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Brian Williams sure did miss his calling.

Palin to Couric: I CAN quit you + Bonus Videos!

By GottaLaff

Blogger McCan'tWrite is giving "perky" Katie the cold shoulder. She's not vindictive at all. I guess she was worried that Couric would ask her what she watches on Tee Vee:

Sources tell Hotline OnCall that Katie Couric's producer sent two requests to Sarah Palin's publisher for interviews during the Going Rogue book tour, and so far, Couric has been denied.

"It's not surprising -- Palin has not agreed to sit down with more than a small handful of mainstream media interviewers -- but the move looks to be part of a larger Palin blackout from CBS News and Entertainment."

Drat that liberal CBS. What a savvy move by Palin to avoid tough questions like, "What are you wearing?"

But it's all good. Blogger McCan'tWrite can see CBS from her profound idiocy!

Beck: McCain Would've Been Worse

Huh wha? Actually, it just might make the far righties happy. More likely just some more Drudge bait.

Controversial Fox News host Glenn Beck tells Katie Couric he thinks GOP nominee John McCain would have been worse for the country than Hillary Clinton or Pres. Barack Obama. Go to CBSNews.com/katiecouricwebshow for more.

VIDEO- 60 Minutes Interview With Robert Gates- Plus Bonus Obama Quote Of The Day

Watch CBS Videos Online

How is Obama Different Than Bush? In an interview that aired tonight on 60 Minutes, Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- the only Bush holdover in the Obama cabinet -- was very reluctant to draw comparisons between the two presidents.

Couric: You have said that President Obama is more analytical in your view than than President Bush --

Gates: That's something I wished I hadn't said.

Couric: Why? Why?

Gates: I really have been very disciplined about not drawing those kinds of comparisons.

Couric: What three words would you use to describe President Bush?

Gates: Committed, questioning, eager to make a decision and move on.

Couric: What about President Obama?

Gates: Deliberative, decisive and calm.

Letterman - Rush Limbaugh: Bonehead Gangster

Look at that crap, Couric is afraid of Limbaugh. Ugh.

Quote-O'-The-Day: Palin blames media "power brokers" edition

By GottaLaff

::In my best whiny voice:: Oh ma-a-an, it wasn't her fault! She tried to avoid Couric and limit her interviews to Fox, but... but... nobody would listennnnn! Those stoopit ideeut dum-dum poopyhead power broker-r-rs!

"I knew it didn't go well the first day and then we gave her a couple of other segments after that. And my question to the campaign was, after it didn't go well the first day, why were we going to go back for more? Because of however it works in that upper echelon of power brokering in the media and with spokespersons, it was told to me that, yeah, we are going to go back for more. And going back for more was not a wise decision either."

-- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in an interview by documentary filmmaker John Ziegler, on her interviews with Katie Couric during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Also.

VIDEO: Letterman interviews Couric about Pitiful Palin interview

By GottaLaff


Watch CBS Videos Online

Couric: I'm not sure whether she was afraid to offend... conservatives by saying she read the New York Times...

Letterman: People who don't read. She's afraid of offending people who don't read! [...]

Couric: [We asked], what did they miss most out on the campaign trail. [...] She actually said she missed running every day. Senator Biden said he missed being chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

I also loved Letterman's "Zippy the Pinhead" line at about 5:40.

H/t

Katie Couric, Auntie Zeituni, and Obama's final answer

By GottaLaff

Can we put this to rest now? Via Ambinder:

From the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric...tonight and tomorrow.

Couric: YOU HAVE AN AUNT WHO'S BEEN LIVING IN THIS COUNTRY APPARENTLY ILLEGALLY, AND YOUR CAMPAIGN SAYS ANY AND ALL APPROPRIATE LAWS SHOULD BE FOLLOWED. SO WOULD YOU SUPPORT HER BEING DEPORTED TO KENYA?

Sen. Obama: If she is violating laws those laws have to be obeyed. We're a nation of laws. Obviously that doesn't lessen my concern for her, I haven't been able to be in touch with her. But I'm a strong believer you have to obey the law.

Say good night, Katie. Good night, Katie.

