Charlie GIBSON's power grab. He's a small, small man.

I've long thought that behind GIBSON's jowl-ly exterior, there lies a wingnut.

After the Selection, when a guest commented negatively on SCOTUS, GIBSON replied, "Well, they had to do SOMEthing."

And then there is the infamous interview with President CLINTON, where he badgered the prez. CLINTON replied, "O.K., you wanna have an honest conversation, we'll have an honest conversation." GIBSON replied, "What were we having before?"

It was clear that CLINTON was using a Southerism, "honest" meaning blunt, rude, hurt-your-feelings.

And when GIBSON won his power grab, the FIRST promo ABC ran was the clip of the CLINTON quote with the announcer booming, "Charlie GIBSON doesn't BACK DOWN!"

Funny, no not-backing-down clips with Shrub.

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.nymag.com/news/media/17255/
Charlie the Conqueror
While Diane Sawyer waffled about taking over as the ABC evening-news anchor and the pregnant Elizabeth Vargas tried to hold on to it, her formally avuncular Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson swooped in and seized the throne for himself.
By Joe Hagan

.... Confronted with Jennings’s sudden demise, ABC News president David Westin first tried a stopgap measure. He offered a two-year deal to Gibson to keep the seat warm until the 2008 election and then gracefully move aside. Westin says he considered offering the job at that time to Sawyer. .... Unlike Sawyer, Gibson, at that point in his career, was no longer willing to take one for the team. He made clear he would accept nothing less than the permanent position. ....

...Two days after Woodruff’s injury, Westin asked both Gibson and Sawyer to substitute for Woodruff on World News Tonight, effectively setting up the horse race. He also asked them, as well as Vargas, to talk to him separately about their ideas for reformatting World News Tonight. This would be the beginning of a long and agonizing series of discussions.

From the outset, Charlie Gibson’s position was clear and unwavering. A 63-year-old TV veteran, Gibson is cut from the Father Knows Best mold. ....

Having felt burned once, Gibson wasn’t going to let it happen again. People close to him say he was tired of GMA—and especially tired of pulling double duty in the evening, subbing for Woodruff. The genial on-air presence was getting less genial by the second: Not only was he asking for more money and a longer contract this time, but he told Westin he’d quit if he didn’t get the job—and he wanted it alone, without Vargas. ....


http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/tv/gibson_new_yorks_hagan_something_of_a_snake_37871.asp

Gibson: New York's Hagan 'Something Of A Snake'


ABC's new nightly news anchor Charles Gibson called into a Chicago radio show to blast New York magazine's Joe Hagan over a May 29 article in which Gibson was quoted as questioning NBC's Brian Williams for traveling to Africa.

Gibson on WVON-AM's "Roland S. Martin Show" on Wednesday:

"This guy, who I will never talk to again from New York magazine who is something of a snake, he took my quote and I think perverted the meaning of it to indicate in some way that I was insensitive to news from one of the five major continents in the world."

Gibson said at issue was Williams' choice to go to Africa with Bono, not the trip itself.

"Why do you go to Africa with Bono? I said that if you're going to go to Africa — that is very worthwhile — why with Bono?"

********UNQUOTE*******

in essence, a temporary position. I'd have refused to "take one for the team" too. I think Gibson was absolutely right in that case.

Hmmmm. Pot, meet kettle.

That being said, the anchor desk at the evening news on one of the Big Three networks is the ultimate position for any newsperson. It's the Super Bowl ring, the World Cup trophy, the sine qua non that says you're at the top of your profession. That Gibson might have employed some hardball tactics to get the job isn't unusual or shouldn't even be seen as necessarily unseemly. But that Gibson should be thin-skinned about his tactics in landing the job shows a bit of personal insecurity that may indicate a fatal flaw in his journalistic integrity.

Someone who's not shy about using ruthless tactics behind close doors in a negotiating session, but who then gets all huffy when those tactics are aired is the sort of person who's going to do other things behind the scenes (or off camera) that will further whatever public persona he's trying to project. Charlie Gibson may not back down when he's "confronting" a junior senator from the minority party, but how does he conduct himself when dealing with a real mover and shaker? Someone who might have the power to make his little life miserable or threaten the exalted position he fought so hard to attain?

That will be the real proof of Mr. Gibson's tenure in the anchor chair at ABC.

But it was prior President CLINTON he "confronted," not future President (Senator) CLINTON.

You're correcto-mundo: Charlie can dish it out but can't take it. Letting his nasty smallness out as his image leaves him in 3rd place behind Katie and the Wedding Cake Guy.

And, while the other two HAVE to swing wingnut occasionally (often?), they at least have Dem connections in their histories.


On edit: Wow, from this distance WILLIAMS the Wedding Cake Guy looks like GIBSON.

More properly, I guess I should have wondered if Gibson would confront someone who had the power and the inclination to make his little life miserable or assail his exalted position should he offend by being too aggressive.