You consider yourelf a "proxy to the public"? That's laughable. The press long ago ceased to represent the views of the public. An editorial represnts the views of one man, the guy who writes it. The time when newspaper and tv anchormen could be said to speak for America - if such a time ever existed, which I doubt - is long over. You newsmen have yourselves to thank for that.

Mr. Gregory, Have you ever heard of HIPPA and who was instrumental in pushing it through? Look it up. It is my opinion that privacy issues regarding Mr. Whittington's medical concerns were a priority to Vice President Cheney while determining how to proceed in the disclosure of the accident. Another point - how many hours did it take Clinton and his wife to disclose the suicide of Vince Foster (under suspicious circumstances, I might add)? It looks like you people in the press are starting to enjoy BEING the news, not reporting it.

You say, "I see myself as a proxy for the public...", I for one don't remember giving you or anyone else in the media my "proxy". Face it, you and other in the White House Press Corp continually play to the camera in the hopes of becoming the next Dan Rather. You all dream of being on the major tv and radio talk shows and earning fame and fortune.

I remember the previous administation actually had a shot dead lawyer with a suicide note. This begged a lot of questions. I do not remember such aggressive and hard hitting investigation on that one.
And why did it take you more than a week to issue your apology, what were you covering up during that time and why did you chose a network and a show that would be friendly to you to issue your apology and...oh, forget it!

Thanks!!! It's about time someone gets tough with this administration!!1 I don't care if it was a democratic adminisration what they are doing is wrong!! America wake up and stop being sheep!!!!!
Keep it going Mr Gregory.
No more name calling though you are better than that!

Mr Gregory-

In your article you indicated that Scott McClellan "suggested my aggressive questioning about the disclosure of the hunting accident was a stunt for the cameras." I had initially read, and I can't recall where, that Mr McClellan had told you that you didn't need to grandstand, because the cameras weren't rolling (that he was playing to your persona as someone who DOES play to the cameras).

Only those who were there know what was really said, but the distinction is important and should be addressed.

Great Job!!
I hope you are the New Wave of news men to come to the White House. Did you cross the line, Yes! However it is a Line that has needing crossing for a long time now.
Someone should be demanding One Answer for One Question. Evening is the Answer is I am not going to give you and Answer; then shut up and don’t give a lot of Lip Service and say NOTHING.
If the Press is going to Demand an answer for a Hunting Accident, then have the Balls to Demand an answer for question on the War, Home Land Security, Social Security, that even the Price on Gas.
It is time for Press people stop be Afraid of not being invited back if the ask for an answer.
Please do not give an apology for your actions and Keep Up the Good Work.
Not that this is a lot, but you might consider passing the message to other Press people.

Mr. Gregory, As the proxy for viewers who would like to be better informed by their government, I hope you will ask more tough questions, not fewer. The press should be challenging Mr. McClellan's eternal refusal to ever give a straight answer. In my view, he is useless as a press secretary, but effective as a firewall against the transfer of information.

That you were apparently sent from the woodshed to MTP was disappointing. Where was the network outrage over McClellan's denying the public answers to press questions? NBC would never have tolerated that kind of stonewalling from a Clinton press secretary.

I think that the "liberal media" is an urban myth. If there ever was one, it has been mau-maued into submission by the right. The reality is that on MTP and many other NBC programs there is a double standard for left and right. The program you were on provides a ready example. Mary Matalin was allowed to burble on and on uninterrupted, despite asserting a number of "facts" for which there is contrary evidence. The camera kept following her pouting and grimacing even when she was not talking, which helped to distract viewers from whoever was speaking, usually Maureen Dowd. Pardon me, but what was a GOP operative doing on a program with a journalist, a columnist, and an editor? Where was the Democratic operative? If there had been one, the fearsome Mr. Russert would have never allowed more than a sentence to emerge without jumping on him/her.

David,
I wish more reporters would hold this administration accountable for their actions. The American people deserve the truth, haven't we given enough of our blood to at least get the truth from the elected offical. Do the polititions think we should blindly follow them and not want to hear the real story? I am just grateful there are reporters that know we not only have the right but a need for the truth no matter what.
Thanks to you and all others that stand up for us.

