That sound you hear is John Derbyshire screaming

Remember John Derbyshire? He's the National Review columnist who in 2001 called for the murder of Chelsea Clinton. Well, this news is going to make him (and quite probably Limbaugh, whose ravings I can hear in my head already) go completely off his nut (NYT link):

NBC is to announce on Monday morning that it has hired Chelsea Clinton to become a full-time special correspondent for NBC News.

The appointment is immediate. Ms. Clinton will show up at the news division offices on Monday morning, said Steve Capus, president of NBC News, and will begin work on stories that NBC expects to use as part of its “Making a Difference” series, which runs on “NBC Nightly News.”

Now, I'm not in favor of presidential daughters being able to waltz right into an on-air gig on a nationally-televised program without having to go through the local news gauntlet of covering hit-and-runs and standing outside in blizzards telling people what they already know, any more than I'm in favor of smug little pricks being able to waltz into Washington correspondent/analyst gigs just because their father was Tim Russert. But the unfortunate reality is that in today's world of news-o-tainment, celebrity trumps journalism most times, leaving me to wonder if NBC's hiring of Actual Journalist™ Alex Wagner for a noon show on MSNBC was designed to offset this obvious nepotism hire.

It isn't as if the hiring of high-profile political daughters in anything new, and the reality of Jenna Bush already being a correspondent for Today and Meghan McCain being a contributor to MSNBC's lineup SHOULD silence the critics (not that it will). Still, it's difficult enough these days to convince anyone to go into mainstream journalism, given the Coffee Gofer and Local News path that is the traditional path into the national news scene. And with the many thousands of people toiling out there as bloggers, I'm not sure that the elevation of Chris Hayes and Alex Wagner is sufficient to justify this unfortunate trend in celebrity newsbotting.

But if it makes John Derbyshire's head explode with rage, maybe it does.

Move over, George W. Bush, there's a new smirking fratboy in town

This is priceless. Watch Dylan Ratigan take that smirking punk Luke Russert to the woodshed:

You can bet your next paycheck that Ratigan got a good hard dressing down from the NBC suits for daring to question the Spawn of Timmeh.

(I guess now I have to start a new blog, "Sweet Jesus I Hate Luke Russert." =sigh=)

(via)

But affirmative action for minorities is a BAD thing

Look, I have no beef against Luke Russert. Amidst all the hue and cry and rending of garments and the week-long grief-fest that took place on all three networks after Tim Russert's sudden death, it was Russert's own son, one of a very few people who had a blood-born right to be curled up in a fetal position in the corner, who managed to pull himself together and conduct himself with class and dignity when people three times his age were blubbering like infants on national television for a full week.

But isn't there something just a little bit wrong when there are no doubt thousands of kids who are "A" students in their journalism majors who are going to be toiling away covering council meetings in Anytown, USA for the next five years trying to get some actual experience, and this guy gets a TV correspondent gig on a national network based on who his dad was -- especially when Rachel Maddow is out there suffering the indignity of having to parry crap from the likes of Pat Buchanan night after night?

Again, this is no knock on young Mr. Russert, who is at least saying the right humble-type things:

Russert told MSNBC.com that he realizes some might say it was only his name that got him the job. But he's ready for the challenge and plans to work hard, he said.

"I'm not trying to be my father. He's irreplaceable. I'm simply trying to do something that I think there's a real niche for, that there's a calling for, that has to do with youth, not just in the election but in politics from now on," Russert said.

In a statement, he said he was "humbled and grateful" for the opportunity.

Still, isn't it bad enough that we can't escape from political dynasties, do we have to set them up in the media too? Have we learned nothing from the Hack That Is Chris Wallace?