Skeptical Couric Interviews John Edwards, Slyly Raises His Military Record

The Today Show

[governsleastgovernsbest]

For veteran observers of the Today Show's Katie Couric, it's not hard to discern when she's speaking from the script, and when it's coming from the heart.

When a question reflects her own strongly held views, her voice becomes urgent and rises in pitch.

Judging from her just-completed interview with John Edwards, Katie clearly believes the Senator from NC is toast.

She began by observing: "You've only won a single primary, and you came in a distant second in VA and TN. You really think you still have a chance to win the nomination?"

A: "Yes, I think not only do I have a chance, I still think I'll be the nominee."

This is where Katie's tone gave away what was in her heart and mind.

She interrupted, her voice rising and almost breaking: "How can you say that?" She went on to describe what would appear to be Edwards' dire situation.

Edwards, doing his best imitation of the Black Knight from Monty Python's Holy Grail, insisted that he was in a strong position and that the primary results showed he was the candidate who could attract independents and "the kind of voters we need to get to win the presidency."

He boasted that the race was now "narrowing down to Kerry and myself."

Katie, relentless, cited polls showing that a recent national poll showed that the preferences of Dems nationwide was Kerry 45% , Dean 14% , and Edwards in third place at 13%.

Edwards would not be discouraged: "45 days ago everyone thought Dean had it wrapped up. Now everyone thinks it's Kerry. I think Dems want a chance."

"I'm fighting my heart out in WI. Super Tuesday is to follow."

Katie: "Sounds like you're committed to staying in beyond Wisconsin."

Edwards: "I'm absolutely in it for the long haul. I'm a different choice from Kerry, I come from them [the average American], I've been fighting for them all my life."

Edwards went on to claim that the dropping out of Wes Clark, the other Southerner in the race, was "a huge boost." Edwards was eager to suck up to Clark supporters, calling the glazed-eyed general: "a terrific man, a great candidate."

Finally, Katie turned to the question of Pres. Bush's National Guard service. Interestingly, I believe her line of questioning, rather than being aimed primarily at the President, was in fact intended to set Edwards himself up for a tough question.

Katie cited the numerous documents the White House has made public documenting the Preident's service, including in the last several hours dental records, and asked if there was still an issue here.

Edwards: "I think there are legitimate questions that still need to be answered about his National Guard service. But that won't be the focus of the campaign. Job loss, trade, blah, blah, blah."

Katie returned to the charge: "But is it an appropriate line of inquiry or is it mudslinging?"

Again, Edwards opined that the inquiry into W's military service was "appropriate."

Here's where Katie slipped in the knife. Obviously she was fully briefed and entirely aware of Edwards personal background.

Still, feigning ignorance, she asked, as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, "Your military service?" and I believe she repeated the phrase another time.

Of course Edwards had to admit "I did not serve."

[Prodigal Son]

LOL, not to say what Clinton did was strictly honorable ;-)

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Scene 4

---

The black knight

---

[King Arthur music]

[music stops]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Aaaagh!

[King Arthur music]

[music stops]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Aaagh!

GREEN KNIGHT:

Ooh!

[King Arthur music]

[music stops]

[stab]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Aagh!

GREEN KNIGHT:

Oh!

[King Arthur music]

Ooh! Uuh.

[music stops]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Aaaagh!

[clang]

BLACK KNIGHT and GREEN KNIGHT:

Agh!, oh!, etc.

GREEN KNIGHT:

Aaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaah!

[woosh]

[BLACK KNIGHT kills GREEN KNIGHT]

[thud]

[scrape]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Umm!

[clop clop clop]

ARTHUR:

You fight with the strength of many men, Sir Knight.

[pause]

I am Arthur, King of the Britons.

[pause]

I seek the finest and the bravest knights in the land to join me in my court at Camelot.

[pause]

You have proved yourself worthy. Will you join me?

[pause]

You make me sad. So be it. Come, Patsy.

BLACK KNIGHT:

None shall pass.

ARTHUR:

What?

BLACK KNIGHT:

None shall pass.

ARTHUR:

I have no quarrel with you, good Sir Knight, but I must cross this bridge.

BLACK KNIGHT:

Then you shall die.

ARTHUR:

I command you, as King of the Britons, to stand aside!

BLACK KNIGHT:

I move for no man.

ARTHUR:

So be it!

ARTHUR and BLACK KNIGHT:

Aaah!, hiyaah!, etc.

[ARTHUR chops the BLACK KNIGHT's left arm off]

ARTHUR:

Now stand aside, worthy adversary.

BLACK KNIGHT:

'Tis but a scratch.

ARTHUR:

A scratch? Your arm's off!

BLACK KNIGHT:

No, it isn't.

ARTHUR:

Well, what's that, then?

BLACK KNIGHT:

I've had worse.

ARTHUR:

You liar!

BLACK KNIGHT:

Come on, you pansy!

[clang]

Huyah!

[clang]

Hiyaah!

[clang]

Aaaaaaaah!

[ARTHUR chops the BLACK KNIGHT's right arm off]

ARTHUR:

Victory is mine!

[kneeling]

We thank Thee Lord, that in Thy mer--

BLACK KNIGHT:

Hah!

[kick]

Come on, then.

ARTHUR:

What?

BLACK KNIGHT:

Have at you!

[kick]

ARTHUR:

Eh. You are indeed brave, Sir Knight, but the fight is mine.

BLACK KNIGHT:

Oh, had enough, eh?

ARTHUR:

Look, you stupid bastard. You've got no arms left.

BLACK KNIGHT:

Yes, I have.

ARTHUR:

Look!

BLACK KNIGHT:

Just a flesh wound.

