In late September, NBC reporter Luke Russert felt pressed to apologize after reporting from the University of Virginia and suggesting that smarter people lean toward Barack Obama: "the smartest kids in the state go there, so it's leaning a little bit towards Obama." On Tuesday morning, Russert’s mother, Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, slipped into the liberal-equals-brainy arrogance on NBC’s Today, in a discussion on whether the Obamas will be more social than the Bushes in Washington. She said the "whole town is desperately hoping it’ll be different," and "brains are in the ascendancy now, absolutely. They’re such a brainy Cabinet."

How do brains go hand in hand with visiting more house parties and restaurants? MRC's Geoff Dickens found that after a Jamie Gangel segment on Inaugural balls and how difficult and crowded they are, Vieira turned to Orth for more on the D.C. social scene:

MEREDITH VIEIRA: You know the Bushes once they, they got into office, they sort of stayed away from the social scene in Washington.

MAUREEN ORTH: Right.

VIEIRA: Think it’ll be different for the Obamas?

ORTH: Well the whole town is desperately hoping it’ll be different. And I think because they’re involved with young children they’ll be parents at their schools. They’ve always been involved with, with their school kids and parents and their children’s friends. I think any, brains are in the ascendancy now, absolutely. They’re such a brainy Cabinet. And there are a lot of brains in Washington. So I think that, and he’s a sponge for information. So I think that if they go out and hit the themes that he wants to hit about sacrifice and community and green and service. And bipartisanship especially is what we need back. So I’m hoping that there will be a lot of social events that will mix a lot of people as it was before everything became so polarized.

If Orth really wanted bipartisanship instead of polarization, it might begin with the idea that Republican presidents and cabinet officials have brains, too.

This sentiment matches Orth's enthusiasm two weeks ago for the Obama girls' new school, that it emphasizes all the sacrifice-and-community themes, "that emphasizes consensus. Lighting your light from within.You bring a vegetable on Wednesdays to cut up for the homeless shelter."

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.