Palin Whines, Katie Wouldn't Let Her Slime Obama

"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed".

No, she's not vapid, or, dumb, or an idiot.

Her interview with Katie Couric was not, as Keith Olbermann put forth, the "smoking gun of stupidity".

Mommy Moose was just, darn it, annoyed.

In a post-debate interview with Fox News' Cal Cameron (you can watch it here), the Wasilla Whiz Kid unloaded, annoyed, steaming that Katie Couric wouldn't let her slime and smear Barack Obama, instead, as we saw, simply lobbing the softest of softballs at her.

It was not, as Palin's spokesperson, Meg Stapleton, offered, Palin merely "jumping to the next question"

Matthew DeLong, over on The Washington Independent caught this gem;

Said Stapleton;

“I think what she’s doing is she leaps ahead and anticipates the next question. In this case, I think, obviously she’s very well familiar with Exxon Valdez. Not only that, it impacts her family. It impacts every single Alaskan, and so she is very familiar with it. I think she just starts getting to, ‘OK, so I bring up Exxon. What’s next?’ And she starts then getting into this battle in the weeds. So, I think, she is working her hardest to answer the questions, at the same time that she’s also jumping ahead and jumping to the next question, before she’s answering the first.”

Well, I suppose, you can be "jumping to the next question" and be annoyed at the same time.

So, what did Mommy Moose want to do with the Couric interview?

Well, as ABC News noted, she wanted to do a "Do Over".

"OK, I'll tell you honestly," Palin said, "the Sarah Palin in those interviews is a little bit annoyed because it's like, man, no matter what you say, you're going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try and pivot and go on to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that, too."

Palin added, "In those Katie Couric interviews I did feel that there were a lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a vice presidential candidate stands for -- what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs, wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he has made about the war that I think may, in my world, disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. ... I wanted to talk about things like that. So, I guess I have to apologize about being a little annoyed, but that is also an indication of being outside that Washington elite, outside of the media elite, also, and just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

The handlers at the Sedona gulag, where Palin is encased most of the time, must have worked overtime, for she rattled off to Cameron all the things she reads, ripped off Supreme Court cases and, along with being annoyed, also admitted that, perhaps she was also "kind of flippant".

So, the vibe going forward must be, to interview the Republican candidate for Vice President, you must not ask simple, everyday questions.

No softballs, no inquiries a sixth-grade civic student could snap off an answers, while chewing gum at the same time.

You just have to let "Palin be Palin", and allow her to regurgitate the campaign talking points.

That's it.

Otherwise, she'll be "whinin' atch'ya"


Bonus Palin Pouting Riffs

Steven D: Katie Couric is an Annoying

Sam Stein: Palin On Fox News: Couric Annoyed Me

TBogg: Oh. My. Gawd.

Brad: Can it get any worse?

Elmera Gantry

The 1,001 Points of Light


Bonus Bonus

This one's for you, Sarah!

ANITA O`DAY ~AND HER TEARS FLOWED LIKE WINE~ 1944~ S KENTON

"I'll Try To Find You Some, and Bring'em To Ya ..."

OMG!

It is being openly speculated, that the reason Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain poured gasoline on his campaign today, and put a match to it, was Mommy Moose's interview with Katie Couric.

They needed to bury it.

If, by chance, you just got zapped onto earth, had a quick crash course on its' culture, and then viewed this interview, you might come way with thinking, that Katie was still in her NBC 'Today Show' mode, interviewing some turnip from the latest new reality show.

It's only a short snip, about 5-minutes, but it could .... Possibly ... It could leave Leonard Pinth Garnell speechless.

CBS Sarah Palin interview



Bonus Bombs Away Riffs

No More Mr. Nice Blog: IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW

Spencer Ackerman: I Saw My Head Laughing, Rolling On The Ground

Kyle E. Moore: What the McCain Campaign Really Didn’t Want You To See

Emptywheel: Did McCain Blow Off Letterman to Pre-Empt Sarah and Katie?

Katie Couric Deathwatch Update

The ticks are getting louder and louder ...

There was a meeting ...

Things were discussed ... Denials of things discussed ...

A wide-ranging discussion in February about Katie Couric’s future as the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” threatened on Thursday to turn her into a virtual lame duck in the job.

“She’s not a definite lame duck,” a senior executive who has been close to the situation said. “Nothing is decided.”

But the audience levels have been, by any measure, disappointing. For the season the CBS newscast, already a distant third, has lost about 11 percent of its viewers.

The executives involved in the discussions about Ms. Couric’s future emphasized that she would not be leaving the job in the short term. But one of her close associates said, “If you ask me, will she fulfill her contract with CBS, that I doubt.”

There's finger pointing;

So who killed her? Because don't think for one second that the person who leaked the news of the meeting didn't know that that was exactly what he or she was doing.

Odds are, it was one of the two CBS execs, probably Sean (McManus). CBS doesn't want to acknowledge that one of the main problems with the CBS Evening News is that "evening news" shows are obsolete, so it has to blame Katie (who, it is true, was more beloved in her morning slot). CBS also, however, doesn't want to be seen as cutting and running on the nation's first solo woman anchor, especially after it paid so much to get her there.

So how best for CBS to ditch Katie? Make it look like they had no choice. Or, rather, make it look like leaving the anchor slot might have been Katie's choice. ("We tried to talk her out of it, but she decided that [INSERT NEW JOB HERE] was a better fit"). Odds are this is what happened: CBS just killed Katie.

With the network evening news being touted as going the way of the rotary telephone, does a bigger stigma get itself attached to Katie?

