She hasn't accomplished a darned thing on television yet, but Chelsea Clinton is already being compared to the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert.
Such almost unthinkable praise emerged from NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight Monday (video follows with transcript and commentary):
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: You're talking about news earlier, NBC Nightly News has taken on a new star reporter, Chelsea Clinton. Are you pleased with this new addition to the armory?
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS: Absolutely. Somebody pointed out we have Jenna Bush on The Today Show and now we have Chelsea Clinton on Nightly News. I mentioned Richard Engel earlier. Here is a kid who went to Stanford and the day he graduated left for Cairo. He wanted to learn Arabic and live out in the world.
And I've always said when people come to journalism from a basis of being super smart and worldly and curious, come one, come all. And she just wants to work for us. And Chelsea just wants to do our Making a Difference Franchise stories. These are stories about people. We're surrounded by them. We meet them every day, who are choosing to do good things for, in some cases, people they'll never meet.
My wife actually gave this series its start just because she thought we could afford two, three minutes a day on our broadcast to highlight good works. Well, Chelsea Clinton noticed these stories and wants to work with us. I think with her intellect and her -- the life she has lived and the world she has seen, I think it will give her a very, very unique viewpoint.
And really at the end of the day -- this was pointed out in this morning's paper -- most Americans haven't heard her voice. And they don't know that Chelsea -- I don't know her well, but what an impressive, impressive woman who has, at every turn, lived her life so well thus far.
MORGAN: I think she'll be terrific and for all the reasons that you just said. It's an inspired appointment. But there will be journalistic critics who say this is just further evidence of news networks dumbing down. It's the celebrification, if you like, of news, of conventional news journalism. What would you say to that?
WILLIAMS: If a candidate walked into our offices with her academic training, with her travel, with her access and time around conversations at the highest levels with policy makers, with her business experience, with just her travel experience, we would sit down if their name was Nancy, and have a thorough conversation about coming to work for us at NBC News.
That her name is Chelsea Clinton is all the better. I can't wait to hear her voice and her viewpoint. And I would remind everybody that there was much kerfuffle about Tim Russert's resume. Oh, my goodness, he worked for a couple elected Democrats. And what that nicely left out was Tim Russert's talent and intellect and ability to call them down the middle.
What is he remembered for and what do people miss about him? His decency, his humanity and his incredible ability to call them down the middle. So I would urge everyone to let's sit back and watch some of Chelsea Clinton's work on the air.
MORGAN: Yeah, I'm with you on that.
For the record, prior to moving into journalism, Russert was special counsel to the late Sen. Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and later became his Chief of Staff. This was followed by being counsel to New York Governor Mario Cuomo.
In 1984, Russert started working in NBC's Washington bureau, became its chief in 1989, and was named Meet the Press host in 1991.
As he graduated from law school in 1976, that's fifteen years of real experience before moving to Meet the Press.
By contrast, Clinton's entire professional career consists of working for two consulting firms, fundraising for the Clinton Foundation, and serving on the board of the School of American Ballet.
With that wealth of political experience, we shouldn't be surprised if she's the next Tim Russert.
This level of idolatry and sycophancy from the anchor of America's leading news broadcast though not surprising really is sick-making.
(H/T Breitbart TV)
