The Couric-Coulter Catfight
by Bridget Byrne
Jun 27, 2002, 2:45 PM PT
Coulter was on the show to hawk her new book, Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, which just happens to accuse Couric of liberal bias and calls her "the affable Eva Braun of morning television."
Before the 12-minute Q&A, Couric noted that Coulter had been referred to as "a right-wing telebimbo." Not long thereafter, Couric challenged Coulter's description.
Couric: "You call me the 'Eva Braun' of liberalism--"
"Affable," interjected Coulter.
"Thanks...that makes me feel soooo much better," replied Couric, her trademark grin giving way to a scowl.
Couric also took Coulter to task for claiming the Today host called Ronald Reagan "an airhead." Couric vehemently denied it, saying it was Regan biographer Edmund Morris, not her, who made the remark. Couric said she was just quoting Morris. "You used me an example of liberal bias against Ronald Reagan. I'm just wondering why you took that out of context."
"Well, I don't think I did," responded Coulter. "You're taking it out of context."
"No, I'm not," snapped Couric.
Then Couric brought up Coulter's infamous quote about Muslim countries. "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity," Coulter wrote. The comment, Couric pointed out, was too much even for the conservative periodical National Review, which fired Coulter. (Coulter maintains her contract simply ran out.)
The Washington Post dubbed the showdown a contest of "The Morning Mugger and the Human Uzi" and declared Coulter the winner, because her book immediately jumped to number one on Amazon.com's bestseller list.
Then she rushed over to one of her favorite venues, Fox News Channel, to discuss the tête-à-tête, and, not content to refer to Couric as Hitler's mistress, compared the Today host to Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels.
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