Katie Couric Uses Christmas Poem To Campaign For ObamaCare

The advocacy on display Monday by "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric was almost unimaginable.

In her "Notebook" video posted at CBSNews.com, Couric read a poem fashioned after Clement Clarke Moore's classic "The Night Before Christmas."

Without any regard for hiding her position on healthcare reform legislation currently before Congress, Couric used the coming holidays as an excuse to wax poetic about her wish that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) would "save Harry Reid's Christmas with a deal she brought forth" (video embedded below the fold with poem transcript, h/t Story Balloon, file photo):

Twas just weeks before Christmas and what do you know
Senate Democrats are once again praying for Snowe.
They won 60 votes to start the debate
But they're back to square one and the just have to wait.
Wait for Blue Dogs like Nelson and Lincoln
Who say a public option would mean the economy sinkin'.
Wait for Joe Lieberman who says it won't pass
And hope Mary Landrieu can change her mind fast.

The Republican votes right now total zero
But a trigger could make one woman a hero.
The moderate who hails from the land way up north
Could save Harry Reid's Christmas with a deal she brought forth.
Urging government plans for when private ones fail
To think: both sides happy, can both sides prevail?
At this point no compromise looms within sight
That means after Thanksgiving it's on with the fight.
Enjoy your turkey and know we'll be here
To help make this tough topic just a little more clear.

Exit question I: Shouldn't it be verboten for so-called "news anchors" to campaign for the passage of legislation while they're on the job?

Exit question II: Aren't Christmas references unacceptable to today's secular press, or are they okay if used to advance President Obama's agenda?

*****Update: NB reader Jim Wrenn e-mailed this fabulous comment...

Twas Katie the Anchor of CBS News
Attempting a poem expressing her views
That all folks should wish for Obama-type care.
Though rhymes formed the ends of the lines she prepared
The absence of rhythm comprising each line
Resembles ObamaCare's faulty design. 

*****Update II: Ed Morrissey marvelously notes...

Yes, I remember fondly when Edward R. Murrow used to bastardize children’s poems in order to flack for policy on the air at the Tiffany Network. This may have been my favorite Murrow ditty:

Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow,

And everywhere Kefauver went, Stevenson’s sure to go.

OK, OK, the meter was a little rusty, but it was Murrow, man!

And to think that people don’t take Couric seriously as a journalist ….

Delicious!