Does Katie Couric end up with being the one that kills the legendary, vaunted CBS Evening News?

Holy rickety rabbit ears, Batman! ... Will we ever get a clear picture on this?

Stay tuned ...

Start Your Katie Deathwatches!

Boy, a whole bunch of celebrity blogs and websites must be busy little bees today.

There's so much to do.

Whole new slates of graphics ... The Death Clocks and Counters have to be put together ... Compiling all the old links of every little piece of gossip, sleaze, faux pas and just plain goofy news they can find.

All must be ready to go at a moments notice, at the drop-of-a-hat, PDQ, etc ...

All must be ready to be fired up, the moment that ear-shattering "THUD" hits her on the derrière, as she is ushered out of the building.

What's all the hub-bub?

From the WSJ - CBS News, Katie Couric Are Likely to Part Ways

After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- possibly soon after the presidential inauguration early next year.

Her departure would cap a difficult episode for CBS, which brought Ms. Couric to the network with considerable fanfare in a bid to catapult "Evening News" back into first place. Excluding several weeks of her tenure, Ms. Couric never bested the ratings of interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who was named to host the broadcast temporarily after "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather left the newscast in the wake of a discredited report on George W. Bush's National Guard service.

One possible new job for Ms. Couric: succeeding Larry King at CNN. Mr. King, who is 74 years old, has a contract with the network into 2009. CNN President Jon Klein, a CBS veteran with close ties to some at the network, has expressed admiration for Ms. Couric's work, and the two are friends. They had lunch in late January, and the anchor attended Mr. Klein's birthday party in March. Time Warner Inc.'s CNN said, "Larry King is a great talent who consistently delivers the highest profile guests, and we have no plans to make a change." Through a publicist, Mr. King declined to comment.

Katie in suspenders, barking "Hello Ohio! ... What's on your mind!"?

Oh my!

New York Magazine has a better idea;

But we think that's a waste of everything that Couric is good at: spontaneity, humor, and legginess. What about a reality show? We can see it now — America's Next Top Evening News Anchor. And just like on Tyra's version, nobody would ever lay eyes on the winner again!

But would that be enough?

From Howard Kurtz, in the WaPo;

Couric admitted last week that the constricted nature of the 22-minute format had left little room for the humor and freewheeling approach that once defined her style. "It's really hard to show that side of my personality on the evening news, and that's a frustration for me," she said.

This has me wondering if Ms. Perky ever watched an evening news show, be it CBS's or any other - before she took the job?

"It's really hard to that side of my personality"? ... "Frustrated"?

What the hell did she expect?

Segments with Mr. Gadget? ... Cooking casseroles with Martha Stewart?

It's a fucking hard news program, you idiot!

A real piece of twisted irony looms.

What if CBS does dump the perky newswoman, only to replace her with the former CBS alum, Meredeth Viera?

Oh, how wicked that would be ...


Bonus Perky Riffs

James Joyner/OTB: Katie Couric - CBS News Divorce Imminent

Gawker: The Rise And Fall Of Katie Couric

Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman/CommonDreams: Katie Couric Versus Amy Goodman

Top Ten Cloves: Things To Look Forward To When Katie Couric Takes Over As CBS News Anchor

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Katie Couric Could Have Made The Edwards Interview Better

Katie ... Now, Just Click Your Heels Together Three Times ...

Retro Garlic ... Katie, Katie, Katie ...

Well, it seems some feathers are flying, having to do with the intrepid anchor of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric.

It's been all over the big WWW of Couric's incredible fluff reporting from Iraq.

And, of course, The Garlic took note of this farce last Sunday with Katie ... Now, Just Click Your Heels Together Three Times...

CBS took exception with the avalanche of criticism aimed at their pixie, perky star and it gets better.

Check out Christy Hardin Smith's post, over on Firedoglake - CBS News Gets Snippy When Fact Checked - to see how the all-seeing-eye network responded ...

Please, someone buy the folks over at CBS Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" ...

Or better yet, send Katie out on the assignment ... That ought to be a hoot ...

Bonus Katie Links

No apologies, Katie Couric!

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Katie Couric Could Have Made The Edwards Interview Better

Katie ... Now, Just Click Your Heels Together Three Times ...

When I first saw the post, I had to do a double-take ... Katie Couric is with CBS now, right?

Yet there it was, the intrepid anchor of the CBS Evening News, rambling on in her 'Couric & Co.' blog of her trip to Baghdad ("Greetings From Baghdad") that played out like a cue-in from a commercial on her old 'Today Show' for an intro to "Where In The World Is Matt Lauer?"

And ever the digging journalist our little Katie is, she cuts to heart of where she intends to find her scoop ... To put her finger on the pulse of what's going down in Iraq;

"I'm anxious to talk to General Petraeus, to other top military brass, to some of the soldiers, and to Ambassador Crocker to get a better handle on the political situation."

And, Walla, here it is today - "Measuring The Road Ahead" - that reads as if General David Petraeus was whispering the words in her ear ...

She could have saved CBS the budget, sitting in front of a green screen and reading reports out of the Bush Grindhouse, especially after this;

Think Progress: Couric Admits Her Rosy Report From Iraq Is Based On ‘What The U.S. Military Wants Me To See’

Fear not Katie ... Though, you missed it this go-around, another chair on "The View" is likely to open up soon ... Or, you can always follow Dennis Miller, over to the Game Show Network ...


Bonus Katie Links

Taylor Marsh: Is Katie Kidding?

Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman: Katie Couric Versus Amy Goodman