Althouse: Katie Couric.

September 5, 2006

Katie Couric.

I want to write a post about how I don't care about Katie Couric's new news show, but I don't care enough to write it.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...: LOL!; 9/5/06, 8:38 AM
Simon said...: "Liberal celebrity to front dying media form. Dog bites man, page 3."

I have to admit that I was quite amused to catch a smippet of Couric complaining about blogs and suggesting that there is still a need for mainstream news programming. The fact that she feels the need to defend the continuing relevance of the MSM is hilarious in and of itself, but that her defense is premised on trustworthiness of blogs vs. MSM raises it to the level of parody, considering that she will be succeding...Dan Rather, the doyen of, the very epitome of, the media's unwitting liberal slant.; 9/5/06, 8:55 AM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/5/06, 9:02 AM
KCFleming said...: Does anyone still watch national news on the major networks?

Couric is evidence of TV news devolution, from its peak with Cronkite, to the addled Rather, now the Oprah-esque Katie. Next step, already taken elsewhere, anchor-strippers.

Of late, I am down to 3 minutes of local news (or less, if the opening item involves a benefit 10K run, a car accident in town, or a kid eating ice cream at the fair). As soon as the happy banter between well-scrubbed co-anchors begins, I have to leave, or I begin talking like a pirate (Arrrrrrhhh ...shove off, ya bilge rats...arrrrrrhh).; 9/5/06, 9:11 AM
knox said...: Well, the thing about Katie Courizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....; 9/5/06, 9:35 AM
Laura Reynolds said...: I like Cathy Seipp's line "New Anchor, Same Titanic"; 9/5/06, 9:46 AM
hdhouse said...: Scheiffer upped the CBS audience by 1 million during his time. Can anyone name any other news outlet that increased its reach by that number during the last year?

No you can't. It was done by presenting news - actual news - not Jon Benet wall to wall, not endless Anthrax Annie Coultergeist, no bonzo with his 100 worst professors...but news.

Because some network labels itself news doesn't make it so.

And of course, there are those who scream and foam "liberal" as if it were an appropos adjective. Just so we are clear, let's do some definitions:

liberal:

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
9. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.
10. given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.

and to be fair and balanced:

conservative:

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.
5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.
6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.
7. Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.
–noun 8. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.
9. a supporter of conservative political policies.
10. (initial capital letter) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.
11. a preservative.

So get off it. Either use the words correctly or find new words that fit. Bloviation isn't merely coincident with O'Reilly.; 9/5/06, 10:08 AM
hdhouse said...: wake up knoxgirl....; 9/5/06, 10:10 AM
KCFleming said...: Further entries from the hdhouse dictionary:

Liberal:
11. good, forward-thinking, angelic, handsome, pretty, awake, alive, successful, happy, friendly, genius, rulers, creators, king/queen, saviors

Conservative:
12. bad, reactionary, satanic, ugly, asleep, dead, loser, angry, loner, stupid, ruled, destroyers, drones, murderers

Ah, the good old days, when dictionaries had big bright pictures, and people knew their place.; 9/5/06, 10:37 AM
al said...: But she's cute and perky!

If the tv is on at that time I'll be watching Rachel Ray while I cook.; 9/5/06, 10:56 AM
Simon said...: According to the dictionary definition, there are no liberals in American politics. According to the dictionary definition, liberals are "open-minded or tolerant"; I have yet to meet a liberal who is either of those things. They believe that they are both, of course, but they are tolerent only of those things of which they already approve (which is, by definition, not tolerence), and regard "open-mindedness" as something conservatives need to change their minds to be (i.e., liberal) (that, too, is not open-minded). No liberal who has ever uttered the term "christocrat" or similar has any right to be regarded as "free from prejudice or bigotry." According to the dictionary, liberals are "favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible" - yet in real life, liberals are the party of quotas, economic regulation, speech codes (both de jure and de facto) and federal invasiveness into every aspect of people's lives. The liberal commitment to personal freedom starts and ends in the bedroom and the telephone line. And if liberals are "characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts," they are equally and necessarily characterized by their willingness to take from others in order to support their conception of a govenment that is generous with other people's money and willing to give in large amounts to causes that do not need it as much so as those that do.

If conservatives are sometimes careless with the term "liberal", that is a lot better than the ouright self-deceit of liberals. I believe that you all genuinely think you live up to that dictionary definiton. But the sad truth is, if modern liberalism looked like the dictionary definition of "liberal", you'd be a majority. You ain't.; 9/5/06, 11:02 AM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/5/06, 11:06 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Well, she was cute and perky. Now she is middle aged and needs Photoshop to look good. We shall see how perky middle aged works.; 9/5/06, 11:07 AM
altoids1306 said...: Don't watch TV news anyways - but it is enormously entertaining to watch the antics of network TV. And it's great to watch Couric being hailed as progress for women, when her defining characteristic is "cute, perky blonde". But all the best to her - she's been paid to raise the dead, and if she can do it, good for her.

Just to annoy hdhouse:

My liberal friends find it quite liberating to give liberally to liberal causes. (Especially those that bemoan the liberation of Iraq, and the spread of liberal democracies.); 9/5/06, 11:41 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Ultimately the NYT is going to last longer and provide more value than CBS news. After all, you can always wrap fish in the NYT.; 9/5/06, 11:44 AM
Jennifer said...: Well, the idea of the show bores me but the photoshopped promo pics cracked me up. Way to give your new star some gravitas.

