Video: Michelle explains why Couric can’t get out of the basement
posted at 9:08 pm on May 14, 2007 by Bryan
On The Factor tonight, Bill, Michelle and Kirsten tackled Opie & Anthony and then asked the question: Why hasn’t Katie Couric done anything for CBS Evening News’ ratings? Well, she has made them worse, but other than that what’s the problem? If you ask Mickey Kaus, Couric’s meteoric thud is a feature of her hire, not a bug. O’Reilly’s answer was that it’s because she’s a woman. Neither of the actual women on the Factor bought that. Pandering will get you nowhere on Mondays with Michelle and Kirsten. Smart glasses won’t get you anywhere either. But they make a good screenshot.
Perky Katie and her smart glasses, out on the town.
Blowback
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New Dimms Motto
Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
abinitioadinfinitum on May 14, 2007 at 9:13 PM
Katie Couric is in the dumper because she thinks she is better than the unwashed masses. She is irrelevant Earth to Katie:
Welcome to the party, pal!
/Bruce Willis off.
CrimsonFisted on May 14, 2007 at 9:20 PM
Did Michelle just call Katie a clown???
Yeah buddy- Michelle was in rare form.
Her slams on the liberal Couric were beautiful.
gatewaypundit on May 14, 2007 at 9:20 PM
Why men will always dominate in News Anchor roles and Presidential campaigns…..
We don’t need luggage to go to lunch.
TBinSTL on May 14, 2007 at 9:22 PM
Katie is doing badly because Katie is a tool. Like MM said, she has nothing.
And wtf is it with this new style in glasses? They’re so….dorky.
SuperManGreenLantern on May 14, 2007 at 9:32 PM
Yeah, how many purses is that nitwit toting around? I have the full schadenfraud thing going on with Katie Tourist.
Jaibones on May 14, 2007 at 9:34 PM
“I think it’s a woman thing”…c’mon O’Reilly…
Well, too bad CBS can’t photoshop Katie some nicer ratings…easier to take a little weight off her I suppose.
JetBoy on May 14, 2007 at 9:34 PM
Hey Bill- I was MORE than comfortable when Michelle was filling in for you.
With all due respect/Just sayin’
mojowire on May 14, 2007 at 9:42 PM
Back in the day the only girls to wear glasses like that were the most undesiarable types. Look at the old Ed Sullivan tapes of the Beatles audience. These were the scorned women who have now engeneered a complete and total role reversal and are now the ones ON the stage! Oh yeah like all the minority groups, they don’t really want equality they want to dominate!
sonnyspats1 on May 14, 2007 at 9:45 PM
Couric is not the problem and never has been. Couric has only exacerbated the problems at CBS News once called the “Tiffany Network” because it was considered the ‘crown jewel’ of network news. Now it has become nothing more than a side street pawn shop where liberal agendas are sold to the public by news readers who are more like carnival barkers at a freak show shouting, “Come on in and we’ll tell you what we want you to know”. And in the process the CBS Eye logo has become blackened and bloodshot.
pocomoco on May 14, 2007 at 9:51 PM
I have no opinion…..I don’t watch the evening news. No ones.
TwinkietheKid on May 14, 2007 at 10:00 PM
As a woman, I may have the key to this age old question.
Katie Couric is forced on us as something spectacular and extraordinary. Any woman with an ounce of sense can clearly see that she is just another regular girl with chubby arms. We, and I mean us gals as a collective whole, ain’t buying it. We don’t want to hear her parrot the liberal mantra, under the guise of the unthinking, liberal lemming mentality. Anybody could be Katie Couric, even Bryant Gumbel.
bloggless on May 14, 2007 at 10:07 PM
I haven’t watched the networks (much) since the Reagan years. I did watch Katies’ first two broadcast. Michelle’s right, she comes across as a fake.
Zorro on May 14, 2007 at 10:14 PM
“She’s fake”. Well, there you have it. So the question is why is Mrs. Clinton leading the democrat party nominees?
SouthernGent on May 14, 2007 at 10:14 PM
Bill’s wrong about it being a woman thing. He of all people should know. Michelle handled the Factor while he was gone and did so without any problem and with great authority.
Joshua P. Allem on May 14, 2007 at 10:21 PM
O’Reilly’s wrong. There isn’t a greater misogynist here than me, and I would *happily* watch the evening news anchored by Martha McKowen, Laurie Dhu, Paige Hopkins, or any number of Fox news babes. Why? I’ve tried analyzing their appeal to me for a long time, and how they are different from the bimbos on other networks. The other gals are attractive too, but what do they lack?
