CBS Defends Defenseless McCain Interview

By now, I know that when John McCain does an interview, he is bound to lie about something that he purports to take a stand on. He will also lie when Barack Obama's position makes him look like a weak and ineffective leader. What I'd like to see from the press is that they call him on his deception, not for them to actively help McCain sound better by editing his answers. Once the blogosphere, Keith Olbermann and eventually other outlets caught on that CBS screwed around with the interview, they came back not with an apology, but this piece of crap.

From The Politico:

"As all news organizations do with extended interviews, last night’s Obama and McCain interviews were edited to fit the available time and to give viewers a fair expression of the candidates' major differences," CBS spokeswoman Jennifer Farley emailed. "The full transcript and video were and still are available at cbsnews.com."

That is one trick the traditional media excels in. Claiming that it is online is great for the percentage of people that look up their news on the web, but as anyone knows, the news has a much deeper impact when it is televised. If CBS was really short of time, they should have edited out whole questions and their subsequent answers, not mish-mash answers to different questions.

Also, CBS and Couric should take less questions so that you can follow up on important matters. Couric failed on that by not pointing out that the Anbar Awakening started happening before the surge was a twinkle in Bush's eye. It is the job of the press to get to the bottom of things, not simply to bend over and let the candidate shove their bullshit wholesale to the public.

What a disgrace! Jeers to CBS and Couric for that shameless interview....and equally horrendous defense of the matter.

Katie Leaving CBS, Off To Do A Job More Suited For Her

Practically since the beginning of Katie Couric's appearance on the CBS Evening News, critics (like myself) have been pointing out her less than par coverage of the news and the subsequent abysmal ratings that she brought to the network compared to ABC and NBC. Powerful execs like Les Moonves have helped keep her in place despite the embarrassment, though now it might just be too much, even for Les.

From The Wall Street Journal:

After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- possibly soon after the presidential inauguration early next year.

Ms. Couric isn't even halfway through her five-year contract with CBS, which began in June 2006 and pays an annual salary of around $15 million. But CBS executives are under pressure to cut costs and improve ratings for the broadcast, which trails rival newscasts on ABC and NBC by wide margins.

Her departure would cap a difficult episode for CBS, which brought Ms. Couric to the network with considerable fanfare in a bid to catapult "Evening News" back into first place. Excluding several weeks of her tenure, Ms. Couric never bested the ratings of interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who was named to host the broadcast temporarily after "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather left the newscast in the wake of a discredited report on George W. Bush's National Guard service.

Yes, it has been a rough couple of years for CBS, but really they brought it on themselves. Though they are long standing national network and in time they can recover. So what will the esteemed Katie Couric do with herself? Perhaps she can fit into something more her size, like taking over for Internet extraordinaire the extreme pompous ass Larry King at CNN.

One possible new job for Ms. Couric: succeeding Larry King at CNN. Mr. King, who is 74 years old, has a contract with the network into 2009. CNN President Jon Klein, a CBS veteran with close ties to some at the network, has expressed admiration for Ms. Couric's work, and the two are friends. They had lunch in late January, and the anchor attended Mr. Klein's birthday party in March. Time Warner Inc.'s CNN said, "Larry King is a great talent who consistently delivers the highest profile guests, and we have no plans to make a change." Through a publicist, Mr. King declined to comment.

Mr. King's talk-show slot at CNN might be a better fit than evening-newscast anchor for Ms. Couric, who is 51. She made her reputation as a skilled interviewer when she was an anchor at the "Today" show on General Electric Co.'s NBC network.

See, sometimes it isn't what you know....but who you know (and to be fair to Katie, that you can talk to them on air).

Couric Needs A Mentor Like Lara Logan

Katie's performance in Iraq was down right miserable and a pathetic attempt at shillery for the President. CBS is losing money on her at an incredible rate. However, all is not lost at CBS. They still have reporters like Lara Logan.

Lara does not hide behind bodyguards and show up at staged events like the al-Shorja market that is in Indiana central Baghdad. She does not parrot Bush's talking points on the evening news, that is what his interruptions during Prime Time are for. Let him remind the public why they hate the President for his miserable war.

Lara knows how to get it done and her reporting is hard-hitting and makes a difference, like this article about how billions in our taxpayer dollars is wasted in Afghanistan. Unfortunately the link shows Katie's face at the top of the screen, but the powerful words below are from Ms. Logan. If anything, Logan should be introducing Katie to how things get done, not how to fake the news.

The Darling Of The GOP: Katie Couric

This is hardly surprising but definitely a confirmation of what Katie Couric has been up to lately. Her little soiree into Iraq was the perfect boost for George Bush and his talking points this week. General Petraeus was obviously going to stump for the President in front of Congress earlier this week, but Katie gives the public an illusion of a neutral observer. Of course, we know better than that. Nevertheless, the GOP has added her to the memos they pass around to their party faithful.

From RawStory:

Despite their near constant scorn of the "liberal" media, Republicans these days can't seem to get enough enough of third-ranked evening newscaster Katie Couric, whose reporting from Iraq recently seemed to give credence to White House arguments about "progress" in Iraq.

Couric's reports were a top line in a Republican talking-point memo sent to GOP lawmakers last week.

Roll Call's Heard on the Hill gossip column reported that Couric's positive assessments of Iraq, filed when the anchor spent four days reporting there, were pointed out to members of Congress as they prepared for this week's testimony from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the results of President Bush's troop surge.

"She's our sweetheart -- at least for now," an unnamed Republican told the column.

And just like clockwork, GoOPers like Senator Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ) began touting her hard-hitting nonsense. CBS reacted rather harshly to viewers that criticized her tour of Iraq last week as reported by Crooks and Liars, I wonder why?

Hmmm.

Katie Couric Hearts George Bush

If you don't already know or believe it, then watch this video. It isn't hard to hear his talking points coming out of her mouth.

Katie Couric: If CBS Doesn't Work Out, The White House Could Be A Good Gig

Every time I read something about or from Katie Couric I just want to cringe. Her latest gambit is reporting from Iraq during the week before the Petraeus report (not the one that was already finished, the doctored version presented by the White House). Amazingly enough, her words are strangely similar to those coming from the Grand Poobah's mouth when he visited Anbar province a couple of days ago.

From WCBS-TV:

"We hear so much about things going bad, but real progress has been made there in terms of security and stability," Couric said Tuesday. "I mean, obviously, infrastructure problems abound, but Sunnis and U.S. forces are working together. They banded together because they had a common enemy: al Qaeda."

(snip)

"The spike in police has really been significant," Couric said. "The incidents in Iraq have gone down dramatically."

Katie says that if only we restore basic services, everything will be just peachy in Iraq. Wow, Bush's surge must really be working. The only problem is that little things like reality get in the way of Bush's claims and Couric's "reporting." Both of them probably tune out reports like this one, showing the fear in the lives of ordinary Iraqis.

Who reads the Washington Post anyways, right? Certainly not the President with hand fed clippings by whoever is left at the White House. Who knows where Katie gets her information....I'm thinking they brought along a teleprompter for her short visit over there.

Hey Katie, Tony Snow is leaving his spot in the Bush Administration next week....you know you could certainly beat out Dana Perino for his position.