David Sirota on the 60 Minutes interview:
Perhaps the most disturbing display of all, however, was 60 Minutes’ Katie Couric. She spent most of her interview with the Edwardses behaving like a prosecutor, cross-examining them about why they are going forward with the presidential campaign. And when I say “interrogate” I mean interrogate. This was no ordinary interview – this was a televised guilt trip. She stated as fact to John Edwards that he is supposedly “putting your work first, and your family second.” She also pulled the “some say” technique, claiming that an unnamed “some” say that in making this decision, Edwards is displaying “a case of insatiable ambition.”
I think the “some say” device is a dishonest interview tactic. It’s a dumb trick best used by FOX News. It allows an interviewer to ask a question even if that question has no relevance. It’s lazy, and I’m glad I haven’t seen it much in the local media. Rush Limbaugh’s bullshit musings do not deserve to be cloaked by Couric with the phrase, “some say.”
The decision to continue their campaign belongs to John and Elizabeth Edwards alone. Their decision not to surrender to cancer is admirable. As Elizabeth said, “we’re all going to die someday.” No amount of interview spin can hide that fact.
Drudge played some of the clips. It was great.
I wonder if Perky Katie would aks TSWITW if she’s “in denial” about her husband not being able to keep his dick in his pants.
And isn’t it the height of librul fucking arrogance for her to say that she doesn’t want her “legacy” to be that she denied the American people of the opportunity to have the great leadership of The Breck Girl. Sheesh…
THE EDWARDS ARE TRUE PATRIOTS. THEY ARE NOT RUNNING AND HIDING. THEY ARE EMBRACING LIFE AND TRYING TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. I’D LOVE TO SEE OBAMA WIN BUT EDWARDS BEING FROM THE SOUTH IS A CLOSE SECOND. HE MAY YET GET MY NOD.
MTR, THE BET WELSHER, THE MISERABLE SCUM IS CHEERING ON KATIE COURIC. YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH, YOU SEE EVERYTHING I GUESS.
MTR: PAY YOUR FUCKING GAMBLING DEBT.
What is this hard-on you guys have for Fox News? So they’re NOT the usual (liberal) suspects you expect from CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, et. al. Does the fact that a media outlet doesn’t toe the liberal line on everything from global warming to political correctness make it some how less valid a news outlet than the traditional liberal media?
Farmer’s Daughter:
If you’ve managed to wade through the muck around here on a regular basis, you’ll notice that much of the mainstream media gets a rather short shrift.
While it seems to be an article of faith among the far right that CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, the AP and just about every other mainstream news source is biased left, most folks on the left see them as already biased right.
It was truly astonishing to watch all the mainstream coverage leading up to the war, with all the media folks sounding like cheerleaders for the Bush administration. If any of them had done some serious investigation, we might not be in this mess today.
Current news coverage does seem rather anti-war. I think that much of that comes from the fact that the MSM was caught napping, simply took the Bush administrations word for much of what was said, and are now angry because they feel (as I do) that they were mislead and lied to.
Perhaps you could make an argument that Viacom and Time-Warner are left wing outfits (although the CEO of Viacom endorsed President Bush for reelection), but to say that General Electric and Disney are left wing is simply silly.
In any case, if Fox would simply make an honest attempt to keep its politics in its editorials and opinions, as do most of the MSM (notice – I’m not saying they always succeed) we would have far less heartburn with them.
As it is, the title “Faux News” fits them all too well.
5
No major media outlet in this country “toes the liberal line.” The myth of the “traditional liberal media” is one of the fantasies that you rightwing automatons mouth like a mantra, like it’s part of the Pledge of Allegiance. The media in this country is irresponsibly beholden to corporate interests and the Bush Administration. A balanced television news network would do wonders for democracy in this country.
I think Katie Couric asked the right questions. What was she supposed to ask them about. . . the weather???
I’m a liberal and proud of it and think when the subject is cancer you need to deal with that as honestly as you can.
Katie DID THAT and I thought the answers that the Edwards gave showed that they appreciated those questions.
Give her some slack.
Mick
Couric’s stint on the CBS Evening News has been a complete and unmitigated disaster.
This was nothing more than a desperation play to try to regain some credibility.
It failed.
Miserably.
Odious, yes, but maybe ok in the long run that the Edwardses are getting armchair marriage counseling from the world. Now maybe they will get a glimpse of how lovely it is for we LGBT people that the world thinks it should/can/must run our private lives.
Look, Edwards would NEVER get my vote, but if I understand his wife’s condition correctly, she will just get ongoing treatment to keep it at bay as long as possible, and they have chosen to get on with life. What’s wrong with THAT? Couric is totally wasting her time with this. She could be asking Edwards or the other dem candidates why they insist on rationed health care for the U.S. See my comment under open thread for a horror story from Canada about a woman desparately in need of surgery and being told she was # 32 in line for a procedure they only do 10 per year of. She even wanted to pay for it herself and was told NO.
Why anyone feels qualified to criticize and counsel other adults for their decisions concerning their legal goals and dreams is unfathomable. Judgmentalism runs deep in the Republican Party. Those who might criticize the decision John and Elizabeth Edwards have made would do well to consider the old adage about walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins, and then they should just keep their mouths shut.
The interview appeared to have been extensively and rather clumsily edited. Not that things like this are always done in-person or in real time (for instance, on NPR’s “Fresh Air”, Terry Gross seldom, if ever, conducts her interviews in-person), but the cutting between the Edwardses and the “reaction shots” of Couric was choppy as hell, her expressions (such as she had any) seldom appeared to match what they were saying in the soundtrack, and that soundtrack had lots of glitches and discontinuities. It may very well be that the questions we heard John and Elizabeth answer were not exactly the same as the ones we heard asked.