Wholesomeness. The Fox news babes are wholesome. When Martha reports on a news story, I am given the impression that she knows what she’s talking about. The Fox news babes have credibility.
Hiraghm on May 14, 2007 at 10:22 PM
O’R saying it is because she is a women, and Oprah because she is black? C’mon, if you have talent and smarts (the “it” factor) you will have an impact, she doesn’t, Oprah does…and so does Michelle, she just hasn’t fully used it yet.
right2bright on May 14, 2007 at 10:23 PM
I like KP and wish to heck Bill wouldn’t slam her like he does. She is really worth listening too and has some good points of view. I believe one day she will come over from the Dark Side.
auspatriotman on May 14, 2007 at 10:24 PM
Her failure is puzzling, since we all know journalistic skills have nothing to do with being a successful and respected anchor at CBS.
Moonvez: “Tell me about Katie”
Cronie: “She hates Bush, big time.”
Moonvez: “Sign her up!”
fogw on May 14, 2007 at 10:26 PM
g”> Gumble disrespected Joe Garagiola on the old show once and I’ve had no respect for him since.
sonnyspats1 on May 14, 2007 at 10:27 PM
Anybody could be Katie Couric, even Bryant Gumbel.
bloggless on May 14, 2007 at 10:07 PM
sonnyspats1 on May 14, 2007 at 10:29 PM
Katie Couric has a credibility problem.
She’s not taken seriously because she came from play time news, she doesn’t have the news anchor demeanor and she’s a liberal.
Liberals are more prejudiced (Cons actually appreciate Women news people), for all of her talent (left though it is) she isn’t an anchor person and she has a reputation for being B word.
So, if a serious news, Conservative Woman where hired to replace her the ratings would go through the roof.
Michelle would be a great choice.
Speakup on May 14, 2007 at 10:51 PM
Malkin as usual is spot on. What she said about couric and why she is floundering is very true. I know of several women such as Malkin and a few on Fox (ED Hill) that would do fine.
As a woman, it is irritating to see cases where people bash men to say a woman is failing…nbc screwed up and doesn’t want to admit it. I mean atleast pick a case where that just may be true lol if you are going to use that reason!
I cringe when couric asks a question..they usually are just plain dumb and insulting to an average intelligent person such as myself. Maybe 5th graders might find her entertaining and credible.
I live in a very liberal city….and I have yet to run across ANYONE who likes couric OR hillary.
Highrise on May 14, 2007 at 11:30 PM
I like how O’Reilly tells MM she has 30 seconds to respond, and then pontificates during “her time” and then interrupts her again. This is one of the reasons why it’s hard for me to watch his show.
I think it’s more of a Couric problem than a “Woman” problem. His examples of Connie Chung and Barbara Walters are faulty for two reasons:
1. They didn’t anchor alone. I think Chung did it with Rather, and Walters with Harry Reasoner?
2. It was a differnt time and place for both. I’m 45, and I barely remember when Walters was the evening news anchor. Were there even any women in the Senate at that time? And it’s also been awhile since Connie Chung was with Rather.
I’m not sure there’s any woman right now who could project that credibility and authority. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
asc85 on May 14, 2007 at 11:42 PM
Bill, you’re a dumbass. It’s not a woman thing. It’s “she’s a total fake and there’s nothing there”, like Michelle said.
BacaDog on May 14, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Both O’Reilly and the ladies are at least partly right.
First and foremost, it is a Katie Couric thing: not only is she not taken particularly seriously due to the “Today” show fluff background, but I suspect that in the eyes of many people (myself personally included) she’s frankly just a bit annoying.
It might be a Katie thing, too, in that she’s just another liberal talking head (maybe even moreso than the others) working for yet another liberal news bureau. That’s not really offering people something unique to select from. If the folks running CBS News were as interested in ratings as they are in ideology, they might explore putting a conservative in that chair (as well as a few in editorial positions). But, by at least some margin, ratings seem their secondary concern.
And of course, as KP noted, it’s just a CBS News thing. The show was low-rated to being with, and the whole Memogate affair has put something of a taint on the entire operation.
But I suspect it’s also a woman thing, too. And I certainly don’t say this in the spirit of some feminist-sympatico complaint, either, but as merely a reflection about what, today, is TV-marketable. Katie’s lack of authority doesn’t help, and her ideology doesn’t help, and CBS News’ track record doesn’t help, but neither can the fact that Couric’s getting old and her looks are in decline.
