wholly concerned with how the media views things, and yet that was the first, last, and foremost concern for eight years of the Reagan Administration."

While talking to Today movie critic Gene Shalit on July 11 last year about an upcoming concert tour by folk singers Peter, Paul and Mary, Gumbel said good riddance to the Reagan decade: "Let's hope the times would warrant those kind of songs again now that the '80s are over with. Thanks, Gene."

Taxes and Spending. Gumbel's approach to fiscal matters was illustrated by an interview with George Bush on November 2, 1988, just days before the election: "If I salute the fact that Ronald Reagan has selected a bipartisan, blue-ribbon National Economic Commission to come up with recommendations to address the deficit, and that commission is going to come back with the probable recommendation of higher taxes, and I know you'll ignore it, why should I vote for you?"

(Who would Gumbel support? Look at his evaluation of Mario Cuomo in a December 1986 Playboy interview: "I like him because he's part jockstrap and part street kid. That's me on both counts... His wonderful speaking ability is obvious. He's also fair. I can identify with his approach to things....He could certainly win my vote.")

Gumbel sounded like a teachers' union lobbyist when he hounded then-Education Secretary Lauro Cavazos on May 3, 1989: "Where's Washington's hand in all of this? Where are the new programs that we need? Where are the new monies that we need? Where is the aggressive approach we need?"

On July 17, 1989, in the midst of seven years of uninterrupted economic growth, Gumbel announced economic disaster: "On After Eight this morning, 'Poor in the USA.' Largely as a result of the policies and priorities of the Reagan Administration, more people are becoming poor and staying poor in this country than at any time since World War II."

Gumbel called for new taxes time and again. From January 31 last year: "It is certain the President won't mention the T word, and yet taxes are very much at the heart of what all our potential solutions are. How long can both sides pretend that a hike's not needed?" Ten days later, on February 9, he repeated himself: "We keep on hearing about limited resources, limited resources, but maybe it is time to say the T word. Anyway, at some point we're going to have to say it."

Today viewers got acid with their coffee when Gumbel started one show: "The bottom line is more tax money is going to be needed. Just how much will be the primary issue on the agenda when Congressional leaders meet with the President later today, Wednesday, May the 9th, 1990. And good morning, welcome to Today. It's a Wednesday morning, a day when the budget picture, frankly, seems gloomier than ever. It now seems the time has come to pay the fiddler for our costly dance of the Reagan years."

On July 20, 1990, Gumbel complained: "I'm worried about the lack of will in Washington to do what's necessary. That probably worries me more than anything else....I mean, that came in with Ronald Reagan. I mean, it used to be that politicians did what was essential and now there seems to be an unwillingness to bite the bullet."

Finally, when the tax-raising budget summit drew to a close on October 5, he asked Democratic consultant Bob Squier what had gone wrong. Squier said Republicans were ruining it: "I think that it was a game of chicken. I think what you had was Gingrich, who is supposed to be part of the leadership, leading people literally out of the deal." Gumbel shot back: "Acting irresponsibly." He later asked GOP consultant Roger Ailes: "Is this the legacy of Ronald Reagan politics, I mean, feel-good politics of the '80s, no-responsibility politics of the '80s?" Ailes replied: "I think that's a misnomer." Gumbel insisted: "But weren't the '80s about spending what we didn't have? And that was Ronald Reagan."

Race. Gumbel badgered anyone who failed to uphold the liberal "civil rights" line. Here's another question from Gumbel's interview with Bush on November 2, 1988: "If I'm a person who's concerned about what I see as a deteriorating state of race relations in the country, which George Bush am I going to get: the one who voted for fair housing in '68 when it was unpopular, or the man who selected Dan Quayle, who has a terrible civil rights record?...Can you deny that the Willie Horton ad tapped a rather rich vein of American racism?"

Gumbel assaulted Le Atwater a day before the Inauguration: "Blacks have looked at the past eight years and seen this administration retreat from civil rights, retreat from affirmative action, make South Africa no priority, continue to see a greater disparity economically between blacks and whites, foster a spirit of racism that hasn't been seen in 20-plus years."

Gumbel didn't change for Urban League President John Jacob on August 9, 1989: "Okay, you've said the niceties. Now let's talk about what [Bush] really said, and what he didn't say. He didn't offer any resources to correct the problem. Are you disappointed? ....He offered no legislative action to address the void left by recent Supreme Court rulings. You disappointed?...On the one hand, he says he's committed to black opportunity, at the same time he applauds all the recent Supreme Court rulings that were against that very opportunity. Are you sure where he is?"

On September 5, he hosted a prime time special called The Racial Attitudes and Consciousness Exam (RACE). Plugging that evening's show on Today, Gumbel committed a Freudian slip that revealed his feelings about conservatives: "This test is not going to tell you whether you are a racist or a liberal."

NBC may think Today is a news program, but as long as Bryant Gumbel uses his position as a platform for political one-liners, viewers looking for a balanced news presentation should change the channel.

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