CBS hasn’t had a lot of credibility with me since the Rather fiasco, not because he did anything wrong but because I think their ownership were complicit in setting him up. We’re likely looking at a repeat of the last race for the Democratic nomination, where the candidates most likely to command the most popular support are picked off one by one by the media, and CBS seems to have been assigned Edwards as its first target.
It’s funny to observe everyone here trying somehow invoke Republicans for Couric’s own goofy behavior, as if somehow that lessens her guilt. Not working, people. She’s yours, and it’s been painful to watch her antics on this. Just own it, and get on with life instead of trying to somehow blame Katies’behavior on republicans. Ya look silly doin’ it!
Katie should go back to interviewing her colon.
Puella Agricolae says:
What is this hard-on you guys have for Fox News? So they’re NOT the usual (liberal) suspects you expect from CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, et. al. Does the fact that a media outlet doesn’t toe the liberal line on everything from global warming to political correctness make it some how less valid a news outlet than the traditional liberal media?
It’s not the differing views, it’s the out and out lies and the lockstep in which they spew the RNC talking points that prevents them from being a legitimate “news” organization.
They are biased political analysts and champions of conservative ideals. If that’s what they want to do, no one here is opposed to that. Just have the courage to state that fact as The Nation does. There’s no question they are a Liberal biased publication, they just have the honesty to say so.
FOX, operating behind the cloak of “fair and balanced news” is what the reality based community is opposed to.
Your statement and the fact it is has to be explained to you demonstrates that you are either a tool parroting the RNC talking points, or you have the IQ of a starfish.
5
“So they’re NOT the usual (liberal) suspects you expect from CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS”
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA………!
What is this hard-on you guys have for Fox News?
WHAT HIDEY-HOLE HAVE YOU BEEN COOPED UP IN ALL THESE YEARS?
FAUX NEWS IS RUN BY ROGER AILES A LONG-TIME REPUBLICAN OPERATIVE, SPIN-DOCTOR, ETC.
FAUX NEWS ISN’T NEWS – IT’S FAR RIGHT PROPAGANDA PERIOD.
goldy…you line stealer, you!
“pack your bags were goin’ on a guilt trip………”
did you ask jake if you could use it?LOL.
Some Say – I am Republican and I lie, cheat and steal when I’m not being a family man (fat whore) or a crying hypocrite. Self righteous bastard that I am, I have my head buried in the sand.
At least Katie didn’t need a napkin to wipe the spooge from her chin like Mike Wallace did after his “I caused pain” interview with Bill Clinton.
I watched that interview and I, too, got the impression that Couric was “channeling Rush Limbaugh.”
I don’t get it. I am so sorry for the Edwards family that her cancer has reoccurred. BUT, why so much attention?!? They made a decision (wrongly by my values but so what)to continue his campaign. Fine, I’ll continue to consider him when I am looking at candidates. But frankly, I don’t care much about the spouse (although, admittedly, Hillary does come with quite the spouse). I wish them well but I don’t get the media attention past day one.
I think James Taranto has the correct take on this: Mrs. Edwards learned she has a probable life-ending cancer, even if it takes a few years. Rather than give in and admit defeat, she says that everything is going on as normal. She doesn’t strike me as a woman who gives in easily.
I suspect in a month or so, maybe six, the reality of the situation will become more apparent, and Mr. Edwards will drop out of the race. I commend him for standing by his wife, and doing what she says she wants.
What would be more entertaining would be an interview between Couric and Ms. Goodling. We could watch them try to “Out Valley Talk Each Other”
If they made the decision and just went on I don’t think you would have gotten the negative responses . Edwards made a media event out of it ..
I am not too sure I want a President worrying about his wife while trying to his job . That was one good thing about Bill Clinton .
But seriously , if it was your wife , I don’t think it was decision for both of them … Whats his wife going say … No don’t run for President .. Help me get through the chemo and stand by me ..
This was John Edwards decision ..
He has no chance anyway ..
The media leans towards the left, regardless of what you think.
24 Janet, I’m with you there. It came out this morning that Tony Snow’s cancer has returned–this disease doesn’t play political favorites.
I’m a cancer survivor myself, and even though it’s been 22 years, I say a special thanks to the Almighty every day I wake up still healthy. I also really understand how anyone feels when faced with something that’s likely to make their stay here on Earth a short one–you end up asking yourself what you want to do most in whatever time you have left. Elizabeth Edwards has evidently decided she wants to help her husband run for President, and I can’t help but admire that.
If Tony Snow decides he wants to keep standing at the podium talking, maybe I’ll be respectful enough to listen a little more. I still most likely won’t believe anything he says, but I’ll still listen–and I’ll be less likely to make fun of him.
If the right-wing nut-cases are consistent (yeah, right!), they’ll call for Snow to resign.
Maybe Gonzalez can take over as Press Secretary. Rumor has it he’s going to be looking for a job soon.
27 How far the media appears to lean to the left, depends on how far the observer is leaning to the right.
Now that Snowjob has cancer, will we hear the chorus from the right telling him to quit? NAAAAH. They are all hypocrites. I wonder if Tony will make a deal with God to tell the truth about the Pretender and Thief in return for his life?
The comments from bloggers and Snow are making the news .
Let their be light .