Appearing on Hardball to discuss Mitt Romney‘s new campaign strategy in the wake of being swept in Tuesday’s elections by Rick Santorum, Meet The Press host David Gregory suggested that the former Massachusetts governor has discovered he needs to take drastic measures. “I think what he’s doing now is cautious, tactical play here,” Gregory surmised. “He realizes that he thought he could stay above the fray for a long time, now he realizes he has to rip the guy’s face off here!”

Is this GOP race as good as over? That’s what Friday morning’s episode of Morning Joe sought to find out. Also… is Newt Gingrich a post-apocalyptic cyborg from the future?

They grow up so fast, don’t they? Online political media giant Politico turns five years old today, and to celebrate, the site posted a video roast by some quotable notables in the political media world. While the site has arguably earned the right to toot its own horn at least once every half-decade, did they really have to overshadow the birthday of Saved By The Bell actress Tiffani-Amber Thiessen?

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appeared on Meet the Press today to do damage control for Mitt Romney and to explain why Newt Gingrich would not be an ideal Republican nominee despite his strong victory in South Carolina last night. He claimed that Gingrich’s past actions have embarrassed the Republican party, and Mitt Romney was more suited to be the nominee because of his record and how he conducted himself in office as opposed to Gingrich.

Long gone is Newt Gingrich‘s promise to run a positive campaign, David Gregory noted during today’s special early-morning Republican presidential debate, for the former frontrunner has now taken to going after Romney for ads that were run against him in Iowa that Gingrich believed were misleading and didn’t have facts to back up its premises. Now Gingrich is turning the tables with a new 30-minute infomercial about Romney’s ties to Bain Capitol, and continued to go after Romney during today’s debate.

Good morning! Do you like Republican debates but lament that they are always so late at night? Well get ready for Sunday morning’s Meet the Press/Union Leader/Facebook debate, and watch along with us starting at 9 AM Eastern time.

On Sunday’s Meet The Press, David Gregory called out surging Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on a speech he gave last month to a Republican Jewish Coalition Candidates Forum, comparing President Obama‘s foreign policy to appeasement during World War II. “How can that possibly be accurate, if you take an objective look at the foreign policy of this administration? What on Iran, specifically, separates the approach that President Obama has taken and that of President Bush?”

Michele Bachmann appeared on Meet the Press earlier today, and in the middle of talking about her chances in Iowa next month, David Gregory brought up the uncomfortable exchange she had with Newt Gingrich during last week’s Republican debate. Gingrich accused Bachmann of “not getting her facts correct,” and Bachmann responded by calling his comments “outrageous,” insisting she is a serious candidate for the presidency.

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, senior adviser to President Obama‘s reelection campaign David Axelrod was asked by David Gregory to respond to NJ Gov. Chris Christie‘s rant about President Obama earlier this week. Axelrod pointed out that Christie endorsee Mitt Romney opposed saving the auto industry, telling Gregory, “I don’t think he’s in a position to talk about who was a bystander.”

One of the most common criticisms of Newt Gingrich is that he’s arrogant, and his comments last week declaring he will be the eventual Republican presidential nominee only served to reinforce the argument. On Meet the Press today, the panel sized up Gingrich’s chances against Mitt Romney and President Obama. One topic of conversation was Gingrich’s controversial comments about child labor laws, and David Gregory used surprisingly critical language in discussing them earlier today.

The man who has been catapulted into the spotlight as the single most important political character in the collapse of the Congressional Supercommittee on the budget is still saying no to any and all taxes. Grover Norquist the Americans for Tax Reform head who, despite not being a public servant or member of the media, keeps having fingers pointed at him for pulling the strings in the Republican Congress was on Meet the Press today and explained, once again, that his tax pledge was not with him but “the American people”

In an interview for NBC News’  web-only Meet The Press ”Press Pass,” former lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff, now a self-styled reformer, told host David Gregory that surging GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich‘s involvement with Freddie Mac constitutes “corruption,” and said of Gingrich’s presidential bid, “I don’t know if he’ll survive this.”

