Update 15:34 (see bottom of post): Cox explains her rug joke.
I had great expectations when Ana Marie Cox turned up on the "Morning Joe" panel, confident the tart-tongued former Wonkette would produce plenty of grist for our NB mill. But over the course of the week, Cox has been disappointingly subdued, leaving it to the congenial Tamron Hall to produce our headlines. Perhaps Ana Marie's new gig at staid "Time" magazine has caused her to hide her acerbic light under a barrel.
But the strain of being restrained was maybe too much for Ana Marie, for she began this morning's show with a catty swipe at Katie Couric.
Host Joe Scarborough began the opening chit-chat by noting that CBS Evening News anchor Couric has announced her plans to visit Iraq and Syria. That's when Ana Marie pounced.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So Katie's going off to the war zone. Did you read that? Katie Couric.
ANA MARIE COX: Needs some rugs, maybe. I don't know.
R-e-o-o-w-w-w!
View video here.
Cox packed a double-jab in that one short burst. Can you imagine the outraged cries of "sexism" and "ethnic stereotyping" if a conservative had been caught out suggesting Middle Easterners were a bunch of rug merchants and interior decorating a woman news anchor's main conern?
Bonus Coverage: Cox later gave a clue into the roots of her unusual persona. During the course of the news summary, Tamron Hall mentioned that a vandal had set fire four days early to the huge wooden effigy at the Burning Man festival [described by its creators as "an annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance"] held out in the Nevada desert. That's when Cox made this odd and coincidental disclosure.
COX: My father is at Burning Man.
SCARBOROUGH: So what's up with your dad?
COX: Don't know. He maybe kind of missed the 60s.
SCARBOROUGH: Could you let him know that the Age of Aquarius is over?
Paging the GEICO psychotherapist. "It's my father. I'll put him on speaker."
Update (Ken Shepherd, 15:34): Cox, writing at Time magazine's "Swampland" blog, insists that her joke about Couric buying rugs was not an ethnic swipe at Middle Easterners or a swipe at Couric's respectability as a serious journalist:
...For instance, my crack about Couric going to Iraq to buy rugs was a reference to the Graham/Spence/McCain marketplace stroll, not a joke about women and interior design or Mid-East stereotypes. But media critics are not known for their appreciation of topical humor. My dad really is at Burning Man, though.
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Live from Syria
August 29, 2007 - 06:18 ET by allanfWow Katie is going to catch up on Diane. No doubt she will do a fawning interview with Bashir Assad and declare that all President Bush needs to do is talk.
Katie saves the world.
Yeah, what is with cBS?
August 29, 2007 - 06:56 ET by VT Con ManYeah, what is with cBS? This will be another dan rather moment, katie kissing up to another murderous, enemy dictator.
Rather to Saddam: Not so long ago, you were clearly hailed by Arabs from Palestinians to Jordanians throughout the Arab world as the quote Arab Avenger. Are you still relevant on the Arab street? Or has Osama bin Laden made you with other Arabs irrelevant? If you can understand the question. Thank you.
Rather to Saddam: Mr. President, I appreciate your remembering that we met in 1990. and I interview you in this great building. Given this sober moment and the danger at hand, what are the chances this is the last time you and I will see each other?
I am sure katie is determined to "one up" danny boy on her trip to kiss up to the enemy.
Rather than Katie, give me
August 29, 2007 - 06:51 ET by FairlightRather than Katie, give me truth.
Need some rugs,
August 29, 2007 - 06:56 ET by rimskyNeed some rugs, maybe?
Nah, more like NEED SOME RATINGS!
What are the odds
August 29, 2007 - 07:18 ET by smitty031that while interviewing muslims she will be wearing a hijab?
2 to 1?
OMG, that's hilarious, I
August 29, 2007 - 09:03 ET by motherbeltCox packed a double-jab in that one short burst. Can you imagine the
outraged cries of "sexism" and "ethnic stereotyping" if a conservative
had been caught out suggesting Middle Easterners were a bunch of rug
merchants and interior decorating a woman news anchor's main conern?
OMG, that's hilarious, the rug-merchant reference went over my head at first!
Actually, I would bet that the fact Katie is a woman didn't even enter into Cox's mind....I think she was just thinking why go to the Middle East? Rugs, maybe.
As an aside: is that a photo of Cox? I thought she was supposed to be the "hot babe" of the bloggers. She looks downright dowdy in that photo...ruffled shirt and cardigan sweater (Robin Givhan, call your office!). Maybe working for Time has toned down more than her attitude??
Well, I for one, am looking
August 29, 2007 - 07:42 ET by Jack BauerWell, I for one, am looking forward to seeing Katie swathed head to foot in a black burka.
Just those ratty little eyes peeking out at me.
Katie has a temper!
August 29, 2007 - 08:03 ET by Mica the MagnificentThere could be an international incident if 'sputum, Katie' means 'hello, Katie' in arabic .
Thank God for Katie.
August 29, 2007 - 11:10 ET by superconThere are certain headlines that when you read them you already know what the story will be.For example if you saw a New York Times headline that read "Fifteen innocent woman and children killed in deadly attack gone horribly wrong" you just know that the story would be about overworked under-trained and strained out of control soldiers gunning everyone down.The New York Times would never describe an al-Qaeda attack like that they would simply say"fifteen dead in Iraq today as violence continues".
When I read this headline"Katie Couric to Report From Iraq" I can pretty much know what to expect.
With all the progress going on in Iraq somehow Katie will manage to find someone who preferred things under Saddam.
"While there are signs of progress there are many who have been left behind and many are wondering when this nightmare will end".
Then she will look for the soldier who's life has been ruined by their forced servitude in Iraq.
"Although Spec.Johnson never supported the war he feels a need to help those who lives were destroyed by the occupation even if it means leaving his wife and children alone to fend for themselves".
She'll be running around Iraq in her little body armor suit as if finally the American people can see the truth about the surge and how up until she went we had no idea what was happening there.
Then she will move on to Syria where we will be treated to Katie wearing a very expensive silk scarf over her head as she interviews Bashar al-Assad and shows us that we have nothing to fear from Syria.
"Many people here say they like Americans but just wish that they would stop the killing in Iraq."
Am I making that up?The only reason Katie is going there is to save her sagging ratings.She doesn't give a damn about anyone in Iraq.Also she realizes that with all the progress happening in Iraq she will have to begin to soften her rhetoric about failure.If she actually went to Iraq then she can claim that things are slowly improving and not look like a hypocritical defeatist.
It's all about Katie.
Victory in Iraq.
Newt for President.
Whos going to tune in to
August 29, 2007 - 15:20 ET by bassndudeWhos going to tune in to watch Katie in a burqa?
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Burning Man BS?
August 29, 2007 - 17:14 ET by stratmanDoes anyone else see the hypocracy of Burning Man actually lighting a huge FIRE? Is this event only attended by anti-AGW's?
I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the vast majority of idiots attending this are supporters of AGW. And they love the big carbon spewing, greenhouse gas emiting FIRE?
And they're going to do it AGAIN?
Why isn't the MSM going nuts on this AGW bomb?
What the hell is up with that?
Killing them with kindness isn't working. Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.