Nbc News

GOP Senator Kit Bond Won't Run For Re-election — NBC News has confirmed that Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond is quitting when his current term ends.... [Tags: gop, gop senator, kit bond, missouri republican, nbc]

RJ Eskow: Feinstein/Panetta: Senatorial Prerogative, "Intelligence Professionalism," and Political Leadership of the CIA — There are lessons to be learned from Sen. Dianne Feinstein's reaction to the nomination of Leon Panetta as CIA head. One is that powerful Democratic Senators can be no less sensitive or arbitrary than their GOP counterparts. Another is that the phrase "intelligence professional" can be used like a mantra without being properly defined for the public. Nevertheless, the appointment of a "politician" to run the CIA is not inherently wrong. It can be a good or bad thing -- depending on how it's done, and by whom. Senatorial Prerogative: "I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta... [Tags: cia director, democratic senators, department database, dianne feinstein, intelligence agencies]

Bushes Discuss Their Marriage And Mutual Love Of Jigsaw Puzzles — WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush, increasingly reflective as he caps two turbulent terms in the White House, said Thursday that the pressures of the job have brought him closer to his wife, Laura. "I give her all the credit about why I can say a good marriage has gotten better," Bush told NBC News in one of several interviews the president and the first lady are giving as they exit. President Bush said he and his wife have "been through a lot together. It's been a fabulous journey." "The emotional support that we give to each other and that... [Tags: barack obama, baseball football, bush daughters, emotional support, executive mansion]

NBC Defends Its Embrace Of Military Flack In Email — I don't know if you've read the email obtained by Salon's Glenn Greenwald from NBC News' Allison Gollust to David Barstow over his recent front page piece detailing how Pentagon/private-sector flack Barry McCaffrey appeared on NBC News forever and ever without news consumers ever once receiving details on his many entanglements and conflicts of interest, but I just get lost in wonderment when I peruse it. I've appended the whole thing at the bottom of the post, for your bemusement. Greenwald offers the essential exegesis on the matter, but I'd like to draw some attention to some specific parts of... [Tags: alex pareene, allison gollust, barry mccaffrey, business interests, business relationships]

David Gregory To Moderate "Meet The Press" — David Gregory will take the reins as moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," the Huffington Post has learned. Gregory has been a leading contender for the permanent spot since Tom Brokaw stepped in as interim moderator following Tim Russert's death in June. In recent weeks, a short list including Gregory, Andrea Michell, Gwen Ifill, and Chuck Todd had been considered the top candidates for the position, while Katie Couric and Ted Koppel were viewed as dark horses. Brokaw will conclude his duties as interim moderator this weekend, when he will interview President-Elect Barack Obama. NBC News did not immediately reply... [Tags: andrea, barack obama, chuck todd, contender, dark horses]

Polling gold standard — More stupid from Mark Halperin. I think there's so much bad polling and it drives so much of the coverage that it's kind of a depressing topic for me. I think that the ABC News/Washington Post poll and the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll are the gold standard right now of what we have. It's not too shocking to see a media guy defend media-funded polls as the "gold standard". But are they really? There are two ways people gauge a poll's accuracy. The first is to simply take the margin of the poll's final results and compare them to... [Tags: abc news, battleground, cnn, democracy corps, dkos]

Dow ends up nearly 500 on Geithner treasury report — NEW YORK — Wall Street staged a surprising comeback Friday, with the major indexes jumping more than 5 percent and the Dow Jones industrials surging nearly 500 points in a late afternoon rally, ending another volatile week that saw stocks reach six-year lows. Stocks erased about half of the losses that came in steep selling Wednesday and Thursday after investors got an unexpected jolt of confidence late Friday following an NBC News report that President-elect Barack Obama plans to name New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary. Investors have been looking for a clear message from Obama... [Tags: afternoon rally, banking system, barack obama, brain trust, dow jones]

NBC Offers Trivia Game to Facebook Users (PC Magazine) — PC Magazine - NBC News has made a big pitch to the Facebook generation, offering users of the social-networking site the chance to test their knowledge using video from the network's vast archives.... [Tags: nbc, nbc news, pc magazine, pitch, social networking site]