IWRC* Palin: "I was kind of annoyed" with Katie Couric

By GottaLaff

As I sat here and watched Gramm-pa McCain get hot under the collar because Tom Brokaw (surprisingly) nailed him on his low poll numbers, I came across this little tidbit:

Sarah Palin delivered one of her longest stump speeches to date and revealed that she was “annoyed” with the line of questioning presented by Katie Couric in her now-infamous interview with CBS.

Palin reprised a story she last told a week ago in Noblesville, Indiana about her sit-down with Couric, which was widely panned.

“Last time I was here I got to tell a crowd that I had to give a national interview that didn’t go so well,” she said. “And it was because I was kind of annoyed with the questions that I was being asked because I thought they were kind of irrelevant to, you know, national security issues and getting our economy back on track, so I kind of showed some of that annoyance.”

Couric did, in fact, ask Palin several questions about the economy and national security, focusing in particular on the congressional bailout package, the mortgage crisis, John McCain’s record on regulation, the war in Afghanistan, hunting terrorists in Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Syria, Israel and the role of the United States in the world.

Seems to me that the Gramm-pa/IWRC* Dynamic Defensive Duo can't seem to defeat the increasingly pesky, annoying, probing press.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEO: Everyone gets it but IWRC* Palin

By GottaLaff

Via Think Progress:

You don’t have to believe me, the hockey mom from Alaska, proclaiming that the war on terror, central front there, has been Iraq. Please, believe Gen. Petraeus, an American hero. Unfortunately, you gotta believe even bin Laden.

Obama always got it. The Center for American Progress gets it. The intelligence community gets it. Even Bush gets it. The newest NIE report confirms it. But IWRC* Palin and Gramm-pa McCain are still as out of sync with the rest of the world as they've always been.

Afghanistan is the single most pressing security threat in the war on terror. Now tell me again, who's better on national security/foreign policy?

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEO-- David Letterman, Brian Williams: The debate was "a vice presidential play date"

By GottaLaff

Here's Part 2, the (obvious) sequel to Part 1:


Brian Williams excuses IWRC* Palin's ignorance of foreign affairs because "she had no idea" she'd be on the ticket. She was only at this for 5 weeks, he says (as did IWRC). One: She knew a lot earlier than that. She, herself, said that months earlier. Two: If we're to believe Brian and IWRC, then she's unprepared and not ready to get anywhere near the White House.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEOS-- IWRC* Palin On Fox News: Couric Annoyed Me

By GottaLaff

First the post. Now the video.

Appearing on a friendlier news outlet, Gov. Sarah Palin said she was "annoyed" with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama.

After last night, her phony baloney Alaskanese has worn completely thin. In a very short time, she has become a rather grotesque caricature of herself. That didn't take long.

UPDATE:

As TPM points out, regarding this do-over of the Katie Couric Q & A:

You get sense that if Cameron had interrupted her at any point there, she would have had to start her answer all over again from the top.

UPDATE #2, in which she talks about Gramm-pa's camp pulling out of Michigan:

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

"No media filters" = IWRC* Palin runs to Fox for next interview

By GottaLaff

IWRC* Palin may claim she doesn't blink, but she sure winks a lot. Did I detect a wink when she claimed, "I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they've just heard"? Why, I think I did!

Some took this as an indication that the she intends to abandon the high-profile interviews that have proved unhelpful to her cause, to say the least.

Fox News announced that Carl Cameron interviewed Palin this morning, and the network will air bits and pieces of the interview throughout the day. [...]

UPDATE: The first segment just aired, and Palin offered some harsh criticism for Couric.

“Honestly, the Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed, because it’s like, ‘Many, no matter what you say, you’re going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you’re going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go on to another subject that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too.

“In that Katie Couric interview, I did feel that there were a lot of things that she was missing, in terms of an opportunity to ask what a V.P. candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about what Barack Obama increasing taxes, which will lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase spending by another $1 trillion, some of his comments that he’s made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration for Commander-in-Chief.”

So basically, Palin was annoyed that Couric saw that her job was to flush out for the American people more information about the character of a relatively unknown candidate for the vice presidency, and not to provide Palin with a nationally-televised forum for spouting McCain campaign talking points?

