Katie Couric at NOW Gathering: ‘I Am a Feminist’

The Washington Examiner’s Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin reported Monday in their regular "Yeas & Nays" feature that Katie Couric had announced with pride, "I am a feminist." The ultra-liberal National Organization for Women honored Couric at their annual Intrepid Awards Gala last week in Washington, DC, and the CBS Evening News anchor received a warm welcome from her feminist compatriots.

During her speech before the NOW Gang, Couric "opened up," as Dufour and Gavin put it. She quipped to her hosts that "[i]f everyone in the country was like you, CBS News would be number one." Yes, perhaps if everyone were liberal feminist Democrats, then maybe Couric’s program wouldn’t be dead last in the ratings.

Now, this isn’t exactly a surprising "full disclosure" by Couric. When she was still on the Today Show in 1997, guest Whoopi Goldberg outed Couric’s "pro-choice" position on abortion when the comedienne revealed the two had attended a "pro-choice" march together. In October 2006, after the father of a victim of the Columbine shootings declared his pro-life position in a "freeSpeech" segment on CBS Evening News, Couric wrote on her blog that his view might be seen as "repugnant."

Dufour and Gavin recounted how before her current gig, Couric "became household name during her time on NBC's 'Today' show, as she would dress up as Peter Pan or SpongeBob SquarePants, sing and dance, and discuss ‘barbecue facts and myths.’ But now that she's a big-time news anchor on the ‘CBS Evening News,’ she's moved past those frivolous days." The perky journalist is then quoted as saying that now, "I don't do frivolous questions."

Such a statement cannot be taken seriously. During her interview of Hillary Clinton on February 10, 2008, Couric asked, "What were you like in high school? Were you the girl in the front row taking meticulous notes and always raising your hand?...Someone told me your nickname in school was Miss Frigidaire. Is that true?"

Speaking of not being serious, Couric tried two jokes in front of the NOW crowd: "There were many executives I met who thought harass was two words instead of one!" She then added, "You're a great crowd for that joke." Later, she made a housing market joke: "I'm a little concerned, considering their recent troubles, that Fannie Mae provided the chocolate this evening."

Photo illustration by Ken Shepherd, based on Getty Images photo of Katie Couric.