Here' the problem with Courics interview-- she failed to say who the "some" were in her questions.

[trumad]

She must have used the phrase "some would say" in her interview with the Edwards a 1/2 dozen times. Now as we know, The Fox talking heads have perfected that type of question to a new art form. The "some would say" question allows the person asking that question to throw out the most wildest accusation and then hide behind the question with a --Hey! I didn't say it, Some other guy said it.

When Couric said that some are saying that Edwards is putting ambition over family, she failed to mention that those who are saying it are the Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkins of the world.

When Couric said that some are saying that what Edwards is doing is callous, she failed to mention that those who are saying it are the Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkins of the world.

This is how it works my fellow DUers. A small group of Right Wing henchmen throw out the most vile talking points and the MSM laps it up and use it as some sort of fair and balance example.

Hey Michael J. Fox--- "some would say" that you went off your meds on purpose to film that Stem-Cell commercial?

Hey Al Gore--- "some would say" that Global Warming is a myth....

Hey John Kerry--- "some would say" that your wounds in Vietnam were self-inflicted?

etc...etc...etc

This is why the Katie Couric interview was horrible. When Couric, whose own husband died of cancer, was given this list of questions, she should have refused to use them citing the fact the "some would say" crowd are a bunch of scumbags with an agenda. Hell--for all I know, she wrote the damn questions herself.... and if that's the case then I'm convinced that little Katie sold her soul to the devil for her gig as the CBS anchor.

Shame on Katie Couric and she deserves the ridicule for this interview.

[Nitrogenica]

1. The interview was horrible. It was so obviously biased.

Katies "smile" reminded me of the kind of smile a Nazi interrigator had when proving someone was a jew.

Write a letter to CBS, thats what I did. I told them the interview gave no voice to those of us who feel John Edwards is an inspiration, or no voice to the Cancer survivors who are behind the Edwards family 100%.

Who the hell decided to give Couric the interview anyway?

[Breeze54]

5. The Edwards decided to do the interview.

From: Jonathan Prince, Edwards for President <[e-mail]>
Date: Saturday, March 24, 2007 10:26 PM
Subject: 60 Minutes: Elizabeth and John on Sunday night

Friends of the Edwards Family:

Elizabeth and John wanted me to tell you about a TV appearance that will be broadcast on Sunday night.
They'll sit down for an interview on 60 Minutes with Katie Couric.
The program is scheduled to air Sunday at 7:00 PM ET.

In some parts of the country, 60 Minutes may be delayed by the UNC basketball game.
We hope you'll still tune in.
You can be sure the Edwards family will be cheering on the Tar Heels like they always do.

Thanks again for your outpouring of support in the last few days.
We'll be in touch this week with several important updates from the campaign trail.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Prince
Deputy Campaign Manager
John Edwards for President

People @ faux sux may have said stoopid stuff but so did some DU'ers!
Katie seemed concerned to me.
I think it hit home for her and reminded her of her husband's death.

[Nitrogenica]

9. Who at CBS decided to give the Edwards interview to Couric?

That's my question.

And no I didn't see Couric's concern. I saw her enjoying political opportunism.

[Breeze54]

12. My guess is Couric invited them or they called her. n/t

[aquart]

6. The same people who gave her the Evening News?

They keep trying to trick us into watching her.

[MistressOverdone]

2. I agree with you

it could have been worded differently "what do you say in response to criticism that..." etc.

"Some" sounds just so nicey nicey and civil. Kind of like when my southern mama said somebody was "lovely." You knew they were screwed.

[WinkyDink]

3. Ah, but she just might have been one of the "some" herself.

[MistressOverdone]

16. My mama?

I seriously doubt it. She fought cancer for 40 years and finally died of emphysema when she was 90. She would have been in complete agreement. She always said she wasn't going to put her life on hold just because some doctor told her she had something she couldn't even see or feel.

And she NEVER would have called EE "lovely" in quite that way she had. She would have said "Ah admahr that lady!"

Then she would have said "And that man is gooood-lookin!"

I do miss her.

[Divernan]

4. Her husband died the same year she won an Emmy, according to her Wikipedia bio.

So I would be interested to know why and how she kept on working, and whether her husband wanted her to, etc. Did she discuss her own experiences regarding continuin working when one's spouse is dying of cancer?

[Breeze54]

8. Katie wasn't the topic.

The Edwards were the topic.

Faux Sux wasn't the topic.
Stoopid DU'ers weren't the topic.

