Former Couric Employee at CBS Says Couric Had Margaret Sanger Picture on Office Wall

Deacon Greg Kandra was an interesting presence on the CBS staff in the Katie Couric era. He edited her blog Couric & Co. as he was ordained a Catholic deacon in 2007. At his Beliefnet blog The Deacon's Bench, he responded to the blog Creative Minority Report claiming Couric is a modern Margaret Sanger, the controversial eugenics-endorsing founder of Planned Parenthood. (The label came from Couric's recent subsidize-the-contraceptives commentary.)  I expected Kandra might offer some defense to the CBS star. Instead, Kandra wrote:

CMR calls Katie a "modern Margaret Sanger."

I know what CMR is talking about. And boy, do they have Katie nailed.

True story. A few years ago, when Katie first came to CBS News, I worked as the editor of her blog "Couric & Co." One afternoon, I had a meeting with her in her office overlooking the CBS newsroom. Her suite of offices is gorgeous: white-on-white, with a marble desk and gorgeous black-and-white prints on the walls.

(Think "The Devil Wears Prada," and you'll get the picture.  Staffers used to refer to it as "The White Palace" or, more derisively, "White Castle.")  On the back wall is a lovely, dramatic picture of Jackie Kennedy and her children. Other iconic women on the walls included Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Audrey Hepburn.  When Katie arrived for our meeting, I was admiring the pictures, but noticed one woman who was unfamiliar to me. "Who's that?," I asked.

"Margaret Sanger," she replied.

And I think that tells you everything you need to know.