[kick]

ARTHUR:

Look, stop that.

BLACK KNIGHT:

Chicken!

[kick]

Chickennn!

ARTHUR:

Look, I'll have your leg.

[kick]

Right!

[whop]

[ARTHUR chops the BLACK KNIGHT's right leg off]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Right. I'll do you for that!

ARTHUR:

You'll what?

BLACK KNIGHT:

Come here!

ARTHUR:

What are you going to do, bleed on me?

BLACK KNIGHT:

I'm invincible!

ARTHUR:

You're a looney.

BLACK KNIGHT:

The Black Knight always triumphs! Have at you! Come on, then.

[whop]

[ARTHUR chops the BLACK KNIGHT's last leg off]

BLACK KNIGHT:

Oh? All right, we'll call it a draw.

ARTHUR:

Come, Patsy.

BLACK KNIGHT:

Oh. Oh, I see. Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!

---

Back to the Holy Grail page / On to the next scene!

---

Adam R. Jones

[rabidralph]

Back for more abuse? J/k. I do appreciate your watching this show each morning and reporting in. Have a great day!

[LS]

See the article, posted above, "False Positive" by a LIBERAL on Kerry. Suddenly they are going "uh oh."

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=chait021104

[YaYa123]

I think Edwards is coming up on Imus, 8:45 est.

Chris Wallace, yesterday on C-Span, predicted this military service thing won't be an issue in the fall. I think that's probably true, only because the Clintons don't dare touch it, and both Clintons will have to be out on the campaign trail for the party's candidate. This issue is strictly red meat for the party's base, something to keep them going till the convention.

And Norah O'Donnell, NBC's co-White House reporter, along with David Gregory, is orgasmic over the National Guard story! Cheerfully, breathlessly reporting lies of LTC Burkett, then at the end reporting that those lies have been denied all round by everyone concerned. (She better be glad she didn't give that report to Colin Powell)

[LS]

I don't know all that much about Jefferson or John Adams, but they never served or fought, did he? Hamilton did, Washington did, but I don't think John even owned a musket, and I cannot recall one instance of TJ ever firing a musket.

Yet TJ used almost EXACTLY the same Joint Resolution as Bush did to declare war (yep, check it out, he "declared war") on the Barbary Pirates (i.e., Muslim terrorists).

Someone might want to bring up Jefferson's military service.

[Prodigal Son]

LOL, but Jefferson's not running ;-)

It's all political BS.

At the end of the day, you're going to vote for your ideology.

Bush's Vietnam isn't important to me. If every conservative were to stand up and say that- it wouldn't even be an issue. Instead, we play the game just like they do. Point- counterpoint. They make it an issue, we run with that issue just like them.

It's BS.

There are some pretty serious things going on in the world at the moment. Really serious things. If I thought Kerry was better suited to deal with them, his war record would be irrelevant to me just as Bush's is.

I don't think the democratic party as a whole is sane enough to deal with the problems we face. I am not altogether confident in Republican leadership but failing that- who is there? Labour and Tony Blair? The Tories?

These issues have to get addressed NOW. Not next election cycle. The terrorist nuclear threat isn't going to go away- it's only going to get worse.

If it comes right down to it- screw immigration, screw taxes, screw outsourcing of jobs, screw medicare, screw Social Security screw all of that crap- it's irrelevant.

It's irrelevant.

What good is Social Security and Border Control if New York is a radioactive wasteland?

THAT is what we're faced with. This is worse than the Cuban missile crisis. This is worse than Soviet nukes. This is worse than anything else we've ever been faced with. This is dead serious.

The dems just aren't up to the job. Point blank.

If they were, I'd vote for 'em, that's just how important it is to me.

Anybody that would not vote for Bush at this point in human history hates humanity. Because humanity is exactly what's at stake.

[COUNTrecount]

"Edwards: "I'm absolutely in it for the long haul. I'm a different choice from Kerry, I come from them [the average American], I've been fighting for them all my life."

There is a diconnect in this phrase between the two uses of the word "them." Somewhere between the first "them" and the second "them" he became better than "them", and joined a higher class of people.He should have said "I've been fighting for "us" all of my life.

I guess collecting huge multimillion dollar settlements changed his "them-ness."

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Good catch, and very revealing!

"Why, just the other day, I was saying to our second-assistant butler, 'you know, we're all in this together!' 'Yes, sir,' he agreed!"

[Lee'sGhost]

Thanks!

[LS]

You pretty well summed it up. I guess where I might differ is that going back to the Dem Party's origins as the party of slavery, I don't think it can ever be purified. The Bible says that a bad tree can't give good fruit, and I think that's the case with the Dems. You can count on one hand the number of Dems who have ever "done the right thing" at their time in history---Grover Cleveland, Harry Truman (sometimes) and Kennedy (occasionally). All the rest have been corrupt and, well, if not evil, willing to tolerate evil on a massive scale.

Any redemption or "check" for the Republicans is going to have to come from an energized (and moral) independent party to its right.

[Prodigal Son]

Yeah, I didn't want to make it seemed like I support the dems in any way. I just wanted to illustrate that this problem (al Qaeda with nukes) is vastly more important to me than any other consideration. It dwarfs immigration in my opinion.

The dems just aren't up to the job. Any way of voting that puts the dems in the White House is just suicidal in my opinion.

[mountaineer]

who's got the pics of this average American's posh beach mansion, the one he was late paying his taxes on?

Howlin posted a photo on this thread, The Candidates' Homes.

[Constitution Day]

Indexing to Edwards Watch...

[dead]

Judging from your post about today's Today Show, I guess Katie has suddenly taken a new tone regarding Edwards.

You don't need to stick a camera up her butt to see who's pulling the strings.