The Edwards and Elizabeth's cancer were the topic.

[Divernan]

15. Exactly whom are you referring to as "Stupid DUers"?

and what makes them, in your view, "stupid"?

[Breeze54]

18. The thread last friday attacking the Edwards

for continuing the campaign. There were a lot of posts saying
that they should stop and he should stay home with Elizabeth.

I think Katie Couric was asking the questions that have been asked by many.

[Divernan]

21. OK - but I didn't say any of that, and I was the DUer you were replying to.

I didn't see the interview. However, since Ms. Couric's own personal choice seems to have been to continue working, and she was comfortable referring to "some say" to repeat comments critical of the Edwards' decision, I think it would have been appropriate for her to have revealed to her listeners that she had made a similar choice. That's why I asked if she had done that.

My Dad died of colon cancer, and it was extremely important to him that he return to work for several months when he was able to, and that the family continue their normal activities. So I personally understand the Edwards' decision - and if they change their minds at a later date, I would agree with that too.

[Breeze54]

25. I didn't say you said any of that.

You didn't see the interview? lol

Couric's job is to ask questions!!!!

She asked questions that have been being asked all over the US!

It wasn't about her. It was about them!

They did beautiful.

[trumad]

32. Really--- people are saying he's "callous" throughout the USA?

I have heard anybody--- and me-thinks the only one saying it is the Ditto heads. Oh but you think that needs to be asked. Whatever.

[AnneD]

29. How do you know...

that it wasn't a psych warfare job buy a GOP hack? He is one candidate that the GOP fears. Seems like the logical thing to do would be trash him at the base of support. I often wonder about the motives of attack threads. Maybe I am just a tad :hide:. But then again Watergate did it to me.

[Breeze54]

31. How do I know what?

:shrug:

[AnneD]

35. That some of these 'attack' threads....

on DU aren't the work of people that are not Dem's-but folks that want to spread dissent, divisiveness, and doubt about a candidate. I was responding to you comment about the flame commentary about Edward's decision to continue the campaign.

I think most folks here are of the mind to let the Edwards' make their own decisions. Those that flame them the most visibly might not be your usual DUers but just folks wanting to discredit the Edward's campaign.

Is that clearer (no sarcasm etc intended-just trying to clear my comment up)?

[AnneD]

deleted

[AnneD]

deleted AGAIN

[AnneD]

deleted yet again...

[AnneD]

36. Deleted yet another time-worse than the....

opening credits for Monty Python's in search of the Holy Grail.
Signed,
The Red Peruvian Llama (not to be confused with Alpacas)...EIEIEIH

[Cass]

7. Great post. The "some would say" tactic shouldn't be part of a serious

journalist's repertoire. If she feels the information is legitimate enough to mention then she should inform her viewers of its origin. Imagine if Couric were to have said to John Edwards "Rush Limbaugh says you are putting ambition over family. How do you respond to that?" She would have been dismissed immediately as a partisan hack, and rightly so.

I hate that partisan talking points are woven into a discussion like this without informing the viewer of it. Its disrespectful to the viewer and violates the trust the audience places in the reporter to be unbiased in their reporting.

[The Wizard]

19. As soon as the qualifier

"Some people are saying" gets used journalism is over and it becomes opinion. Remember what Bill Clinton did to Chris "The Weasel" Wallace when The Weasel tried pulling that shit in a Pox (deliberate typo) News interview designed to make Bush a strong hero and Clinton a weak coward. Bill turned surgeon and inserted a new rectum in Weasel Wallace.
CBS should know better, and Edwards should sue for damages. And Katie's cosmetic augmentation needs more time to heal.
The GOP owns the corporate media. Any Democrat who does one of their shows should demand the edited product that reaches the masses has his/her approval.

[Divernan]

22. Big difference between print and broadcast journalism.

Don't think the NYT or WP reporters would ever use language "some would say". And it's not like Limbaugh was off the record. He made a public statement - he can be quoted by name.

[madrchsod]

10. they pay her millions of dollars to read the news

other than that she`s no better than anyone else..

[Malikshah]

11. Dean and others have learned the hard way regarding this specious

form of questioning.

Two responses to Couric:

1) I don't respond to blind quotes
2) Who are the some to which you refer

Other responses--less polite

"Some" or you?

In my bet-- killing the interviewer with kindness, showing them for being the charlatan they are, works best.