As unpopular as that might sound to some of you, consider the motivations of some here who recommend (even in jest–maybe especially so) KP or Michelle as potential replacements (particularly KP, with whom those here aren’t nearly as ideologically aligned). They’re both attractive women, and if that, in addition to their intellectual assets, makes them more marketable as TV personalities, such is the rightful power of the marketplace. But if you doubt this is at all a consideration, think of how many times remarks about their looks have come up in this thread alone, nevermind countless other threads on this site (along with those of MKH).
Then look at some of the women who are doing well as anchors on FNC, or even your local news channels (Austin, at least, has its fair share of “infobabes”). Looks definitely aren’t the defining issue behind Couric’s failure, and in isolation they never sink or sail a news ship. But if you really think it isn’t at all a factor, I think you’re missing at least part of the picture.
Blacklake on May 14, 2007 at 11:47 PM
What’s with the pic of Katie? It doesn’t even look like her. If it wasn’t put up with a story on her, I’d have never guessed it was Katie. What gives? Even remove the glasses, it still doesn’t look like Katie. But I don’t generally watch evening news anymore, anyway. Once in a while I’ll watch Charlie after local news/weather is done, when they go to sports which I have no interest in. Just can’t trust network news anymore. Especially See-BS after Dan got through with it…
Roger Brown on May 14, 2007 at 11:47 PM
Seriously though. Why can’t these folks figure our that we want the news. Not your angle on the news. Not your take on the news. Just the news. Facts.
I’m smart enough to put the pieces together if you don’t leave any out.
BacaDog on May 14, 2007 at 11:48 PM
“out” nor “our”
Where’s the preview button, Bryan?
BacaDog on May 14, 2007 at 11:49 PM
Why is Couric carrying TWO bags? Heck, I don’t even like carrying one, let alone two monster bags like those.
Bob's Kid on May 14, 2007 at 11:58 PM
I don’t think it’s a women thing, nor is it a authority thing.
CBS News has a credibility problem due to their liberal bias, inaccurate reporting, and excessive commentary on news events.
Catie’s problem is that she is a teleprompter with a voice.
Kini on May 15, 2007 at 12:29 AM
Katie is trying too hard to be taken seriously. She has a pleasant quality but seems to be a few receptors short on many of her neurons. I feel a little sorry for her – its a little uncomfortable for me to watch her do the news- kind of like watching a 4 foot 9 inch woman cop in an oversize uniform trying to control a crowd.
She and her cohort on the Morning Show made me so angry one time with their liberal bias I emailed CBS to say I never was going to watch their morning show again – and I haven’t. Is it still on? Thank goodness for alternative news sources.
Texas Mike on May 15, 2007 at 12:58 AM
Bill, you’re being a jerk.
Kirsten, next time reach over and slug him a good one.
infidel4life on May 15, 2007 at 1:00 AM
The last time I watched television news with any regularity, both Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings were the “new kids”.
Rusty Bill on May 15, 2007 at 1:03 AM
I can’t watch Katie. I find her rife with attitude and inference that I don’t agree with. She seems a little contemptuous also. She needs a class in the Detective Joe Friday school of thought “Gimme the facts lady just the facts”.
sonnyspats1 on May 15, 2007 at 1:08 AM
TV news?? They had that when I was a kid…and I didn’t even watch it then.
Hooray for radio and internet! (Specifically Rush, Neal and HotAir!)
tickleddragon on May 15, 2007 at 1:09 AM
Put Michelle and Kirsten on as a anchor team on CBS then they’ll get some ratings..hell just give them a show anywhere.
mlong on May 15, 2007 at 1:11 AM
mlong, just Michelle. She is twice as good as Bill and Kirsten, together. He was so full of hot air in that clip.
It’s not a ‘woman thing’ – it’s that woman.
Michelle’s “she’s a fake” will cause lots of palpitations, but who can prove the contrary?
Entelechy on May 15, 2007 at 1:34 AM
“She’s a total fake and there’s nothing there.”
Michelle has succinctly identified Couric’s problem.
The only think I’d add is that she is a LEFT-BIASED, BRAINLESS, LIBERAL fake.
To be fair, even Edward R. Morrow would have trouble reviving CBS News once Dan “Forged Documents” Rather got done ruining it. The hit on CBS News as a result of the forged NG documents AND HIS DENIALS will take years to recover from, regardless who is anchor. Assuming that CBS News does recover, that is.
Hiring Couric was a mistake. Making her chief editor was an even bigger one as she has neither the editorial skills NOR THE HONESTY to craft a fair and ideologically neutral news cast. At best she became just another shill for the Democratic Party pumping out DNC and MOVEON talking points instead of producing a bias-free show.
