Katie Couric

Gainor Column: Ready to Pay Your $6 Trillion 'Climate Justice' Bill?

The $1,000 bill has President Grover Cleveland’s face on it. The $100,000 bill has the dour image of President Woodrow Wilson.

We’ve already seen President Barack Obama attach his name and face to the $787 billion stimulus bill. And if the left has its way, the face on the $6 trillion “climate justice” bill will also be Obama’s. Or maybe it will belong to Al Gore.

December’s global warming conference in Copenhagen looms like a dark cloud on the horizon – just a few weeks away. The greedy left (and that’s pretty much all of them) is calling for “climate reparations.” A recent Rolling Stone article made it clear where lefties stand on American money going overseas. Writer Naomi Klein, who gained notoriety bashing ‘disaster capitalism,” said,  “shifting to renewable energy, according to a team of United Nations researchers, will raise the cost far more: to as much as $600 billion a year over the next decade.”

Notable Quotables Comedy Show Bonus Footage!

Take a look at some extra video footage from the latest episode of NewsBusters’ Notable Quotables comedy show.

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric interviewing former Vice President Al Gore provided us with so much joke material we couldn’t fit it all in.

To see current and past episodes of the show check out the NQ Show channel on the Media Research Center’s video sharing website, Eyeblast.tv. There you can also view the show in full screen format.

CBS’s Couric: Obama Calls on China to ‘Tear Down That Firewall’

Katie Couric, CBS At the top of Monday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric teased a story on the President’s trip to China by casting him as Reaganesque: “Mr. Hu, tear down that firewall. President Obama challenges China’s government to allow unfettered access to the internet.”

Couric introduced the segment that followed by continuing to play up the idea that Obama took a hard line on Chinese censorship: “In China today, he challenged leaders of the communist government to give people greater access to the internet.” Correspondent Chip Reid reported that the President’s actual statement on the matter was hardly so dramatic: “It’s one of the touchiest topics in China and the President’s long answer took on the tone of a polite lecture.”

A clip was played of Obama declaring: “I have always been a strong supporter of open internet use. I’m a big supporter of non-censorship....I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me. I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger...” Reid described those comments as a “rebuke” that “was aimed at China’s leaders.” However, He went on to admit: “...if they were watching it on TV, most Chinese were not, because the government allowed it to run on only one local channel in Shanghai. In the rest of China, they aired a soap opera.”

On ABC, Sarah Palin Slams the Snobbery and Arrogance of Katie Couric

Sarah Palin appeared on Tuesday’s Good Morning America to promote her new book and hit back at liberal condescension from journalists, most notably attacking Katie Couric as arrogant. Speaking of her infamous interview with the CBS anchor during the 2008 campaign, Palin interpreted Couric’s question about what newspapers she read as "How up there in Alaska, in this kind of nomadic, Neanderthal atmosphere that you live in, how are you connected to the world?"

The former governor admitted to interviewer Barbara Walters: "Unfortunately, I was wearing my annoyance on my sleeve. And I shouldn't have done that. Because, it seemed to me that she was asking ‘Do you read?’" After noting that, at that point in the campaign, she had just completed an op-ed for the New York Times, Palin chided, "And that surprised me that [Couric] hadn't done that homework."

Palin Admits Annoyance in 2008 Interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, 'The Perky One'

Sarah Palin, in an interview that is a part of the lead up to the Nov. 17 release of her new book "Going Rogue," appeared on Oprah Winfrey's TV show on Nov. 16.  Aside from the questions about the campaign, she expressed her irritation with "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric, or as she referred to her - "the perky one."

"Now, obviously, you've why didn't you just name some books or magazines?" Winfrey asked.

Palin explained that she didn't want to come off as unprofessional, but she detected an elitist vibe from Couric with the infamous question about her reading habits.

Palin Claims She Did Couric Interview Because She Felt Sorry For Her

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claims in her soon to be released book that the reason she let Katie Couric interview her was because she felt sorry for the CBS "Evening News" anchor:

I almost started to feel sorry for her. Katie had tried to make a bold move from lively morning gal to serious anchor, but the new assignment wasn't going very well.  

I'd say the assignment wasn't going very well given Couric's continually plummeting ratings since she took over the anchor position.

