WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, DAVID GREGORY?

I hate to say it, but I told you so.

I told you that David Gregory is the Dan Rather of the 21st century.

I told you HERE,

HERE,

and HERE.

It's not easy to measure up to Dan Rather, one of the most bizarre members of the press that this country has ever known. He set the bizarre bar so high I doubted anyone would ever reach or surpass the seemingly unreachable Rather standard of oddity.

Then came David Gregory.

He is amply filling Rather's weird shoes. I wouldn't crown Gregory "king of the kooky" just yet, but he does have a lot of potential. He's a natural.

First, there's his strange manner of approaching the news, personalizing it by forcing himself into the center of the picture.

Think of Rather and Nixon. Their bouts were personal. Dan wanted to take down Dick.

Gregory behaves in a similar fashion in that he vies for media attention. He, like Danny Boy, wants to be the story, not report it.

Second, Rather has a lengthy list of goofy adventures and peculiar encounters. Gregory is hard at work compiling his own highlight reel of the truly bizarre. He added to it Thursday morning when he called in to Don Imus.

YouTube has video and audio of Gregory's debacle.

Drudge has the transcript and an audio clip.

From Drudge:

Gregory is traveling with the president in India.

IMUS: Let's go to the White House correspondent David Gregory.

DAVID GREGORY: I'm OK.

IMUS: You can calls us later if you want.

GREGORY: [Laughter] [Laughter] [Laughter] [Laughter]

IMUS: Are you drunk?

GREGORY: [Laughter] [Laughter]

IMUS: Are you all right David?

GREGORY: India is a wonderful language and i've been learning, where's my little sheet here. I've been learning some new phrases to come home. But any way, that being one of them and i just think it's nice.

IMUS: It is.

GREGORY: Thank you.

IMUS: Having a lot of fun there. What's wrong with you?

GREGORY: I just think it's funny. [Laughter] [Laughter] [Laughter]

CHARLES: He's drunk.

IMUS: He is drunk!

CHARLES: Oh god.

IMUS: Why don't you compose yourself and get back to us. You want to?

GREGORY: [Laughter] [Laughter] [Laughter]

IMUS: What are you in some harrem?

IMUS: What? David?

GREGORY: No, i'm fine.

IMUS: We need a camera.

Oh my lord.

IMUS: Somebody's got --

GREGORY: i was -- remember that movie "Arthur" with Dudley Moore where he just thinks funny things and that's what was going on. If i could find this sheet, actually i just found it. Anyway.

IMUS: You have any news? [Laughter]

IMUS: we got to go, we'll get back to you.

GREGORY: I'm sorry.

IMUS: That's all right.

IMUS: Well, call us back will you?

GREGORY: Anyway. There are serious things going on here which i know you're very interested in.

IMUS: We don't have any time for them now. Quickly.

GREGORY: Big deal between India and the United States. The upshot is we're going to provide nuclear know-how and fuel to india which they need for their economy to grow. But since they never signed the nonproliferation treaty it's a real turn around and critics worry that it sends the wrong message to other parts of the world.

IMUS: Ok.

GREGORY: I would add, i would add that this is how you say thank you.

IMUS: What is it again?

[Speaking foreign language]

IMUS: Well that's great. But we have to go. It's always nice to hear from you.

GREGORY: I'll call you after dinner.

IMUS: NBC Chief White House Correspondant from New Delhi, India. Clearly drunk.

So there it is.

Gregory made a fool out of himself.

Not surprisingly, NBC is struggling to spin the embarrassing behavior of its Chief White House Correspondent as suitable for the Imus broadcast.

The network denies that Gregory was drunk.

NBC News spokeswoman Barbara Levin insisted that Gregory wasn’t intoxicated during the conversation.

"Do you listen to Imus?" she said. "I mean this is what Imus does. I would just say my reaction is that this is an absurd accusation. Of course, David Gregory wasn’t drinking."

I don't think Levin listened to the segment. If she had, she couldn't possibly say it is "an absurd accusation." Given Gregory's conduct, it is definitely a legitimate accusation.

But for the sake of argument, let's pretend that Levin isn't trying to do CYA duty for Gregory. Let's assume he was sober. That doesn't make the situation too much better. It doesn't alter his weirdness at all.

Plenty of press members appear on entertainment shows. They joke around, trying to be funny; but they're never completely out of control and unable to speak.

The only one that appeared somewhat out of control to me was none other than Dan Rather. He could get pretty weird on Letterman. Still, his strange behavior just seemed strange, not artificially enhanced by a mood or mind-altering substance.

Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post's "Reliable Source" defend Gregory, insisting that he was not under the influence.

We know drunks. Drunks have been friends of ours. David Gregory , we don't think you were drunk on Imus yesterday. (Jet-lagged, perhaps. Maybe the loser in a tickle fight. But not drunk.)

The NBC White House correspondent lit up the blogosphere yesterday morning when he called into Don Imus's MSNBC show from President Bush's India trip, and promptly burst into giggles. "Are you drunk?" the pugnacious host asked. "He is drunk!"

Gregory later composed himself enough to pronounce that the United States is "going to provide nuclear know-how and fuel to India, which they need for their economy to grow. But since they never signed the nonproliferation treaty . . ." -- well, that's all we needed to hear. A real drunk wouldn't even try "nonproliferation."

I believe the only one "lit up" was Gregory; but that's irrelevant.

What should be of concern to Gregory and NBC, is that the public persona of Mr. Chief White House Correspondent was transformed in a matter of a few minutes, thanks to an ill-timed fit of the giggles.

If Gregory wasn't intoxicated, why didn't he straighten up immediately? Why didn't he realize that it's not cool for it to appear that Imus cut a segment short because Gregory was in no condition to carry on a discussion?

The libs (I include NBC in that category) are shouting that Gregory was not drunk. The Right is citing empirical indications that point to the contrary.

In the end, who cares?

You can speculate about whether he was drunk or not, but why bother?

Drunk or sober, Gregory is not worth taking seriously.