BYE-BYE BRYANT: Gumbel's Years of Liberal Advocacy
Editor's Note:
January 3 will be Bryant Gumbel's last day after 15 years as
co-host of NBC's Today. By my count Bryant Gumbel has co-hosted
Today just seven mornings in December, but I assume he'll be
back most of the December 30-January 3 week, his last. USA Today
"Inside TV" columnist Peter Johnson reported December
23 that CBS and ABC and are fighting to land Gumbel: "ABC
News is considered the front-runner, but ABC News chief Roone
Arledge says not to count out NBC, which he predicts will make
"a major move to keep him.' Gumbel ' is terrific. Anybody
would love to have him.'" Anybody, that is, interested in
promoting liberals and denigrating conservatives.
A special good-bye salute to Bryant Gumbel, our bountiful Babylon of biased bombast. Here are highlights from 1989 through 1996.
1989
"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."
- To Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater, January 19 Today.
"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."
- July 17 Today.
"This test is not going to
tell you whether you're a racist or a liberal."
- Previewing his prime-time special The Racial Attitudes and
Consciousness Exam, September 5 Today.
1990
"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?"
- January 31.
"The missteps, poor
efforts, and setbacks brought on by the Reagan years have made
this a more sober Earth Day. The task seems larger now."
- April 20 Today.
"The bottom line is more
tax money is going to be needed....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."
- Gumbel leading off Today, May 9.
1991
"Tonight the NBC News
program Expos, looks at incidence of sexual harassment in
[federal low-income] housing....Well, I guess that's where the
problem began. Actually, it was when the budget was taken out of
the affordable housing market during the Reagan years and thus,
the problem came about."
- To reporter Michele Gillen, September 20 Today.
Reporter Lea Thompson:
"...So you can't depend on government police to do this for
you. We did find this flammable sleepwear everywhere we
went."
Gumbel: "Lea, Lea, real quick. Why is the government
abdicating its responsibility on this? Is this another holdover
from the Reagan years and the cutbacks?" Thompson:
"Absolutely. And somebody's gotta do something."
-Exchange on Today, November 13.
1992
"The boom years following
World War II saw the economy take off, giving rise to the growth
of the great American middle class. The rising standard of
living meant homes, cars, TVS, college for the kids - all in
all, a piece of the American dream. But in the Reagan years,
economic erosion set in, so much so that the middle class now
finds itself in ever-deepening trouble."
- January 22 Today.
"We keep looking for some
good to come out of this. Maybe it might help in putting race
relations on the front burner after they've been subjugated so
long as a result of the Reagan years."
- On the Los Angeles riots, April 30, 1992 Today (Gumbel
refused to condemn the rioters).
1993
"It's early yet, but for at
least trying to address the deficit in a more serious fashion
than anyone in 12 years, what kind of early marks do you give
Bill Clinton?"
- To author Gerald Swanson, March 17 Today.
"In the greedy excesses of
the Reagan years, the mean income of the average physician
nearly doubled, from $88,000 to $170,000. Was that
warranted?"
- To the AMA's Richard Corlin, March 31 Today.
"If I'm a young black man
in South Central L.A., where poverty is rampant and unemployment
is skyrocketing, I see that Washington's promises of a year ago
have gone unfulfilled, I see that perhaps for a second time, the
court's inability to mete out justice in a blind fashion, why
shouldn't I vent my anger?"
- To U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), April 15 Today.
1994
"It's been written that
being black in America is like being a witness at your own
lynching. Why didn't your experience make you more resentful
than you are today?"
- To criminal-turned-Washington Post reporter Nathan McCall,
March 22 Today.
"We've got an awful lot to
talk about this week, including the sexual harassment suit
against the President. Of course, in that one, it's a little
tough to figure out who's really being harassed."
- Today, May 10.
"You're aligned to a party
which owes many of its victories to the so-called religious
right and other conservative extremists who are historically
insensitive to minority concerns. That doesn't bother you?"
- To U.S. Rep.-elect J.C. Watts (R-Okla.), November 9 Today.
1995
"You called Gingrich and
his ilk, your words, 'trickle-down terrorists who base their
agenda on division, exclusion, and fear.' Do you think middle
class Americans are in need of protection from that group?"
- To about-to-be House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt,
January 4 Today.
"Janet Reno has asked for
an independent counsel to investigate charges against HUD
Secretary Henry Cisneros. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown is being
investigated. Questions have been raised about Transportation
Secretary Federico Pena. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy
resigned under pressure, as did Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.
The Clinton White House seems to be having a hard time retaining
high-profile minorities particularly. Do you think, Senator,
they are being held to a higher standard in Washington than
their white predecessors?"
- To Senator Ted Kennedy, March 15 Today.
"This comes at a time when
Republicans are looking to gut the Clean Water Act and also the
Safe Drinking Water Act. What are our options? Are we now forced
to boil water because bottled water is not an economically
feasible option for a lot of people?"
- To Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer Erik Olson, June
1 Today.
"Two weeks after his
acquittal, we'll see how O.J. Simpson is still being treated as
if he were guilty."
- October 16 Today.
1996
"While he appeared to be
empathetic, his policies caused enormous suffering for those who
were least able to afford it."
-Referring to Ronald Reagan on the October 10 MSNBC InterNight.