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann appeared on Meet the Press today, and before addressing last night’s debate or any other political news, David Gregory asked Bachmann to weigh in on the continuing fallout from the Penn State scandal, and if Congress would potentially play a role in investigating the cover-up of sexual abuse by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

NBC’s David Gregory backtracked on his comments about “grand wizards” in the Republican Party this morning. Earlier on The Today Show, Gregory had responded to a question from Ann Curry who referring to Herman Cain’s sexual harassment scandal, asked “does the party just wish he would go away?” “Well, there is no grand wizard in the party right now that can really force the issue,” Gregory responded.

On Sunday morning’s Meet The Press, host David Gregory told his panel that senior White House adviser David Plouffe “broke new ground” in attacking GOP establishment presidential hopeful Mitt Romney as having “no core.”

Republican panelist Mike Murphy thought Plouffe owed Romney an apology, while Tom Brokaw pointed out that “the record is there,” but they’re all really late to the party here.

On Friday, Meet The Press host David Gregory promoted the idea that “the President got everything he wanted and it didn’t work,” in an appearance on Morning Joe, and Mediaite challenged the accuracy of that claim. Sunday morning, Gregory changed his tune, somewhat, while interviewing senior White House adviser David Plouffe for Meet The Press, playing the Mitch McConnell quote again, but heavily disclaiming his questions to Plouffe. Even when “working the ref” works, though, it doesn’t always really “work.”

In a moment sure to bring out the Abe Simpson in any member of the Professional Leftâ„¢, Meet The Press host David Gregory appeared on Morning Joe to make the cockamamie pronouncement that Sen. Mitch McConnell said something which “resonated…that the President got everything he wanted and it didn’t work.”

The only problem with Gregory’s statement is that it’s complete balderdash. Balderdash, I tell you!

With the 2012 elections fast approaching and the economy in a state of flailing paralysis, Bill O’Reilly took a look tonight at how the media is responding to the Obama Administration’s first tenure. With some in the media arguing that the President has little control over the economy, Bernie Goldberg told the Factor host this came off as yet another example of bias, and one which warned the next wave of pro-Obama fervor in the media would be significantly less feverish.

Ron Paul told David Gregory on this morning’s Meet The Press that he believed troops would ultimately never leave Iraq in response to President Obama‘s announcement that all soldiers stationed there would be coming home by year’s end. “We’ll change their names,” said Paul. “I mean, they’ve already admitted there (still) will be 15,000 but, you know, they’ve morphed the private sector with the military. The CIA and contractors, it’s a mixture.

Meet the Press‘ David Gregory paid a visit to the Morning Joe crew this morning to share a theory on what, exactly, Herman Cain is doing in our national spotlight. Is he just here to promote his book?

On Monday, we reported on a new, false narrative that current Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain wrote an op-ed piece in November that was at odds with his currently hot (and hotly debated) “9-9-9 plan.” On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough and friends took up the story with gusto, saying that Cain might be “the biggest opponent of the 9-9-9 plan,” even while quoting sections of Cain’s Daily Caller piece that cut against the flip-flop idea.

On Meet the Press today, Herman Cain explained to David Gregory why he believes that liberals in the United States are invested in seeing the country fail and would do anything to see its destruction. Cain argued that if the economic situation was to get any worse, “it would destroy our economic capability.”

On Meet the Press today, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg weighed in on the Republican race for the presidency and whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would make a good candidate to go up against Barack Obama.

On Meet The Press today, David Gregory and panel looked at Governor Rick Perry‘s strong lead in Republican party polls, and discussed the impact of his campaign on the future of the GOP.

Just a few months ago, reports surfaced that Today Show host Matt Lauer had had enough early morning TV work, and would be departing the show when his current contract came to an end. While NBC denied the report, rumors have persisted that not only is Lauer serious about leaving, but that NBC executives are reasonably (and quite seriously) considering possible replacements. Mediaite has learned that the top choice of certain key Comcast and NBC execs is American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.