With this in mind, the excerpt of Palin's "Going Rogue" posted at the Drudge Report makes for fascinating reading:  

Sarah Palin Tells Oprah 'I Knew [Couric] Wasn't a Good Interview'

As NewsBusters reported last month, an interview between former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and daytime television star Oprah Winfrey is scheduled to air next Monday.

On Thursday Oprah released a couple of previews.

Most interesting was the snippet of Winfrey asking Palin about her controversial interview with CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

'Noisy Rally' By 'a Few Thousand' Matched by 'Powerful' AARP and AMA Endorsements

Despite the mass shooting at Fort Hood, the ABC, CBS and NBC newscasts Thursday night squeezed in full stories pegged to a “kill the bill” anti-Pelosi/ObamaCare rally outside the U.S. Capitol attended by “angry protesters” as all the stories also stressed how President Obama got a “boost” from “big,” “powerful” “key” and “major” endorsements from the AARP and AMA.

NBC's Brian Williams contrasted “big endorsements by two influential groups” with “a big, noisy rally urging lawmakers to just say no,” while reporter Kelly O'Donnell minimized the conservative event as “a few thousand protesters.” ABC's Jonathan Karl, however, recognized how “the hastily-planned protest drew one of the largest crowds in memory for a congressional event. The crowd extends all the way up around to the House side of the building, across to the Senate side, literally surrounding the western front of the Capitol.”

NBC's Kelly recounted how the House bill would “expand health coverage to 96 percent of Americans, and create government-backed insurance called a public option. Today that plan won a powerful endorsement. AARP, the lobby group for Americans over 50, signed on and showed off boxes of supportive petitions” and that was “followed by another boost, the doctors' lobby, the American Medical Association.”

CBS & NBC Fail to ID Hasan as Muslim; ABC's Raddatz Relays: 'I Wish His Name was Smith'

Neither the CBS Evening News nor NBC Nightly News, in their East coast feeds Thursday night, noted the Muslim religious beliefs of the mass killer at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas, but ABC anchor Charles Gibson wasn't cowed by political correctness as he teased World News, “Fort Hood tragedy: An Army officer, a Muslim convert, is the suspect in a shooting spree...” Introducing his first story, Gibson referred to how Major Nidal Malik Hasan “an army officer, a Muslim, opened fire with handguns...” (With a range of frequency, during late afternoon/early evening coverage, CNN, FNC and MSNBC all identified Hasan as a Muslim.)

Cryptically, ABC's senior foreign affairs correspondent, Martha Raddatz, concluded a story on reaction at Fort Hood: “As for the suspect, Nadal Hasan, as one officer's wife told me, 'I wish his name was Smith.'” So, a concern this will lead to groundless fear of Muslims?

The CBS Evening News avoided any mention of Islam or Muslim faith as Katie Couric provided this benign description: “Today, according to the Army, a soldier opened fire....He's identified tonight as Army Major Nadal Malik Hasan, a licensed psychiatrist and drug and rehab specialist from Bethesda, Maryland.” NBC anchor Brian Williams: “The soldier, identified as the initial gunman here, is an Army psychiatrist, Nadal Malik Hasan. He's an officer, a Major, and he was apparently armed with two handguns.” NBC's Pete Williams insisted, the MRC's Brad Wilmouth noticed, “everything about his background is rock solid, and nothing extraordinary stands out about his background.”

Guess Who Said Which Biased Statement: CBS's Katie Couric or DNC Chair Tim Kaine

NewsBusters.org | Media Research CenterNewsBusters.org | Media Research Center
Identical Twin Statements
Earlier today, Media Research Center President and NewsBusters.org Publisher Brent Bozell announced this year's Dewey Defeats Truman Awards for incompetent political reporting. 

Also today, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine issued a statement on last night's election results.  

The similarities between the DNC Chair's words and CBS's Katie Couric's October 27 Award winning comments are striking.

In fact, I will provide you with each of their assertions, and reveal who said which only after the jump.  Good luck guessing.

  • "...(T)he Republican candidate (for NY-23), a moderate, was purged from the Republican Party by the most extreme elements of the conservative right wing including Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.... (W)hat occurred in New York has exposed a war within the Republican Party that will not soon end.... The all out war between Republicans and the far right wing is a disaster for the Republican Party and will dog it well after today."

