NBC's Peacenik, Meredith Vieira: 'I'm In The Middle' Politically

May 15th, 2006 8:10 AM

Peter Johnson of USA Today profiled Meredith Vieira, the incoming co-host of "Today" on NBC, and at the very end of the piece, we "conservative bloggers" made a brief entrance:

Then there was the peace rally she attended with Lily at the 2004 Republican National Convention, which conservative bloggers dug up when NBC announced that she would succeed Couric.

"I have a lot of issues with what's going on in this country, and I wanted my daughter to see what this process is like," says Vieira, who describes herself as "in the middle" politically. "I don't regret anything, but now I have to be objective. I won't preface an interview with 'I think you're a stupid idiot, but what do you think about ... ?' "

Actually, Vieira says, she's not very interested in politics and much prefers talking about Hollywood gossip or trying to get Ben into the college of his choice.

I'm pretty much like every woman who is watching the show. I have my kids. I go home. I think the more I can bring that perspective to the show, the better. This is a job. If I blow it, I blow it. But if something happened to Ben and college, then I'd be real upset."

So cue up "I'm Every Woman" as Meredith's new theme song. But I don't think every woman watching television relished marching against President Bush and the Iraq war on the eve of the Republican convention. See our Meredith Vieira profile page for a refresher. This is as weird as Hillary Clinton claiming she's in the middle.

Johnson also reported that Vieira is already getting up at 4 AM to get in the groove and already receives "Couric's nightly homework packet."