Skip to main content
  • CNSNews.com
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • TimesWatch
  • Take Action!

Join Us @:
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Kindle

Tell the Truth campaign logo
NewsBusters.org logo

February 11, 2012
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Account
  • RSS
Home » Blogs » Mark Finkelstein's blog
  • Barbara Walters, Shameless Hypocrite: Hits Kennedy Mistress for Greed, Tells Her She Should Have Stayed Quiet
  • MRC's Bozell Scolds Media's Reluctance to Cover HHS Birth Control Mandate
  • Chris Matthews Excoriates: Rick Santorum Is a 'Theocrat' and Franklin Graham Is a 'Disgrace'
  • Time's Mark Halperin Concedes: GOP 'Would Be Creamed' by Media for Not Passing a Budget
  • CNN Reporters Call CPAC a ‘Conservative Petri Dish’
  • Chris Matthews Reacts to JFK Mistress: Kennedy a Hero Who 'Still Arouses the Country'
  • Covering Up JFK’s Roguish Behavior for 50 Years Not Long Enough for NBC’s Viewers
  • Bozell: It's 'Hilarious' CNN Suspended Roland Martin for Inoffensive Tweet; Maybe 'Lefty Loons at MSNBC' Can 'Scoop Him Up' Now

Couric Finds McCain's "No Confidence" in Rummy "So Refreshing"

By Mark Finkelstein | November 07, 2005 | 07:08

Change font size:  A |  A

When's the last time you remember a broadcast network adopting a politician's self-aggrandizing label as its own description of him?

Yet that's exactly what NBC did on this morning's Today show.  Remember how during the 2000 primaries John McCain traveled around the country on his "Straight Talk Express" bus, beguiling reporters? 

As Katie Couric interviewed McCain this morning, what legend appears at the bottom of the screen?  The utterly uncritical:

"Straight Talk: How Can US Secure Iraq?"

You can't pay for advertising like that!

Katie threw a couple more bouquets John's way.

Asked why he had said that he had "no confidence" in Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, McCain explained that a reporter "asked me a direct question and I gave him a direct answer."

Gushed Katie: that is "so refreshing."

Hard to imagine Couric would have been similarly 'refreshed' if, say, during the impeachment hearings a Clinton administration official had said he had "no confidence" in Bill Clinton.

Katie ended the interview by flacking for McCain's new book, "Character is Destiny" [and how's that for a self-serving title, by the way?].

Couric enthused that it is "a terrific book for people of all ages."  Gee, Katie, will it provide many hours of enjoyable reading, too?

Once again Today proves the adage that to be accorded respectful MSM treatment, all a Republican has to do is take shots at the Bush administration.

Share this

About the Author

Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters Senior Contributor. Click here to follow Mark Finkelstein on Twitter.
  • Appointments
  • Iraq
  • Media Bias Debate
  • Katie Couric
  • Today
  • Mark Finkelstein's blog
  • Login or register to post comments
  • Printer-friendly version
Donate to NewsBusters

Donate to NewsBusters Today!

This form needs Javascript to display, which your browser doesn't support. Sign up here instead

User Shortcuts

Log in

  • My account
  • My buddylist
  • Log in to check messages
  • RSS feed
  • About NB
  • Contact us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise on NB

 

 

 

  • The cynical and self-contradictory Gospel of Obama (Krauthammer)
  • Video: Protesters at CPAC admit they're being paid to protest (Daily Caller)
  • Does the drug 'ella' cause abortions? (Weekly Standard)
  • Does income inequality cause global warming? (Power Line)
  • Jay Carney gets snippy about Super PACs (Verum Serum)
  • Where are the blacks for Roland Martin? (NRO/Media Blog)
  • Turkish Islamists turn church into mosque (Commentary)

RSS FeedAmazon KindleFacebookTwitter

Recent comments

  • For those who would rather not visit the Puffington Post, here
    2 min 9 sec ago
  • In Brief, Ann Says
    9 min 47 sec ago
  • Too bad the extant law ...
    15 min 5 sec ago
  • If this issue counted in 2008....
    16 min 18 sec ago
  • I wonder if NewsBusters will
    21 min 20 sec ago
More >

Try a Sweater Vest, Mitt
more cartoons
  • Newt Gingrich's Full Address to CPAC
  • Newt Gingrich: As President I'll Repudiate 40% of Obama's Government on Inauguration Day
  • Ann Coulter's Full Address to CPAC
  • NYTimes Reporters Packing in 'Conservative' Labels at CPAC
  • Full Video of Rick Santorum at CPAC
More >
NewsBusters

Executive Editor
Matthew Sheffield

Editor at Large
Brent Baker

Senior Editors
Tim Graham
Rich Noyes

Managing Editor
Ken Shepherd

Associate Editor
Noel Sheppard

Contributing Editors
Tom Blumer
Geoffrey Dickens
Dan Gainor
David Limbaugh
Lachlan Markay
Mithridate Ombud
Clay Waters
Scott Whitlock

Senior Contributor
Mark Finkelstein

Editorial Associate
Aubrey Vaughan

Contributing Writers
Matthew Balan
Michael M. Bates
Erin R. Brown
Jack Coleman
Kyle Drennen
Douglas Ernst
P. J. Gladnick
Stephen Gutowski
Matt Hadro
D. S. Hube
Kathleen McKinley
Dave Pierre
Amy Ridenour
Julia A. Seymour
Terry Trippany
Rusty Weiss
Brad Wilmouth

Publisher
Brent Bozell

Site Design
Dialog New Media

 

  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Account
  • rss
  • CNSNews
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • Take Action!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Advertise
  • Jobs

Copyright © 2005-2012 NewsBusters. Terms of Use.