What the morons at the networks STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND, that CONTENT COUNTS! These drooling idiots, when they’re not stepping on their penis’s, still do not understand that there is a reason why American does not trust them to tell the truth.
Couric, with her sycophantic sucking up to Hillary when she told that Vast Right Wing Conspiracy lie, has forever placed her in the category of “TOO STUPID TO HOOK UP HER OWN BRA WITHOUT ASSISTANCE,” or “WHORE FOR BILL AND HILLARY.”
georgej on May 15, 2007 at 1:50 AM
Too true. The first thing I thought when he said it was a “woman” thing was, ummm that’s why Michelles blog is so low on the lists, wait that’s not right. On Technorati Michelle is the first opinion based one person blog. Those above her are Technology based or group/comunity blogs.
- The Cat
P.S. If you haven’t noticed Bill tends to be sexist, not misogynistic by any means, but a sexist none the less. I really noticed this when he had his segments interviewing the Fox News Ladies.
MirCat on May 15, 2007 at 3:14 AM
Coming from a woman’s perspective..this is NOT a woman thing…that is the most retarded thing I ever heard and it’s embarrassing it’s even flitting around.
katie couric, I’m sorry, you suck hun…I don’t like you and I’m a woman..and it’s not because you ARE a woman. I like quite a few women giving the news. You just suck. Your questions suck, your facial expressions suck, your thinking sucks, you just don’t flow with the interview. You in fact, SUCK. Now you need to just suck it up and you and your network need to stop using that your ratings suck because you are a woman excuse.
You poor men get dumped on when this crap happens. Not all females think this way..rest assured.
Highrise on May 15, 2007 at 3:55 AM
i know one thing, you put Michelle in that chair and i’ll watch it every night, even if i have to TiVo it.
mfnorman on May 15, 2007 at 8:37 AM
Total fake and nothing there. Pretty much sums it up.
Wade on May 15, 2007 at 9:35 AM
A woman thing? No. We have proof of that.
Her name is Lynne Russell and she anchored Headline News for years. She was not an on-air “personality” like Couric; she delivered the news in CNN’s trademark deadpan. It worked – mostly. And I loved the times she just couldn’t help herself and broke with deadpan neutrality. Perhaps it was the lipstick, but you could often detect a slight sneer or a hint of a smile when the news was particularly foolish that day. For me, these glimpses of her personality, buried under a facade of newsreader neutrality, added to her authority.
Katie Couric as a female pioneer in the news? It’s just propaganda. I e-mailed Lynne Russell during the height of the Katie Couric hoopla, saying “Katie Couric is to Lynne Russell as Danica Patrick is to Sally Ride.” I got a very gracious e-mail in reply.
Sadly, despite being a martial-arts student and former sheriff’s deputy, Lynne is a bit of a left-wing moonbat. But for her, I can forgive. Perhaps it’s that lipstick….
Anton on May 15, 2007 at 10:22 AM
It’s hard to take her seriously. Diane Sawyer works, but Katie (and her name is KATIE for goodness sake, a cheerleader name) does not.
Come on, FOX has loads of blonde women doing the news. It hasn’t hurt their ratings.
Esthier on May 15, 2007 at 10:49 AM
This has little to do with Catie Couric.
CBS News is failing because they don’t really report the news anymore. They have been, for at least 20 years, a tool of whatever liberal political agenda is blowing at the time.
I like watching Catie on TV, almost as much as I like watching Michelle and Kirsten. But the problems begin when I listen to what they are actually saying. MM and KP discuss issues of the day from a critical thinking perspective. Caties just relates whatever PC pablum happens to be in vogue. If I want PC pablum I can watch the Daily Show because at least that show is funny.
Lawrence on May 15, 2007 at 10:56 AM
^Katie, not Catie^ I meant.
Lawrence on May 15, 2007 at 10:57 AM
I was disappointed at how nasty Michelle was. Calling Couric inept and a clown, and smirking the whole time, is this necessary? More to the point, is it professional?
How many times have we seen this? People on a upward trend getting full of themselves because, of course, their good fortune will never end, they will always be the darlings of the ratings gods.
Right.
Michelle and Kirsten and O’Reilly have miles to go before they reach Couric’s stature. I’m not a Couric fan, much preferred Bob S., but that’s not the point, facts are facts.
