Things Just Got A Whole Lot Worse For Brian Williams

Are you having a bad week? Well nothing that’s happened to you can compare to the week that NBC Nightly News Host Brian Williams is having…so at least you’ve got that going for you…

If his fabricated stories weren’t enough to make things awkward in the Williams household, it just got a whole lot worse with the news that his predecessor to NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw, is personally making phone calls to NBC for his head…and by head, I mean job. And even Katie Couric is reportedly angling for the job, too.

The NBC executives are calling this “business as usual” and fully stand behind him, as he is the #1 nightly news anchor in the country, at least for now. They’re apparently going to be watching the ratings like a hawk, but with Williams signing a 5-year contract, worth over $10 million dollars, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

My guess is that the Suits at NBC are still in love over his story about saving a puppy from a burning building. I’m not joking, he said it here.

I know it’s hard to chew, because if you can’t trust a decorated journalist who has hosted the #1 nightly news show for over 10 years, then who can you trust? But I need a little more clarity.

Below is a timeline of events of the greatest heroic fiction tale ever produced.

The Brian Williams Story: Not based on a true story

1. In late March 2003, the New York Daily News reported that “the one (helicopter) carrying Williams and (Retired General and current NBC consultant Wayne) Downing landed” after another chopper ahead of them had been hit by “a rocket-fired grenade.” Even this early report appears to have been exaggerated. Williams was flying in a totally different company heading in the exact opposite direction.
2. Several days later after the Daily News story, USA Today reported that Williams “was stranded in the Iraqi desert for three days.” That hardly appears to be the case. In a comment at an NBC Facebook page, a clearly frustrated Lance Reynolds, the flight engineer on the helicopter that was hit, wrote: “I remember you guys taking back off in a different flight of Chinooks from another unit and heading to Kuwait to report your ‘war story’ to the Nightly News.”
3. By 2007, the helicopter that was hit was, according to a Williams blog entry, “the chopper flying in front of ours.” A University of Notre Dame press release in 2010, the year he gave the commencement address there, referred to how “the lead helicopter was shot down.” Again, untrue. Not even near the truth.
4. In March 2013, Williams told Alec Baldwin of “being in a helicopter I had no business being in in Iraq with rounds coming into the airframe,” and, after prompting, said that he “briefly” thought he would die.
5. Later that month, Williams told David Letterman that “two of the four helicopters were hit by ground fire, including the one I was in,” and that after that, the problem was how “we figure out how to land.”

But WAIT! There’s More

He also apparently suffered from dysentery while reporting in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina…it would have been fine except there were no reported cases of such of gastroenteritis, aka, dysentery.

Excluding the fact that the French Quarters were not flooded, therefore making it impossible for him to be surrounded by dead bodies (another claim of his)…but that’s none of my business.

The real juice is now, the Libs are out for blood. I honestly didn’t think they had it in them to take down a beloved liberal buffoon like Williams but see for yourself.

From Newsbusters:

CNN host Brian Shelter, USA Today’s Rem Reider, NPR’s media correspondent, and The Baltimore Sun’s media critic — none of whom are staunch conservatives by the way — have all expressed serious doubts about Williams’ credibility and integrity as a journalist.

“I think you would know if you were in a helicopter that was actually hit by a missile,” liberal Rosie O’Donnell quipped.

According to the New York Post, Williams’ predecessor Tom Brokaw wants Williams fired—even though he allegedly knew that Williams’ Iraq story was false.

Variety reported that Williams ignored the advice of senior NBC executives to stop telling the false Iraq story in public. 

Honestly, the only thing this guy has done right in life, or so it seems, is father one the hottest chicks in show business…

Dear Allison,

I hope you don’t take this article the wrong way. I’m freshly single, in great shape, and have (what I’m told) is a great sense of humor. Not to mention that I’m in the news media world…just in case you’re into that kind of thing.

Let me know if you’re ever in DC.

Love,

Matt Schuck