On Sunday’s Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz saw Tony Snow‘s new ride on the “great Washington merry-go-round” as a chance to look at other individuals who have traveled from politics to the press and back again:
| KURTZ: Step right up and get your ticket. Here’s Tim Russert, who worked for Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, now meeting the press for NBC. And here’s Chris Matthews, who worked for Jimmy Carter and Tip O’Neill, now playing ‘Hardball’ for MSNBC. But they’ve been out of politics for awhile. More recent passengers on the merry-go-round: George Stephanopoulos, from the Clinton White House to ABC’s ‘This Week.’ James Carville and Paula Begala, from Clinton operatives to CNN commentators. Joe Scarborough, a Republican congressman turned MSNBC host. Newt Gingrich, the House speaker turned FOX analyst. Bill Kristol moved from Dan Quayle’s staff to FOX News and the editorship of ‘The Weekly Standard.’ And then there are the folks who ride that carousel so many times it’s a wonder they don’t fall off. Pat Buchanan worked for CNN’s Crossfire, ran for president in ’92, went back to Crossfire, ran for president in ’96, went back to Crossfire, ran for president in 2000, and this time turned up at MSNBC. David Gergen of ‘U.S. News and World Report’ has worked for presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. Mary Matalin went from Bush 41 to CNBC to CNN, Crossfire again, to Dick Cheney’s staff. So what do we make of this dizzying ride? Journalists undoubtedly learn something from a stint on the inside, and political insiders learn a thing or two about the media. But when they keep going back and forth, you start to wonder, are they telling us what they really think, or as media analysts, are they spinning us on behalf of their former political colleagues? And just wondering, will FOX welcome back Tony Snow when he leaves the White House podium? |
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