It seems to me, Mr. Gregory, that you broke the cardinal rule of reporting--you became the story. You and your fellow White House press corp caused two of the same reactions many of us felt during the invasion of Iraq--anger and ultimately laughter. It was and still is terrible see your poor attempt to mask the public's right to know into your personal "gotcha" moment and your intense hatred for the administration. You now say that you are proud of your hard hitting-getting to the truth way of interviewing for those of us who you are in fact, only selling short. We can see your bitterness come through and can't help but change the channel at that and at your contradiction. Heck, Chappaquidic didn't get this much attention. Bill Clinton lying to the American people and admitting it a year later also didn't get this much attention. Maybe Cheyney chose the Fox network for his interview solely because he knew there'd be a larger audience. There are many of us who still watch NBC out of habit but find themselves switching during Hardball, etc. when the liberal bias gets to this level. David, I'd like to go back to "liking" you, but you are going to have to change since I'm tired of changing the channel.

Bottom line: The White House Press corps came out of this looking worse than Cheney to the nonpartisan observer. Dan Henninger of Opinion Jorrnal was right in his column last Friday - the high-decibel coverage of every Bush "scandal" large and small by the press ultimately undermines their credibility.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Al Gore decries "mistreatment" of Arabs in the US post-911, and there's hardly any coverage. If not for 537 votes in Florida 2000, this man could be leading the GWOT. Scary thought.

Will someone please explain why the White House and Cheney and everybody else talks about this accident happening Saturday evening, but Dick Whittington in his appearance on leaving the hospital last week described it as happening on Friday? Is there really something else here? Or was Mr. Whittington still confused from his trauma? I wish I could get an answer to that question. Thanks.

mr gregory thanks for your apology.It would be nice if all news media were objective. i will be convinced when i hear an MSM interview w/harry reid about his very hush hush trip to the hospital for a few days last year with no notification to the press,reid s contacts w/abramoff, hillary s comments on the need for openness at the white house vs her health task force secrecy,oh and an interview w/ al gore and let us know what he had in mind in his speech last week in S Arabia,and ask him some hard questions about his statement that we were unfairly penalizing saudi citizens, for a start.thank you

Do you think the fact that the 'other hunter' Cheney mentioned who was with him when Harry was shot was Pam Willeford, Ambassador to Switzerland/Lichtenstein had anything to do with the delay in reporting and the coverup? Couldn't be the booze; C. had dinner (with cocktail, most likely, after the shooting, and hence had no worry about a alcohol test after that.
Still have not heard an explanation for the fact that Harry was to the right of C. and coming from behind him when he was shot and the wounds are on the right side of his face and body. Perhaps he just was turning around to go back behind C when C shot him?
Perhaps these are some of the reasons that it made sense for C to have it reported the next day to the local Barney Fife. Perhaps they can be asked when the Impeachment Hearings get under way in a few months....

Why did it take you so long to apologize?

You seem to be acting like you have something to hide.

How many drinks did you have before you called Scott McClellan a jerk?

How do you like it when the shoe's on the other foot?

I guess gone are the days of unbiased media coverage. Instead of reporting the events of the story you became the story. I guess you just don't understand how pathetic you guys look to a majority of Americans. You wear your political beliefs on your sleeve by the way you ask questions and report events. I have a bit of advise for you Mr. Gregory, keep it up!

I was quite struck by Mary Matlin's comment to you on Meet the Press last sunday, that you were conducting "a jihad." That is really how this dangerous administration works. If you do not agree or even worse, if you question or attack their motives and actions you are the enemy, a friend of Al Qaeda.
Interesting how there haven't been any great fluctuations in the terror level since the elections have passed. Maybe we will see more closer to Congressional elections though I don't think even that fear tactic will be sufficicient for the Republicans to maintain control of both Houses.
Please keep up the good work Mr. Gregory. Don't back down. Bite the idiots harder.

David
Thank you for sticking up to Scott M. I do wish how ever you shouldnt have felt the need to apologize on Meet the press. This adminstration never would do the same for you, I have seen Scott M. be a jerk to the press corp so many times I often wondered who was going to "grow a set of balls" and stand up to this guy. So again Thank You David.

