In Couric, Hillary for President Camp Has New Anchoring Ally

Thinking ahead to 2008, it's clear that new CBS anchor Katie Couric has to be counted as a positive political asset for Hillary Clinton. Hillary's "Today" interviews have been almost universally sappy and sympathetic. (In a big-picture way, you might also see in solo-anchor Katie another sign, like Geena Davis's "Commander in Chief" on ABC, of an attempt by liberal media to push hard on the equal plausibility and authoritativeness of women in the top jobs.)

Katie may have been speaking both herself and Hillary in the interview that aired on February 18, 2004: "Hillary Clinton's choices in just about everything have been scrutinized and analyzed by almost everyone. She hopes as more women themselves assume positions of power voters will be less judgmental and more forgiving." Katie has been extremely forgiving in her Hillary interviews, ignoring almost all topics Mrs. Clinton would rather not discuss. Instead, Couric has treated her as a serious policy wonk and feminist icon. Here's some notable pro-Hillary quotes from the Clinton era forward:

-- "Do you think the American people are not ready for someone who is as accomplished and career-oriented as Hillary Clinton?" -- Today co-host Katie Couric interviewing Hillary Clinton, August 24, 1992.

-- "As you know, Mrs. Clinton, regulations for at-home day care vary so much from state to state in terms of the ratio of children to day care provider, do you think there should be some kind of overall federal regulations?" -- Today co-host Katie Couric to Hillary Rodham Clinton on the occasion of a White House federalize-day-care summit, October 23, 1997.

-- "Why do you think Hillary Clinton elicits such powerful emotions? Why is she such a polarizing figure?"

"But don’t you think there’s an awful lot of projection that goes on in terms of how people view her, placing their own confused states or their role in society or how powerful should women be and it’s sort of projected upon her as an individual?"
-- Today co-host Katie Couric’s first two questions to Laura Ingraham, author of The Hillary Trap, June 7, 2000.

-- "Giving Senator Clinton her due, though we talk about her feminine wiles, she has also won a great deal of respect by working very, very hard, and by not pulling any kind of prima donna act. Her Secret Service detail is very much in the background. She goes to all sorts of meetings that some people, in the past, have not attended. For example, I know she goes to a meeting over at the House of Representatives with all the folks from New York, which, I guess, Moynihan never attended, right?"
– Katie Couric’s observation to Gail Sheehy, discussing a gushing profile of Hillary Clinton that Sheehy wrote for the August issue of Vanity Fair, on NBC’s Today, July 16, 2001.

-- "I know it will house the largest presidential document collection. Some 80 million pages in it. There is an area even dedicated to what happened during your husband's impeachment. That said, some of his detractors are actually planning a counter library in Little Rock with a satellite office in Washington D.C. What do you make of that and is it disappointing for both you and your husband that his detractors and critics continue to pursue him?" -- Couric to Hillary Clinton on the morning of the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library, November 18, 2004.

For loads more of Katie's bias, check out our new Katie Couric page at mrc.org.