David Gregory: Attack Puppy?

Howard Kurtz has a short piece today reflecting the inside-the-Beltway murmurs about replacing Sam Donaldson [forgotten, but not gone] with another stalwart attack dog on the left. Those who recall pedigrees from way back will recall that Dan Rather begat Sam Donaldson [both of humble Texas origins, Sam an ex-DJ] by assaulting Richard Nixon verbally in a disrespectful manner, and became a darling of the rude wing of the Dems. Sam took a lesson from Sam. Now, in Howie's words:

After six years on the beat, Gregory is emerging as the Sam Donaldson of the Bush years, the outspoken, aggressive, smart-aleck correspondent serving as a symbol for conservatives who detest the press and liberals who want reporters to crusade against the White House.

After Gregory exceeded his usual aggressive stance during the hysteria whipped up by the WH Press after the Cheney accident, he was criticized by Jon Friedman, the media columnist for Marketwatch.com, who wrote that Gregory had become "the poster child for inappropriate, self-serving behavior."
I blogged on the subject of unruly press behavior on Feb 27th thus:

David Gregory, perhaps the nuttiest on-camera performer, blurted the truth, but then tried to back out of it. "There is a desire by some, particularly on the right, to morph these situations into a different kind of debate---the vice president against an angry, left-wing, cynical, hate-filled press corps that wants to expose him as a liar," he said. "This is a false debate, stoked by a president and vice president who have made no bones about the fact that they don't have much respect for the press corps as an institution."

Neither do the American people, David, but even the Clintonites felt like the Bush crowd does now, as quotes from former briefers attest.

[Gregory]defends his sledgehammer questioning at briefings by saying that "this administration has put out press secretaries whose job is to stand there and not say anything. . . . I've been criticized by the left for being too cozy with Bush and not pushing hard enough in the run-up to the war, and criticized by the right for being disrespectful or hysterical or just going nuts over things that don't matter." McClellan says his job is "to help the president advance an agenda" while working with the press, and that reporters get frustrated by the administration's "discipline."

Kurtz notes that Gregory, despite an apology to McClellan and what DG calls a good relationship with GWB, remains a target for conservative bloggers:

On the Web site Ankle Biting Pundits, one said: "As the parent of a rather precocious 2 1/2 year old I've had some experience dealing with temper tantrums, but my kid has got nothing on Gregory." At Free Republic, another conservative site, a poster said: "This barking moonbat is just mad because he realizes there is no way to turn this into a 'Get Bush' or even 'Get Cheney' scandal." There's even an online petition at a Web site called FireDavidGregory.com, whose anonymous sponsors did not respond to a request for information.

Tim Russert likes Gregory's Irish in-your-face pugnacity, and touts him for an anchor position down the road. So DG's personal politics are evidently a lot smoother than his rude and abrupt interrogation style.