As it is, Couric’s anemic ratings still have her beating the tar out of O’R. A little perspective please.
honora on May 15, 2007 at 10:59 AM
Last night, when I saw Michelle malkin do the “glasses thing” over her eyes, I knew…I JUST KNEW…it would be today’s screen shot.
Great great picture
Blaise on May 15, 2007 at 11:14 AM
Couric is a not so behind the scenes activist liberal that has promoted many socialist and America hate ideals.
So yea, she deserves the criticism.
In fact if turn abouts fair play then a lot of make up name calling is due liberals in general.
Speakup on May 15, 2007 at 12:03 PM
I’not an O’Reilly fan. I can’t remember the last time I watched (we need to have better advance MM and KP warnings).
Nevertheless, when honora writes:
OK. My perspective would be that cable only has 59% market penetration, and that the Factor competes against prime-time programming, rendering the comparison one of apples and oranges.
As for Couric’s stature, honora assumes facts not in evidence. If Couric had stature, the CBS Evening News would not have slumped to the lowest levels in 20 years.
Moreover, MM and KP were criticizing the CBScast — where is it written that the critic must be equal in stature to that criticized? This is just a variation on the “chickenhawk meme” — if you haven’t done it, you cannot criticize. No one on the Factor has driven the CBS ratings into the ground; Couric gets the credit for that.
Karl on May 15, 2007 at 12:35 PM
All of the explanations given are correct – but each one is only correct for a subset of the people turned off by Couric.
For some, the woman thing. For some, the Today fluff thing. For some, the Katie thing. For some, the inane thing. No single objection dominates the field.
Bottom line – a menu of reasons to NOT like her, unbalanced by anything compelling about her or her show.
Parker on May 15, 2007 at 1:40 PM
You’re forgettting satellite which has about a 30% penetration level, and carries Fox News, so it’s not apples and oranges at all.
The Factor runs in the 8 to 9 time slot, traditionally the most heavily viewed hour of programming.
honora on May 15, 2007 at 2:14 PM
Michelle was criticizing Katie in a very unprofessional fashion, IMO. Did you see this segment?
honora on May 15, 2007 at 2:15 PM
I saw it and thought it was funny. It wasn’t unprofessional IMHO. It has nothing to do with Katie Couric being a woman as it does with many people not turning on the news at 6:30 anymore. All three networks are down overall as by the time they come on, most people have either been on the internet, blogs or watching cable television. KP is obviously no fan either.
Catie96706 on May 15, 2007 at 2:35 PM
Forgot to add-Esthier when she was on NBC doing the Nightly News once in a while she was “Katherine Couric” not “Katie Couric”. Katie is not a necessarily a “cheerleader” name-I wasn’t-a pom pom girl not cheerleader but most of them are named Allie or Emma now-
Catie96706 on May 15, 2007 at 2:38 PM
Couric is an expensive and unresolvable problem – a prima donna, who’s voice/style grates on viewers. Michelle was right that the new media doesn’t help. Given that the other two majors are still doing relatively well, this is CNN’s big headache. It will not go away, nor diminish. The honeymoon never materialized and that chance is gone.
I don’t believe for a second that Katie is “unfazed” by all this.
Also, corporate claptrap like Moonves’ is often spewed even within days of the “…for family reasons, she’s pursuing…whaterver”.
Entelechy on May 15, 2007 at 3:27 PM
In simpler terms, CNN doesn’t have an exit strategy. They can call Pelosi/Reid.
Entelechy on May 15, 2007 at 3:30 PM
Perhaps the answer to the question who Couric is not as popular as anticiapted is that some, perhaps many, believe that she is part of the Aristocratic MSM who is better than the peasants that are expected to watch her.
In my opinion Couric is in the same Aristocratic Media Circle as AP’s Kathleen Carroll. Both believe that they are so much better than the “Mad Blog Rabble” (that’s us) that we should just accept their veiws and “reporting” without question.
Surprise! Not going to happen.
omegaram on May 15, 2007 at 3:47 PM
She is just a prompter reader and they are giving her really bad stuff to read. This is the whole CBS problem. Let her produce it for a while and I will withhold an opinion until I see how that comes over. It couldn’t be worse and it just might be better.
duff65 on May 15, 2007 at 4:14 PM
She was a great entertainment reporter (which frankly is an oxymoron, but I digress,) a la The Today Show. But serious news? She stinks and it has nothing to do with her being a woman. One of the best reporters in DC was a woman; Maureen Bunyan.
foxforce91 on May 15, 2007 at 4:38 PM
I meant: is a woman; Maureen Bunyan.
foxforce91 on May 15, 2007 at 4:38 PM