[SpiralHawk]

13. Some, actually MOST, would say Couric is a republicon apparatchik

catapulting radical right wing corporate crapola propaganda

Because she is so transparent in her radical right-wing slant.

Why do republicons like Couric hate fairness, truth and accuracy?

[nuxvomica]

14. I wish Safer had done the interview instead

He is much more confident, has a better approach and is more productive of information. He would've asked the same question but probably would've named the critics or even played a clip of one of them.

[Saturday]

17. "some would say" that Couric.....

should have quit her job and stayed home with her DH when he was diagnosed with cancer. She didn't. Her interview with the Edwards shows me why she's # 3 in the evening news slot.

[MonkeyFunk]

20. Asking a question in an interview

ISN'T the same as saying "this is what I believe".


I think the interview was fine. One would have to be in a serious state of denial to think people out there haven't asked those questions. She gave the Edwards' a good chance to answer them.

[Saturday]

27. She asked the same question over and over in different ways.

Asking it once is one thing but repeating it to show the Edwards in a bad light is another especially when she herself chose the exact course the Edwards have chosen (not quitting when a spouse is diagnosed with cancer).

[trumad]

30. I went in with an open mind before I watched the interview...

But the minute she started the "some say" crap, I knew her agenda. You're right--- ask it once---ummm maybe... but several times. I call bullshit.

[cascadiance]

38. Hey Katie, some would say that corporate bosses and money determine what questions you ask people!

Wish someone would put her on the spot like that!

Unfortunately, as "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" notes, the mainstream media controls a lot of what is said and it is hard to put them equivalently on the spot as they do everyone else.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. K&R!

:applause: :thumbsup:

[ms liberty]

24. Well said n/t

[chelsea0011]

26. I agree. The "some say" doesn't work in my world. I have no one

complain about the Edwards choices. So the "some say" is the media, in particular Faux. just because they are yapping amoung themselves is not the "some say" they think the country is all talking about.

[CatWoman]

28. When I found out/saw that Couric was conducting the interview

I immediately changed the channel.

[BlueEyedSon]

33. Some say Couric is no journalist....

[spooky3]

34. My problem with it

was that I have never seen her asking similar questions of our current pResident or his ilk. By "similar" I do not mean about cancer. I mean raising criticisms, over and over again, expressed by those who are most opposed to the interviewee. Instead, what I've seen her do is throw in maybe one or two of those, then quickly switch to softball questions or worse, some in which the original premise is misstated (to favor the Rethug).

I realize I have not watched every interview she has ever done so maybe I'm being unfair with her.

[Supersedeas]

37. Same tactic that Bush/Cheney use to 'frame' their argument--not for discussion

[DeepBlueC]

39. "some would say" is a FAUX gambit

now embraced by the dubious Norah O'Donnell and her ilk. This is the new journalism: never reporting your sources, ever. And it's wrong wrong wrong because it gives the viewer the impression that the stuff oozing out of a Texas Smear Machine or Roger Ailes' ass end is already what people are thinking when the purpose of the question is really to make it so. Essentially you report a rumor to launch a rumor which then is supposed to gain credibility because it is so widely repeated.

[Neecy]

40. Let's compare/contrast

I remember one of the first pieces Couric did for 60 Minutes. It was a profile of NeoCondi in which Couric gushed, giggled, and cooed over this woman as she played her piano and worked out in the gym.

She asked flattering, softball style questions which NeoCondi easily batted away. There wasn't ONE 'some say' question which leads me to believe that Couric only finds this questioning style appropriate when dealing with Democrats.

The only "some say" type question Couric asked NeoCondi was one in which she did indeed name the "some" - her daughter. Yes, a little kid. She told an amused NeoCondi that her daughter wonders why we are so disliked in the world, or somesuch nonsense.

If NeoCondi was a Democrat, Couric could have asked,

"Madame Secretary, SOME SAY that you lied in the runup to the war in Iraq."

"Madame Secretary, SOME SAY you showed either incompetence or you lied when you said no one ever imagined terrorists would use a plane as a weapon."

You get the drift.

I'll add that Couric's expression throughout her interview with NeoCondi was open, friendly, encouraging. Compare this with the tight-lipped, glaring, head-down-like-a-charging-bull expression of last evening.

Case closed, for those who think Couric is 'fair and balanced'.

[shortcake]

41. Would it have been better

if she had said, "Some DU'ers have questioned your choice"?

[trumad]

42. Hey---at least we know where it's coming from...