Of course, the joke photoshopped promo pics for the view where they replaced Rosie with Jessica Alba were even better.; 9/5/06, 12:18 PM
Jennifer said...: the View*; 9/5/06, 12:22 PM
hdhouse said...: hi pogo....if you are unfamiliar with a dictionary, they actually have them online and you can look words up and get their meaning. it is a very useful exercise..but then again you probably think that dictionaries are tools of the liberal media.

altoids...

i don't think its bush's plan (sic!) to install liberal democracies anywhere.

Seven Nachos ...

to be honest, i don't think anyone has to be either subtle or super smart to eat your lunch. You are, as we like to call it, low hanging fruit.

but to be fair, this thread is about KC and no, i really don't care one way or another..but she speaks clearly, can ask an intelligent question, can actually think on her feet, and unlike faux news, one isn't compelled to disinfect the television after passing through our channel 26.; 9/5/06, 12:29 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: You are, as we like to call it, low hanging fruit.

Who's we? Assholes?; 9/5/06, 12:34 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/5/06, 12:40 PM
KCFleming said...: Re: "..but then again you probably think that dictionaries are tools of the liberal media."

Well, yeah, of course. But I thought it was funnier when it was called The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

CONSERVATIVE, n.
A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

And Sippican does it again. It's a but painful to realize after years of thinking myself both funny and smart, that I'm really, well, not so much of either. (But smart enough to know a master of the craft.); 9/5/06, 12:57 PM
Brent said...: Commentary on CBS News with Katie Couric (with apologies to Bill Murray):

Everyone now:

"It just doesn't matter.
It just doesn't matter.
It just doesn't matter.
(repeat . . . .)"; 9/5/06, 1:07 PM
Bissage said...: Hey, I get it! "[F]aux news" is a funny way to say "Fox News."

Heh.

P.S. In all candor, it took me a while to figure that out. That’s because my boat was in the harbor, where it was safe. But then, I realized that’s not what a boat is built for. And so I shoved off from the harbor and headed out to a mysterious and uncharted sea.

Disclaimer: I’m not criticizing anybody for anything, because, if I did that, then I could never be this guy.

Note: See Katie’s 9/5/06, 8:55 a.m.

(She’s so smart! She thinks of everything!); 9/5/06, 1:28 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/5/06, 1:53 PM
Sanjay said...: Duh, you mis-spell the name in some blatant, "I-care-so-little-I'm-not-even-sure-who-I'm-talking-about" way. Like "Korik."; 9/5/06, 2:00 PM
Bissage said...: By the way, am I the only person who thinks Katie Couric looks just like pop rocker Matthew Sweet?

(Even more so when he smiles!)

(And Katie has such a pretty smile!!!)

wv: "meoast" The new breakfast treats cats just love. Katie likes them, too!; 9/5/06, 2:05 PM
Simon said...: Bruce Hayden said...
"Well, she was cute and perky. Now she is middle aged and needs Photoshop to look good."

All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't pull that feat off, but even if they could, it isn't because she is middle aged that she needs photochop to look good, right, Bruce? ;)

Pogo - I'd actually accept that as a reasonable definition of (Burkeian) conservatism; the spirit of Burke, it seems to me, is "better the devil you know than the one you don't," or as Sippican has previously (and very effectively) put it: “[d]on't interfere if you've got nothing but ideas on how things should be ‘different.’ ‘Different’ is not the operative and essential part of ‘good.’ It's as likely to be good's enemy as not.”; 9/5/06, 2:09 PM
The Drill SGT said...: Bissage,

wonderful quote for the new renovated White Press room.; 9/5/06, 2:58 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/5/06, 2:59 PM
MadisonMan said...: I'm sorry simon -- was your comment at 2:09 supposed to make me think of lemmings?

It'll be nice if the next female news anchor is greeted with the yawn that greeted Bob Schieffer when he was promoted, temporarily, to anchor.; 9/5/06, 2:59 PM
KCFleming said...: Simon:
I like both definitions, Sippican and Bierce.; 9/5/06, 3:02 PM
Pat Patterson said...: CBS has actually pulled the old "Hey kids, let's put the show on in my dad's barn". All Hail Her Argus-Eyed Perkiness!; 9/5/06, 4:06 PM
Roger Sweeny said...: Katie Couric is ... like a center fielder with creaky knees batting as a designated hitter and hobbling down to first when they hit a triple.

That's what I said when Johny Damon left the Red Sox to go to the Yankees. You know, his knees are looking a lot better now.; 9/5/06, 4:16 PM
Revenant said...: Could hd really be a subtle, funny person posing as a left-liberal moonbat for her or his own twisted pleasure? Someone else suggested this.

That was me, and his latest effort is a classic example. Four hundred words on definitions of "liberal" and "conservative", without any effort to actually relate those definitions to anything in the real world? As non-sequiteurs go I give it 3 stars out of 4.

He gets bonus points for trying to spin last-place CBS's climb to last-place-but-not-by-as-much as a victory for "real news".; 9/5/06, 4:31 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/5/06, 5:45 PM
Revenant said...: Let's get real people. I'll be watching tonight, and so will you.

What on earth for?; 9/5/06, 5:58 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Hey, I watched for you guys. Check the new post.; 9/5/06, 6:39 PM
Der Hahn said...: Your taking-one-for-the-team is appreciated, Ann; 9/5/06, 7:06 PM