  • "There's growing concern among some GOP leaders that controversial commentators and far-right conservatives have hijacked the message. People like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin appeal to the base... (but) you can't win with just the base.... Before the 2010 midterm elections roll around, Republicans need to get the focus back onto the Big Tent where all are welcome - and off the sideshows that are popping up along the party's fringe."

Bozell Announces 'Dewey Defeats Truman Awards' for 'Incompetent Political Reporting'

"Last night was a triumph for the conservative movement and repudiation to those who said Republicans had to move away from the conservative ideology to achieve victory," Media Research Center President and NewsBusters Publisher Brent Bozell declared today.

"I hereby grant the Dewey Defeats Truman Awards for the most incompetent political reporting of the year to the following journalists for their impeccably inept coverage," Bozell noted in a press release earlier today before listing Politico's Mike Allen, CBS's Katie Couric, National Journal's Ron Brownstein, and the entire New York Times editorial board as the recipients of the (dis)honor.

"Congratulations for embarrassing yourselves, your news organizations and the industry for a backfire that only President Truman himself could truly appreciate," proclaimed Bozell.

For the full press release, including the quotes that were the catalysts for the Deweys, click here.

Couric Glorifies Al Gore as 'Godfather of Green, the King of Conservation'

Earning a chuckle even from Al Gore himself for the over the top glorification, CBS's Katie Couric opened her “@katiecouric” CBSNews.com Web show interview with Al Gore by extolling: “I'm honored to be joined today by the Godfather of Green, the King of Conservation: Former Vice President Al Gore.” The very friendly 30-minute Monday interview was prompted by the release of Gore new book, 'Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.'

Monday's CBS Evening News carried a brief excerpt, sans the excessively laudatory introduction: “Today I spoke with someone who knows a bit about Washington politics and the environment, former Vice President Al Gore. He's out with a new book and is on the cover of this week's edition of Newsweek.”

Audio: MP3 clip which matches the video.

Couric to Feature Gore Tonight; Flashback: She's Repeatedly Hailed 'The Goreacle'

TVNewswer reported Monday that Katie Couric “will sit down this afternoon for an exclusive interview with former Vice President Al Gore in advance of the release of his new book, Our Choice, to be released tomorrow. Portions of the interview will air tonight on the CBS Evening News.” Full title of his latest left-wing tract, 'Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.' Don't count on Couric, however, to challenge any of Gore's premises since she's been more interested in trumpeting his cause.

Back in March and May of 2007, Couric celebrated “a lot of excitement on Capitol Hill. A movie star showed up to testify before Congress -- a movie star named Al Gore” and hailed: “He was once called 'Mr. Stiff.' Now he's known as 'The Goreacle,' the new Al Gore.” With “Gore 2.0” on screen, Couric set up the subsequent tribute by asserting that “no one's getting more attention than the latest edition of Al Gore.”

(Meanwhile, this week's Newsweek cover champions: “The Thinking Man's Thinking Man: Al Gore's New Plan for the Planet.” See cover image below the jump.)

Couric's Notebook Nag: Don't Let Cereal Cartoons Parent Your Kids

Perhaps hopped up on the nutritious goodness of Mueslix, CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric took to her Notebook vlog on Friday to nag parents about the need to keep their kids away from the siren song of sugary cereals (transcript hers):

Froot Loops, Cookie Crisp, Reese's Puffs - I almost got a cavity just reading that. Yet, they're the kinds of sugary cereals children beg for at the grocery store.

The boxes and T-V ads usually have a colorful cartoon character on them. But, one group of researchers is not amused.

Katie Couric Bravely Takes On Toucan Sam and the Trix Rabbit

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric really knows how to take on the villains in American society -- like Toucan Sam and the Trix Rabbit. In her latest "Katie Couric's Notebook" commentary (the day before Halloween), Couric railed against advertising for sugary cereals: "Don't let a bunny or a tucan [sic] take over your parenting role."

Froot Loops, Cookie Crisp, Reese's Puffs – almost got a cavity just reading that. Yet, they're the kinds of sugary cereals children beg for at the grocery store.

