There's something about interviewing Kellyanne Conway that makes the "objective" anchors a little crazy. Taking a look at the official Meet the Press transcript from Sunday suggests that Todd asked Conway a question -- or more likely, interjected/interrupted -- 56 times in a 15-minute interview. Maybe you would suggest Conway was responsible for interrupting. But it often sounded more like a debate with a highly agitated Democrat than a "news" interview.
Later in the show, Todd conducted a very polite interview with Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington. In that case, Todd questioned Inslee just 12 times in eight minutes. And the last question was this goofy softball: "Running from the West Coast. We know that the, whatever it is, there's an East Coast bias in this country, even a Central Time Zone bias to this country. Is it -- how high is that hurdle sometimes, just simply the time zone?"
Here's just one example of Todd battling with Conway, after quoting a rough critique of Trump from David French of National Review that the left is "amused," and not "alarmed by his bluster."
KELLYANNE CONWAY: I think the rough rhetoric this week, you know, respectfully, came from the other side. You have this anti-Semitic congresswoman, who has been rebuked by members of her own party --
CHUCK TODD: Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’re you talking --
CONWAY: -- now saying something happened to someone.
TODD: This has nothing to do with immigration. You’re trying --
CONWAY: It does --
TODD: -- No, no, no, no.
CONWAY: It does.
TODD: I know what you're trying to do here. I’m going to go back here, why --
CONWAY: No it has to do with David French --
TODD: -- the president is trying to browbeat --
CONWAY: -- piece that you showed.
TODD: -- the Democrats. The president's trying to browbeat them to come over. That's no way to get a compromise. Even Mitch McConnell is saying, "Enough of this already."
Todd protested: "But it's always his way or the highway." It didn't matter if Pelosi and the Democrats refused to budge an inch on the Wall. They're not accused of "my way or the highway."
By contrast, Gov. Inslee was promoted for having a state full of "sanctuary cities" and counties. Todd didn't read a rough National Review quote on Inslee. Instead, he cited an op-ed by Jenny Durkan, the Democrat mayor of Seattle....attacking Trump. Inslee drew bland questions like "Tell me what you do right now" on immigration, and "Where do you stand on health care?" and "You're open to nuclear energy, correct?"
Inslee wasn't challenged much on drastic solutions to global warming (just like Todd coddled Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she suggested the Green New Deal isn't a big government takeover). Todd asked one question on the passionate protests in France against carbon taxes, and drew a puketastic answer:
TODD: We've seen the yellow vest movement in France. And you seem to be saying, “Well” -- you've tried to get tax and carbon passed as a referendum and you seem to be, like, "All right, I've got to listen to the voters. The voters have spoken, the people are speaking. And that maybe taxing, pricing carbon isn't the answer." What is the answer if you can't do it that way?
INSLEE: Well, there are many answers. What we've learned is the most important renewable fuel in this battle against climate change is the fuel of perseverance.
