1 Who is Irvin B. Nathan?
a) The head of the Republican advocacy group at whose conference David Gregory was the keynote speaker.
b) The blogger who wrote, “As a White House correspondent, Gregory had a way of confronting the president and his mouthpieces that was sometimes the welcome yap of a tough watchdog but more often the toot-toot of a showboat practicing the pure art of careerism.”
c) The NBC spokesperson who denied that David Gregory was drunk when he called into Don Imus's show (while in India with George W. Bush) and burst into giggles.
d) The blogger who wrote, "I've never heard David Gregory say an interesting thing.He is a can't-miss discussion-killer … Gregory seems not straightforwardly dull, but somehow goofily hollow."
e) The DC attorney general who declined to prosecute David Gregory for brandishing an illegal 30-round-capacity gun magazine on "Meet the Press."
f) The journalist who tweeted,"David Gregory's contract wasn't renewed despite being a weak, obsequious host but because of it—that's his job."
g) The morning radio personality to whom David Gregory said, "I'm very serious about what I do. Serious about dancing, serious about the news."
2 True or false? After former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's 2009 escapade with his Argentinean lover, he sent an email to David Gregory asking to be on "Meet the Press" because "It won't do me any good to go on TV unless I'm being interrogated by the toughest, most respected questioner on the air."
a) True. Gregory himself leaked the email to Talking Points Memo.
b) False. What actually happened was that Gregory pursued Sanford with several emails, assuring his press secretary that the governor would get "a fair shake from me" because "coming on 'Meet the Press' allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to … and then move on."
3 How did David Gregory refer to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
a) "The president of Israel."
b) "Bibi."
c) "The leader of the Jewish people."
d) "Benjamin Disraeli."
4 Who has NOT been forced to watch David Gregory dance to his or her music?
a) Cee-Lo Green
b) Mary J. Blige
c) Eminem
b) "Dancin' Dave."
c) "Tall Guy."
d) "Smirking Chimp."
6 True or false? David Gregory apologized for the press's failure to fully investigate the Bush administration's false claims that led to the Iraq War.
a) True. He called it "the lowest point in American journalism in this millennium."
b) False. He was emphatic in his praise for the job he and his colleagues did, saying, "I think there are a lot of critics who think that … if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role."
7 What has reinforced the view of David Gregory's critics that he's a Republican tool?
a) His stating as fact the lie that "the President has said … that al-Qaeda has been defeated."
b) His brow-beating of Elizabeth Warren while moderating a debate between her and Scott Brown.
c) His stating as fact the lie that President Obama "has allowed America’s national debt to increase by 41 percent."
d) His constant references to President Obama as "pro-abortion," as if anyone who thinks it should be legal favors the procedure.
e) All of the above, plus far too many more examples to cite here.
8 False or true? David Gregory got up on stage at the 2007 White House Correspondents Dinner and gleefully danced and clapped while Karl Rove performed a porcine white man's version of a rap song.
a) False. He'd been invited to participate but declined because he thought if would be "undignified."
b) True. Humiliatingly true.
ANSWERS
1) e
2) b
3) c
4) c
5) a
6) b
7) e
8) b
Paul Slansky is the author of six books, among them My Bad: The Apology Anthology, The Little Quiz Book of Big Political Sex Scandals, and the New York Times bestseller The Clothes Have No Emperor: A Chronicle of the American 80s,which he has reissued as an e-book available at www.theclotheshavenoemperor.com.