You got clobbered, IWRC, because you were a meandering, unintelligible, clueless Twinkie.

*In What Respect, Charlie?"

IWRC* Palin helps us make a choice

By GottaLaff

Thank you, IWRC* Palin, for making the choice a clear one for us:

Here's a partial transcript of Gov. Sarah Palin's latest interview with Katie Couric that aired this morning on The Early Show:

COURIC: I know you're heading to Sedona to work on your debate. What is your coach advising you?

Gov. PALIN: I don't have a debate coach.

COURIC: Well, what are your coaches?

Gov. PALIN: I have quite a few people who are giving us information about the record of Obama and Biden, and at the end of the day, though, it is -- it's so clear, again, what those choices are. Either new ideas, new energy and reform of Washington, DC, or more of the same.

H/t: Noah

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEO-- IWRC* Palin: Being Gay Is A ‘Choice’

By GottaLaff

This little statement from IWRC* Palin riles me up... a lot. A whole lot:

Don't even get me started.... "She is one of my best friends who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made."

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Sarah Palin Can't Name a Newspaper She Reads

Sadly, I know tons of people just like her, people who couldn't be less curious about the world around them if you offered them money. I've tried to stay off the Palin bandwagon, mostly because she's not the main nominee, but this is ridiculous. Up to his last few days on earth, my dad walked down to the corner to get his paper, and when any of us traveled it was a mandate that we would bring him papers from wherever we went. In other words, my cranky, stubborn father was hugely more qualified to be Vice-President than this, this... you fill in the blank.

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this - to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I've read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media-

COURIC: But what ones specifically? I'm curious.

PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.

Quote-O'-The-Day: IWRC* Palin edition

By GottaLaff

From the Katie Couric interviews:

"Sweat is my sanity."
--IWRC* Palin on running when she has down time.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Gramm-pa McCain: ‘You Don’t Announce That You’re Going To Attack Another Country’

By GottaLaff

We've all been talking about yesterday's clip from the Katie Couric interview with IWRC* Palin. We concentrated on IWRC, but look what we missed:

Last night, Palin defended her remarks. McCain dismissed the Palin matter as “gotcha journalism,” before concluding, “Governor Palin and I both agree, you don’t announce that you’re going to attack another country.”

In the days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, McCain said multiple times to national audiences that he believed the U.S. would soon attack Iraq and several other countries:

October 2001, on CNN:

PAULA ZAHN: And as you know, Senator, the U.S. and Great Britain notified the U.N. Security Council yesterday that they reserve the right to strike against other countries in this campaign. What countries are we looking at?

MCCAIN: Well, I think very obviously Iraq is the first country, but there are others — Syria, Iran, the Sudan, who have continued to harbor terrorist organizations and actually assist them.

October 2001, on the Late Show with David Letterman:

LETTERMAN: How are things going in Afghanistan now?

MCCAIN: I think we’re doing fine …. I think we’ll do fine. The second phase — if I could just make one, very quickly — the second phase is Iraq.

January 2002, on the deck of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt:

MCCAIN: Next up, Baghdad!

More recently, in response to a hypothetical question about authorizing a military strike on Iran during a Republican primary debate, McCain said, “I believe that this is a possibility that is maybe closer to reality than we are discussing tonight.”

Not only has Gramm-pa failed to wear a flag pin in recent interviews, but now he's betrayed his own words as well as his country.

I simply can't bring myself to vote for somebody who's so unpatriotic. I suppose now I'll have to go with Obama. Snark.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEOS: The world according to IWRC* Palin: A Voter Asks A Question, And It's Gotcha Journalism

By GottaLaff

You can judge for yourself after watching the previously posted video, whether this was "gotcha journalism" or not. Here is Marc Ambinder's comment:

This journalist asks self-righteously...

How is a pizza joint question about Pakistan from a voter an example of "gotcha journalism" when a ropeline comment by Joe Biden about clean coal gets turned into two ads?

Here is the relevant portion of the Katie Couric interview with John McCain and IWRC, after Couric asks if IWRC shouldn't have said what she said right out loud:

John McCain: Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age "gotcha" journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear ... the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country.