Several people brought up the time delay and the fact that they had a little more to drink than they admitted. It just amazes me that if it were my friend and I had just shot him I would have went to the hospital with him and not left until I knew he was going to be alright and I would have definitely either been at the hospital or at his home when he was released. In fact friend or not if I accidentally shot anyone I would want to be there, maybe not if I were drunk or had something to "hide".

The White House press is the most overpaid, overindulged and pampered elite since the court of the czars. You cover the world from the press room and the hotel bars and throw tantrums if you are not spoon fed information. If you can't report the news without someone holding your hand, maybe you should find another line of work.

Get over youself. This is really all about the White House Press corp having their knickers in a bunch because some small town news reporter scooped them out of a story. And if you think about it, it's not as if you would have just reported the facts anyway. There would have to have been some sinister spin put on it no matter what. This is why I have stopped watching any "news" on TV. What I would really be watching is an ad nauseum series of opinions by an ad nauseum series of talking heads.

What I would like to know, is why is it that you have not yet to correct that Cheney was not drinking during the hunting trip, and that he had a drink at LUNCH. You continue to allow people to lie on this blog and post the lies of the inuendos that you reported and of the anti-troop and anti-Bush crowd.
Like Mary said on Meet the Press, "will the secret service really allow a bunch of drunk people go out shooting?". Why dont you in the media, stop all the inuendos??? And since when did all of you in the press become gun or hunting experts?? Again, all the inuendos that Cheney is hiding something, because your so-called experts tell you something to fit your liking, and fit your theory. Kuedos for Mary Matlin defending Cheney and showing your HATRED for Bush and Cheney.

> [Mr. Cheney] also chose to allow a witness to this accident and the White House press secretary to spend three days portraying this as the fault of the shooting victim, Harry Whittington. Wednesday, Mr. Cheney changed course and took the blame. That invites press scrutiny.

Assuming the Mrs. Armstrong's account of the incident are accurate, the accident was Mr. Whittington's fault. Every hunter knows that it is incumbent on anyone straying into a potential field of fire to make the rest of the hunting party aware of their position.

Mr. Cheney was the man who pulled the trigger. The Code of the West requires that he take full responsibility, which has done. He waited until Mr. Whittington's condition was more certain before going before the press. Even then, according to Mr. Hume, he was visibly shaken.

In your quiet moments late at night, I am sure that you can understand why Mr. Cheney did bare his soul to the press corps mob while his friend fought for his life.

MR. GREGORY,
I SHALL TRY AND RESPOND ONCE MORE CONSIDERING THAT YOUR HANDLERS OBVIOUSLY ARE TRYING TO MINIMIZE ANY RESPONSES WHICH DO NOT TREAT AS A GOLDEN PRINCE.
I WROTE IN MY PREVIOUS RESPONSE THAT YOUR BEHAVIOR IN REGARD TO THE PRESS SECRETARY WAS OFFENSIVE IN THE EXTREME AND DID NOT REPRESENT HOW REAL PEOPLE WOULD RESPOND IN A TRAGIC EVENT, SUCH AS THE SHOOTING OF MR. WITTINGTON.
I DO NOT LIKE MR CHENEY, NOR MR BUSH AND BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE MAKING US LESS SAFE BY NOT GETTING OSAMA BIN LADEN RIGHT AWAY, BUT THE BEHAVIOR AND SPOILED, POUTY ATTITUDE OF YOU AND YOUR OTHER PRINCES AND PRINCESS IN THE PRESS CORPS ARE AS MUCH THE ENEMY AS ANY TERRORIST AND WHEN WE ARE HIT AGAIN IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT!! THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN THEY ARE PULLING BODIES OUT OF ANOTHER BUILDING. IT IS A LITTLE OFF FROM THE SHOOTING STORY, BUT IT IS YOUR ATTITUDE, NOT THE STORY THAT MAKES IT ALL RELEVANT. WHY NOT GET A REAL JOB AND START HELPING AMERICA INSTEAD OF TRYING TO ASSIST THE TERRORISTS IN DESTROYING US!!!

David:

Aside from the fact that you are a role model for "up and coming" young students of all studies, who now will be justified in their public displays of anger; your uncontrollable tirade was childish.
Anger management therapy should be your next consideration.