The Today Show Reporting

[erpowers]

I know that some of the people at DU are not fans of Katie Couric. I have liked her as a reporter for years. However, today I was upset at the way she conducted an interview with and presidential historian. The questions she asked and I quess the way she asked them really upset me.

The subject of the segment was the Bush legacy. At one point in the interview Couric somewhat began making excuses for Bush. She made out that he (Bush) had had the weight of the world on his shoulders and no other president in modern time had had the same problem. The historian did the same thing. When Couric questions whether Bush was unique in that he had to try to push his agenda while trying to prevent a terrorist attack the historian went all the way back to Roosevelt as an example of a president who had the same problem. Couric went as far as to say that a terrorist attack had never happened in this country before Bush took office. That is not true in that the World Trade Center was attacked during the Clinton Administration. I am not trying to bash Clinton. I am just want point out that Couric made a misstatement. The problem for me with this interview is that neither Couric or the historian had to go all the way back to Roosevelt. They could have just pointed out Bush's predacessor Bill Clinton. Clinton went through both of his terms trying to push his agenda and protect the country from a foreign attack. In addition to all that Clinton had to deal with his personal life being attacked and dragged through the papers. So in my opinion Clinton had a much tougher presidency than Bush and still managed to do a better job.

[jasmeel]

1. Amen! Couric is VERY disappointing as a journalist AND

a human being. I used to like her too.

[sui generis]

2. I am starting to suspect that the Affable Eva Braun

of Daytime Television had her coffee poisoned when The Coulter Creature from the Blonde Lagoon showed for her disasterous interview.

I'm starting to suspect it's a communicable disease. Don't feed or touch the republicans.

[soleft]

3. Katie has sucked ever since she scored the 65 million

[papau]

7. I still like Katie, but the last $65m from GE converted her to a GOP shill

She once really was a bright honest reporter.

Sad to see her sell out.

I still like the "now more mature" perky lady! But I have stopped watching the Today Show.

:toast:

:-)

[Demoiselle]

4. MSM=Attention span of a fruit fly and no memory at all. eom

[SmokingJacket]

5. Plus, the perpetrators of the attacks during Clinton's presidency

were actually caught, tried, and punished -- I'm thinking of Tim McVeigh and the Unabomber, too. People forget that they were terrorists.

Anyway, all of Bush's problems are self-made. If he didn't go on vacation all the f-ing time and if hired qualified people to lead agencies like FEMA, things would be entirely different.

[El Supremo]

6. Absolutely worthless as a serious reporter.

[gratuitous]

8. Oh yes, Bush has the weight of the world on his shoulders alone

No other president, not FDR during World War II, not JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis, not every Cold War president in the last half of the 20th Century had to face the problems and the challenges of Chimpy.

Don't give me that pantload of bullshit.

The only reason Chimpy's "load" looks so heavy is because he and his corrupt administration have systematically pissed off and alienated about 98% of the rest of the world. The man has no negotiation skills, his administration thinks compromise is for pussies, and they actually revel in making sure that their imperial ambitions are loaded onto the backs of our nation's poorest and most desperate citizens.

Just flat-out, unadulterated bullshit.

[flordehinojos]

9. "the weight of the world on his shoulders & no other pres.in modern times

had the same problem...."

them sound like POPPY POOPARD's own words katie is jus'repeatin'"

[stopbush]

11. More SOP framing going on.

"No other president in modern times" is a convenient and arbitrary measure. Bring up Clinton, and the answer will be "but that was pre-9/11." Bring up Iraq as a product of bush's policies and it's "but we're talking about NOLA."

By next week the MSM will have forgiven bush all of his missteps in Katrina and will embrace the "but he took responsibility, what more do you partisans want from him" mantra.

[stopbush]

10. I thought Mr Historian tried to shoot down Couric's questions

by putting a historic spin on it, ie: this isn't new, FDR had to deal with multiple crisis, etc. Katie was shilling.

My wife said she couldn't take anymore and flipped the channel.