Twitter Fury! Chuck Todd Debuts on Meet The Press

First conservatives hated it. Then liberals hated it.

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The Chuck Todd era on Meet The Press has officially begun. How did he do in the debut show? It really depends on who you ask.

First a little background. Meet The Press, a perennial Sunday morning ratings powerhouse with the late Tim Russert as its host, has fallen to third place. Deborah Turness, from ITV news in Great Britain, was brought in as the new president of NBC News. She fired David Gregory, replaced him with Chuck Todd and announced that she wanted the show to be “edgier.”

Conservatives, who consider the network political chief a liberal hack, immediately attacked the ascension of Chuck Todd on Twitter before he even got to sit in the chair:



https://twitter.com/RushMemphis/status/508402395273900032

Chuck Todd Begins as the latest Liberal Host of NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ http://t.co/QawAJsbX6m — L H (@faded50) September 8, 2014

Wow @chucktodd is hosting @meetthepress. Can't wait to see how a new Liberal Obama apologist will hide what this corrupt Admn is doing 2 USA — Juan Ramirez (@qb_ramirez) September 8, 2014

Conservatives have long accused Comcast and NBC of having a liberal bias, of being President Obama’s preferred station. Affiliation with the openly left-leaning MSNBC just fuels the accusations. You’ll remember Chris Matthews famously saying he got a “thrill up his leg” when he heard President Obama speak. And after the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, the White House handpicked NBC anchor Brian Williams for a tour of the situation room and an exclusive with the President.

So, when it was announced that the president would be appearing with Chuck Todd for his Meet The Press debut, conservatives were not surprised … until the interview began. The new “edgier” Chuck Todd was tough on President Obama in a style that liberals attacked as disrespectful.

They should rename this show MEET THE PRICK. = http://t.co/wEs7esiS5B #meetthepress — Again America (@AgainAmerica) September 7, 2014

Chuck Todd's interviewing style seems to rely on mid-sentence interruptions. #meetthepress — Jason Stanford (@JasStanford) September 7, 2014

Fun reading liberal tweets calling #mtp moderator Chuck Todd "disrespectful" for having the audacity to question the President. — Rob Macomber (@robmacomber) September 7, 2014

By the end of the interview, Chuck Todd went from being called a “liberal Obama apologist” to “a right wing troll.”

The fact that @ChuckTodd went with the "JV" comment is a pretty good indication that he's just an overpaid right-wing troll. #MTP #uniteblue — Dr. Matt (@DrMatthew) September 7, 2014

#MTP will continue to just be an hour long political ad for the GOP. "Did #chucktodd ever interview Bush and ask.. pic.twitter.com/wknnXmFayu — Margaret (@Margaretherapy) September 8, 2014

After the interview, Chuck Todd introduced a panel that featured MSNBC stars like Joe Scarborough and Andrea Mitchell, but they too were deemed too conservative by a now-incensed mob of liberals on Twitter.

#MeetThePress Appreciate @ChuckTodd is not even going to make pretense of Fair & Balanced w Mitchell and Scarborough as regulars — Bill Wong (@ten24get) September 7, 2014

@chucktodd 's #MTP – pundits speak during the show instead of the end. Not one left leaning voice on panel Should be called Meet the GOP — Elayne (laynie) (@laynier) September 7, 2014

#mtp panel: Joe Scarborough, Andrea Mitchell……..Seems @chucktodd forgot to invite Bill O'reilly & the rest of faux news. — Genney Mordi (@GenneyU) September 7, 2014

Many of the tweets were aimed @DeborahTurness.

Thank you #CMT. Rather watch the George Strait concert instead of that hack Chuck Todd on #MTP. #BoycottMTP — Phil G (@philtrueblue) September 7, 2014

For her part, Turness tweeted before the show, but not after. So we don’t know yet if she was pleased with the show’s new direction.

Counting down to the @chucktodd era of MTP. Don't miss it. pic.twitter.com/C2oOkdi1LI — Deborah Turness (@deborahturness) September 7, 2014

Twitter aside, so far the media reviews of the new Meet The Press have been positive. It is too early to tell if the show is skewing more conservative to go after the Red State crowd and steal some of the Fox News audience.

Or if Chuck Todd was just playing a tough devil’s advocate in challenging President Obama — like a good host should. Future shows will tell us if he is just as tough on Republicans like John McCain, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. If he is, then he will follow nicely in the footsteps of Russert, who was just as tough on Hillary Clinton as he was on George Bush.

A long time ago, a news manager told me, “If you are attacked by both sides as being partisan, that means you are doing your job.”

In the meantime, the best answer to critics is success.

You know what? @chucktodd's 1st outing on #MTP has generated more news on a Monday than the show has in a damn long while. — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 8, 2014

Follow @LarryMendte on Twitter.