The boxes and TV ads usually have a colorful cartoon character on them. But, one group of researchers is not amused.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University reports that cereal companies spend more than $156 million a year on ads geared for kids. At a time when 12 percent of U.S. children from ages 2 to 5 are considered obese - along with 17 percent of kids 6 to 11 -- this problem is anything but sweet.

All parents have been there in that grocery aisle -- having to decide between what the kids want and what you know is better for them.

But maybe some oatmeal for your Little Miss Sweet Tooth can help her avoid big health issues in the future.

CBS Says White House Is Fudging Stimulus Jobs Numbers

When Katie Couric and the folks at CBS start doubting what the Administration says about how effective February's economic stimulus package was, you know President Obama is in trouble.

Consider that on Thursday's CBS "Evening News," Chip Reid began a segment with the following startling statement about a jobs report card to be released by the White House Friday:

Well, Katie, that report is going to claim that the stimulus has already created or saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, but if the administration`s first effort at counting stimulus jobs is any guide, tomorrow`s numbers could be hard to believe.

Readers are advised to make sure youngsters are out of the room, for watching Katie and the Gang say the White House might be fudging numbers could be way too frightening for minors (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Terri Green, file photo):

Couric's Advice To GOP: Get Focus Off Rush & Palin 'Fringe, Sideshow'


If her Evening News gig doesn't work out, maybe Katie Couric will seek work as a Republican strategerist . . .

Couric dabbled in her possible new profession in her Notebook segment yesterday, offering some carefully considered advice to the GOP.  According to Katie, Republicans should get the focus off Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin.  They're nothing but "fringe" elements, "sideshows" that drive people out of the Republican Big Tent.

John Ziegler Talks to NB About Olbermann Bet and Palin's Future

Since he burst onto the scene in January with an exclusive interview with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, John Ziegler has been a NewsBusters favorite.

As a result of last week's $100,000 challenge to debate MSNBC's Keith Olbermann about all things related to Palin, NewsBusters decided it was time to catch up with Ziegler to see if the "Countdown" host had responded.

What followed was a fabulous e-chat about his wager offer as well as what his views are concerning what's happened to Palin this year and what he sees in her future.

Readers are guaranteed to be surprised by some of his answers:

CBS Takes Up White House Quest to 'De-Legitimize' Fox News, 'Irony' FNC Enabled Attack

“They report and the White House decides it's not fair. The President's feud with the Fox News Channel,” Katie Couric teased at the top of Friday's CBS Evening News in the first broadcast network newscast foray into the subject. Plugging the story before an ad break, she flipped the emphasis on which party is acting unfairly: “The White House singles out and freezes out the Fox News Channel. Is that fair?” As if both parties are equally at fault, Couric asserted: “We've never seen anything quite as intense as the feud between President Obama and the Fox News Channel.”  

Veteran reporter Jeff Greenfield, who re-joined CBS after stints with ABC and CNN, didn't offer any hint of how in the tank for Obama CBS and the rest of the media have been and so anything less than effusive coverage stands out, but he at least noted: “MSNBC in prime-time has its own lineup of commentators -- all of whom are on the left side of the spectrum, some of whom met with the President Obama at the White House this week.”

Greenfield saw “irony” as he suggested FNC, by charging the rest of the media are on the left, enabled the Obama White House's line of attack:

What gives this dust-up special irony is that Fox News' success comes in no small part from its ability to convince its viewers that the “mainstream” media are slanted to the left. Now, the White House is arguing that the Fox News network is not a real news organization at all...

CBS’s Couric Finally Notices Obama’s $1.4 Trillion Deficit

Back on October 7, when the Congressional Budget Office reported that the federal deficit had ballooned to a massive $1.4 trillion during President Obama’s first year on the job, Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News did not tell viewers. But Couric finally caught up to the bad news after the Obama White House put out its final numbers on Friday afternoon.

Couric disclosed the news in a brief item that never mentioned The One by name: “It's the biggest IOU Uncle Sam has ever written. Government figures out today show for the last fiscal year, which just ended, the United States spent a record 1.4 trillion dollars more than it took in. That's three times more than the year before.”

New York Times reporter Jackie Calmes this morning noted that Obama’s deficit is much larger as a percentage of GDP than during the 1980s, when Democrats attacked Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts as fiscally reckless: