Couric Stumped by Dignified Father of Fallen Marine; W Portrayed as Having Big 9/11 Problem

[governsleastgovernsbest]

A triple-header of interesting segments on Today this morning. The most notable was Katie Couric's interview with the father of a young Marine who was just killed in Iraq.

There is something inherently grotesque about this kind of interview. We all know that Couric is bitterly opposed to the war in Iraq and above all to the Bush administration. If she were honest, she would say to the father "don't you realize that your son died in vain?"

But of course she doesn't dare do that. So instead she tries to draw out the most maudlin, heart-rending details of the loss. "How did you hear about it?" "What details do you have about how your son died?"

To his eternal credit, the father, Kirk Morris, would not provide Katie the kind of Bush-bashing fodder she was hoping for.

To the contrary, he said that his son Jeffrey "knew why he was there." He stated that his son's life had not been taking a good path until he joined the Marines, and that the Marines had turned Jeffrey into "the perfect son."

Katie quoted from a letter Jeffrey had sent home from Iraq, in which he told his family that even if he didn't come home, he knew that he was "fighting for the Iraqi people to choose their government, it was a huge injustice for them to be suppressed for 30 years."

Still, Katie persisted in trying to jerk as many tears as she could from the situation. "Jeffrey left behind five little brothers and sisters. How are they dealing with loss?"

Although Mr. Morris had already given sufficient indication that he would not be used for Katie's propaganda purposes, she closed with final question hoping for something to use against President Bush.

"In closing, the country is so conflicted about Iraq. How do you feel about situation in Iraq?"

A. "I think government made best decision it could based on facts it had. I support government and the troops."

I find it despicable that she would even seek to conduct these kind of interviews. Leave them to someone, if there is such a person at NBC, who doesn't think soldiers and their families are chumps.

The interview with Mr. Morris was preceded by a reasonable interview by Matt Lauer of Paul Bremer, US administrator in Iraq.

Lauer did ask one tough question: "We expected opposition from the Sunnis, who are Saddam loyalists, but recently we have seen violent uprisings by Shi'ias. So if Sunnis and Shi'as hate us who are our friends?"

Bremer's answer: "The 90% of Iraqis who support democracy."

As to the situation with Al-Sadr, the radical Sh'ia cleric, Bremer said "this is not a Shi'ia uprising, it is an illegal militia that has attacked Iraqis above all."

Q. "There are reports that Iraqi police have been hesitant to act. How can we be confident in turning over power to that force if they are unwilling to carry out their duties?"

A. "We will take measures against those police who fail to act."

Finally, there was a "pre-game show" for Condi's appearance before the 9/11 Commission.

Reporter David Gregory served as an apt DNC shill. The premise of his report was that W was in a deep hole as a result of the Clarke testimony. Thus Gregory portrayed Condi as "the Bush administration's best hope to answer credibility questions that have come up regarding issue of whether Bush administration did enough to prevent 9/11. They hope her testimony will neutralize what could be a major problem for a President who likes to portray himself as a war-time president."

Note the sarcasm, note the implicit assumption that Clarke has damaged the President's credibility, note the way he tries to portray W as being on the ropes.

Even in a sea of liberal reporters, Gregory consistently distinguishes himself for sheer partisanship.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I really do understand, and as said, there was nothing particularly objectionable about anything Katie said to the grieving father. It was just the fact that we all knew what was really in her mind that made the entire premise of the interview despicable.

[MizSterious]

And if you think that one was bad, you should have seen George Step-on-all-of-us on GMA. He was so delighted over the Iraq violence--combined with recent poll numbers--that I'm sure he had to change his wet underwear after reading his commentary.

[smiley]

Honestly, these liberals prove it every damn day....they hate this Republican Administration, they hate Republicans and they hate the Republic!

[mrtysmm]

I wonder if the commission will comment on the "lack of comment" by the past administration on al queda. It seems to me they nit-pic on everything coming from the Bush administration. It's time they held Klinton and co.s feet to the fire for their lack of concern about al queda....but I won't hold my breath. Even if the commission does delve into it, the media will gloss over it for sure.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Carole Simpson.

I recall there was some really uncomfortable moment a few years later when she was interviewing Pres. Clinton and wanted him to extol her great accomplishments in life.

[smiley]

You might be interested to know, also, that the Veterans Hospitals only show CNN....those veterans don't deserve this constant hate rhetoric...something should be done about this...

[vanmorrison]

What I can't get is why these regular people continue to allow themselves to be used and abused by these media shills time and again. By now, everybody in this country should know that when the media pushes a microphone in front of your face, you'll become fodder for every left-wing distortion and outright lie they can concoct. In effect, you've become complicit in what the media shills perpetrate.

Better to tell these bastards, and bastardettes, to drop dead and leave you alone! Let them put that on the evening news!

[Rummyfan]

Reporter David Gregory served as an apt DNC shill. The premise of his report was that W was in a deep hole as a result of the Clarke testimony.

Patently false, or wishful thinking on Gregory's part. Anyone who has been paying any attention to the hearings can see the blatant political tack the commission has taken.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I've often that about that too. I think the answer is that many people don't focus on the politics of these shows and their hosts, and the way that the shows are trying to exploit them for political purposes.

[Rummyfan]

Prayers for Jeffrey Morris, and Kirk Morris and his family. As for Ms Couric, may her ratings plunge!

[beachn4fun]

Personally, I think it is VERY BAD taste for any reporter to immediately go interview a family member of a recently deceased person. First, they ask such mundane questions. And, when they do the interview so quickly, they display no FEELINGS toward the victims family. ONLY the story is important.

BTW, does anyone remember if anyone immeditely contacted David Bloom's wife immediately after his death to get that all important interview to explain to the world just how she is feeling at that very moment?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Speaking of the liberal media, for the last few minutes I've been listening to Air America via a live internet feed. The current host is Randi Rhodes (?) a New Yorker.

She was proclaiming how much she loves certifiable pararoid wacko Noam Chomsky. When a caller labelled President Bush a "scumbag," and said that he had advance knowledge of 9/11 and could have prevented it, she played canned audience applause.

And the liberal media accuse conservative talk show hosts of being mean-spirited?

[TankerKC]

Simpson to Clinton: “How does it feel talking to me?”

She also called Clinton the first black president in that interview.

[Quilla]

Before this "lack of comment" revelation came to light, I was thinking about our motivation for discussing missile defense. When President Bush came into office, one of the first things he had to deal with was the incident with our intentionally crippled spy plane landing in China. We were on pins and needles during the entire affair, albeit, the President handling it swimmingly. Considering that Clinton had sold (for campaign dollars, of course) our missile technology while touting the fact that not a single one was aimed at the U.S., it seems as though missile defense should have been an major concern for the incoming administration.

The Bush Administration, staffed with some of the most brilliant minds in history, had performed admirably. God bless them all.

[InvisibleChurch]

i have to give you credit and to others who watch bilge-tv that someone IS keeping an eye and ear out on the left... i'm afraid their bowl of breakfast time 'truth' is too rancid for me these days ... btw, have you noticed that the left quit calling themselves 'the loyal opposition'? well, at least i seem to remember it, but maybe it's just a false memory

[Wright is right!]

"We just spent the weekend in San Antonio, San Marcos, and Austin. At our hotel in San Marcos the TVs got CNN but NOT Fox News! Indoctrination of the liberal mindset is everywhere."

Bear in mind that SOMETIMES this is not the fault of the hotel/motel. Many chains are at the mercy of their local cable companies who supply them their feed. Hotels pay the cable companies a flat rate based upon the number of rooms in the facility and their average occupancy rate.

Others subscribe to a DirecTV or Dish feed and negotiate what they carry. Others still get C-band dishes and have to negotiate with all the programming "players" nationally to get a feed to send to their rooms. It's not always a simply matter to bolt down a dish and let everyone have all the channels on it. It also can be quite difficult to change from one system to another if the new system has a different room-distribution system. Hotels are notoriously hard to retro-wire (physically) and doing it can be an expensive proposition - especially since you, the customer, insist that they offer you the room for a very low rate.

Just some things to bear in mind.

Michael

[Luker]

I saw also saw George Stuffin'envelopes on GMA (which I never watch but was blowing by it to get to CSPAN) - and caught his pant-wetting commemtary about the war and all it did was hype my hatred for this punk who helped destroy this country with his undying love for Clinton during the 90's - I despise the POS.

[Luker]

Make that 'little' POS.

[Verginius Rufus]

Isn't Gregory the one who showed off by asking a question in French at a press conference with the President and someone from France?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"Isn't Gregory the one who showed off by asking a question in French at a press conference with the President and someone from France?"

Exactly!

http://www.rense.com/general25/mock.htm