NBC offers trivia game to Facebook users (Reuters) — Reuters - NBC News has made a big pitch to the Facebook generation, offering users of the social-networking site the chance to test their knowledge using video from the network's vast archives.... [Tags: facebook, nbc, nbc news, pitch, reuters]

Obama Transition Team Gets More Than 200,000 Resumes — An Obama transition official tells NBC News that they've received more than 200,000 work applications through the official transition web site, www.change.gov. since it went operational shortly after the election. The same official points out: "There was an incredible amout of enthusiasm in the campaign and people all across the country are carrying that same energy into the transition."... [Tags: nbc, nbc news, transition team, transition web, work applications]

NBC News Launches 'iCue' Facebook App — NBC News has launched a new online trivia game application on Facebook called What's Your iCue?... [Tags: facebook, game application, icue, nbc, nbc news]

Brand Watch: Lexus Sponsors iCue Application — Yesterday, NBC News launched a new application called What’s Your iCue?, which creates trivia games around content in the NBC News archives. Today, Appssavvy, NBC’s sales partner for the iCue application, is sharing news that it has signed up Lexus as lead iCue sponsor. Right now, it looks like the sponsorship essentially consists of deeper visual integration on several pages within iCue. While it’s a pretty basic integration, it’s nice to see a brand like Lexus taking a step into the Facebook application world. Check out the screenshot below.... [Tags: icue, lexus, nbc, nbc news, new application]

NBC News: Daschle Gets Nod as Obama's HHS Secretary — ... [Tags: daschle, hhs secretary, nbc, nbc news, nod]

Abrams Research: Dan Abrams Launches Media Strategy Firm — The Wall Street Journal reports Wednesday that Dan Abrams, former MSNBC general manager and host of the 9PM hour, has launched a media strategy firm, Abrams Research. The firm will "offer corporate clients access to advice" from what the article describes as "media insiders." From the WSJ: Want good press? Hire a journalist. That's Dan Abrams's pitch. The former general manager of MSNBC is launching a media-strategy firm, Abrams Research, to help business executives navigate public-relations challenges -- from major acquisitions to bothersome bloggers to outright scandals. The firm's chief selling point will be a network of media insiders whose... [Tags: bob wright, bonnie fuller, bryant gumbel, court tv, dan abrams]

NBC News: Obama to Name Eric Holder Attorney General — ... [Tags: attorney general, eric holder, nbc, nbc news]

Harry Shearer: The Difference Between Show Business and Business — In show business (masquerading as "television journalism"), Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Channel excoriates not only his time-slot rival Keith Olbermann for left-leaning views, but includes in his rants, for good measure, the execs of NBC News, NBC, and GE. He goes so far as to accuse those executives of complicity or responsibility for the deaths of American soldiers. Tough stuff. And Olbermann is equally bombastic, attacking O'Reilly and FNC nightly on Countdown. In real business, Rupert Murdoch's Fox is climbing into bed with NBC. In truth, the two networks have been virtual lovers for more than a year, locked... [Tags: bill o reilly, cnn, feuds, fnc, fox news channel]

HillSec? — Those trying to game out the odds of Hillary Clinton becoming Barack Obama's Secretary of State would do well to wonder what other possible explanation there is for her visit to Chicago yesterday. ABC News reports that the reason was "private business." NBC News reports that the reason was "personal business." To which the logical response is: What "private" and "personal" matters do Clinton and Obama have to discuss at exactly this moment in time, what with Obamaland consumed with the enormous task of building a new government? School recomendations for Sasha and Malia? Luckily this is one of those... [Tags: abc news, barack obama, enormous task, government school, hillary clinton]

Dave Johnson: The Consumer Spending Slowdown Is NOT Because Of Credit — On The NewsHour today Alice Rivlin said that we need to free up the credit markets so people can buy cars. She said there are "credit-worthy" people waiting to buy cars and trucks who can't because they can't get loans. Then, on the NBC News tonite the reporter said, "Without access to credit, shoppers are tightening their purse-strings." This is just wrong, and these are people who move in in important policy and reporting circles who should know what is going on! It tells me that rest of the people in these circles also don't get it. The credit crunch... [Tags: alice rivlin, capitalism, car dealer, circles, consumer spending]