Couric: Are you sorry you said it ...

McCain: ...And the fact ...

Couric: Governor?

McCain: Wait a minute. Before you say, "is she sorry she said it," this was a "gotcha" sound bite that, look ...

Couric: It wasn't a "gotcha." She was talking to a voter.

McCain: No, she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth. And ...I'll let Gov. Palin speak for herself.

Palin: Well, it ... in fact, you're absolutely right on. In the context, this was a voter, a constituent, hollering out a question from across an area asking, "What are you gonna do about Pakistan? You better have an answer to Pakistan." I said we're gonna do what we have to do to protect the United States of America.

Couric: But you were pretty specific about what you wanted to do, cross-border ...

Palin: Well, as Sen. McCain is suggesting here, also, never would our administration get out there and show our cards to terrorists, in this case, to enemies and let them know what the game plan was, not when that could ultimately adversely affect a plan to keep America secure.

Couric: What did you learn from that experience?

Palin: That this is all about "gotcha" journalism. A lot of it is. But that's okay, too.

"What did you learn from that experience?" That it's always everybody else's fault. Bush III, Cheney II.

The good news? Voters are finally catching on.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Here's the video of the above interview:

IWRC* Palin's in "a fighting mood"

By GottaLaff

Bits and pieces. First, the bits:

First McCain-Palin TV interview to air on CBS’s “Evening News” at 6:30 pm ET. [...]

One aide suggests Palin was more aggressive in Monday’s interview with Couric than past ones. “Sarah Barracuda showed up today.”

Now, the pieces:

Tacitly acknowledging criticism that she's been diminished in part by an overly protective media shield, Sarah Palin will take a more forward-leaning approach and do additional interviews in the weeks ahead, a top aide said today.

Oh goody! Here. Let me give you a sample of what she'll say: "Shoehorn security into Russia notwithstanding for ya, but job creation can induce refrigerators instead. Having 5 kids is a consideration and meatballs integrate with First Dude's support and I'll bring it to ya."

What, that didn't make sense?

"She's seen the reviews and heard the criticism, but she's a fighter," said this aide. "And now she's in a fighting mood."

Palin heads to McCain's cabin in Arizona today to prepare for her Thursday debate, and while she's there she'll do a round of conservative talk radio interviews.

"Talk radio is a convenient, powerful and effective outlet," said the aide.

I, too, find that complimenting myself in front of a mirror and surrounding myself with sycophants is a convenient, powerful, and effective outlet.

Rush Limbaugh, who hosts the most popular radio show in the country, noted in an e-mail that he doesn't invite guests on and alluded to his rocky relationship with the top of the GOP ticket. [...]

But asked if he'd welcome a call from Palin, the conservative talker said: "Of course."

Then Rush gazed longingly at an 8x10 glossy of IWRC* and popped a couple of Viagra.

After the debate and talk radio hits, the plan is to find a way to let Palin be Palin, moving her away from the pre-fab talking points and letting the down-home daughter of Wasilla be herself.

"She wants to tell her story more, and people around her do, too," added the source. "This is a governor very much on her toes, very much fed up with inaccuracies and fictions about her own life and career."

To this end, Palin was far more aggressive in another interview with Couric today, this aide said.

Translation: She finally memorized her talking points.

Sitting with McCain for their first joint interview a week after the widely panned sit-down with Couric, Palin interjected when the CBS anchor brought up a report about the Wasilla Assembly of God, the governor's childhood church and one she still attends at times, seeking to pray gays away from homosexuality.

"Sarah Barracuda showed up today," the aide said, reprising the feisty former point guard's high school basketball nickname and one that has been largely forgotten since her post-convention cosseting.

"We're encouraging CBS to run entire thing," the aide said of today's session. "Run it end to end online."

Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

What? A secret clip? Sarah "Barracuda" was M.I.A. in that one, was she? Replaced by Sarah ::cricket, cricket::? Apparently, she did better when Gramm-pa McCain was there holding her hand and slipping her hard candies, as all doting Gramm-pas do.

The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

Crickets, barracudas... I wonder which animal she'll be at the debate?

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"