

David Gregory & Co. busting a move, Gangnam style. Today Show, September 2012, the embodiment of journalistic gravitas

Do you remember when MSNBC took Keith Olbermann off the air for making donations to three Arizona congresspeople without disclosing it first? Or when elder statesman Tom Brokaw took thinly veiled swipes at the appearance of liberal bias within MSNBC's line-up?

Apparently, those same rules don't apply to NBC News hosts, especially when the bias appears conservative. Because otherwise I'm sure that the news that David Gregory has agreed to be the keynote speaker for NFIB would be much bigger deal:

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which calls itself “the voice of small business,” is one of the Republican party’s strongest allies. The group spent over $1 million on outside ads in the 2010 campaign — all of it backing Republican House and Senate candidates (and, Bloomberg News reported last month, “another $1.5 million that it kept hidden and said was exempt” from disclosure requirements). The group is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Obamacare law and bankrolled state governments’ challenges to the law. The NFIB has also taken stances against allowing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, opposing regulations on businesses, and supporting curtailing union rights. Given the group’s obvious Republican alliance, it comes as little surprise that the NFIB’s three-day 2012 Small Business Summit, which begins Monday, will feature headliners Karl Rove and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). But the first name and photo on the invitation for the $150-per-person event — Tuesday’s “keynote address” speaker — is NBC’s Meet the Press host David Gregory. He is marketed by NBC as an anchor and “trusted journalist.”

According to an NBC spokesperson, Gregory is donating his fee (which typically runs about $40,000 per appearance), so there is no impropriety.

Except that it, you know, confirms his bias. But hey, we know the drill NBC, IOKIYAR, right?