Chuck Todd has claimed special insight into the world of “trolling” in the past.
“Easiest way to attract trolls, write ‘media’ and ‘bias’ in a sentence,” he tweeted last year.
Equipped with that knowledge, NBC’s new “Meet the Press” moderator waded into a Facebook Q&A on Friday ready to swat down any such hostility that came his way.
When one user asked him why he is “always trying to win the midterm for the Republican Party,” Todd was prepared.
“I think folks mistake analysis of political reality with cheerleading,” he said.
But that accusation of bias was tame compared to what followed.
“Was false equivalence your dream or did it come to you over time?” another user asked.
According to Todd, that guy was on the wrong social media platform for that kind of sarcasm.
“Happy to answer any serious questions. If you want to snark, do it on Twitter,” Todd said.
Todd responded similarly when he was taken to task for not investigating “GOP Voter Discrimination or the Sequester to Blocking everything Obama wants.”
“Why didn’t you ask me when I stopped beating my wife? Come on,” Todd said. “Ask a serious question and I’ll give you a serious answer. There’s always more nuance to the facts that partisans, left and right, want to admit.”
One user called Todd an “a$$ clown” for his suggestion that Alison Lundergan Grimes had “disqualified herself” for refusing to say whether she had voted for President Obama.
“I understand you have to be mad at someone, so why not a member of the press,” Todd responded. “That’s why God invented social media.”
He’s a fucking Republican jerk.
This guy is no more a journalist than my chihuahua doggie. I stopped watching Meet the Press when the previous guy tried his hand at it, and this guy is no better.
He is a republican shill.
He’s already getting a big ego. How does she disqualify herself for not dwelling on the fact she voted for Obama …Its such a joke to badger her about it. She sure as hell didn’t vote for Romney. She does have the right to not tell who she voted for. If I don’t want to tell someone who I voted for…no one can force me. And as a reporter, Chuck Todd knows he doesn’t have to give his sources either. Freedom of the Press Chuck Todd… Get over voting day Chuck and let’s see you go for the jugular on the issues of Kentucky. Brian Sullivan of CNBC is on your tail for the MTP job…so better get with the program and ask the tough questions.
One man’s “Political Reality” is another man’s confirmation bias, Chuck.
The “disqualified herself” comment was simply wrong as fact and inappropriate for a journalist (or even a political commentator) in his position.His calling Mitch cheap for exploiting it was pitiful. Why not just admit it was a stupid thing to say?