Bob Graham Diary

ABC News ^ | 5/8/03 | Halperin

[votelife]

GRAHAM

We kind of joked about it yesterday, but it appears more and more possible that Katie Couric's research team really did believe that Mark Leibovich's parody of Graham's diary was real. LINK

"Today show spokesman Lauren Kapp declined to discuss whether Couric had misunderstood the Post story, saying only: 'Katie followed up on a story in the Washington Post regarding the senator's daily log. The senator answered the question.'"

"The Graham campaign was miffed that Couric hadn't gotten the joke."

"Campaign spokesman Jamal Simmons said the Post 'wrote a parody, as is their right. You would hope the research staff (of the Today show) and any journalist that would refer to it would refer to it as a parody.'"

"Simmons said Graham 'was happy to go on the Today show and will again. We just hope in the future they make jokes a little clearer to their viewers.'"

[votelife]

I watched this and it sounded hilarious. It seemed real, and Couric didn't let the audience know it was a parody. Basically, Graham looked like an idiot.

[SwinneySwitch]

"The Graham campaign was miffed that Couric hadn't gotten the joke."

Katie IS a joke!

[Randjuke]

Katie IS a joke!

Well, you really can't blame her, she probably suffered traumatic brain injury during her colonoscopy.

[george wythe]

I watched Senator Graham declare his candidacy in Miami Lakes, and he sounded like a robotic dork whose low-juice batteries are stuttering.

I think Mosely-Braun has a better chance at the presidency than Graham, imho.

[vrwinger]

As he has done in the past, Graham is running for Veep...

[george wythe]

Good luck to Senator Graham to make it as Vicepresidential candidate:

“He wears a tie with the state of Florida on it every single day, although he’s planning to drop the habit once he starts his presidential campaign. And his stump speeches can be pedantic snoozers.

Gore campaign aides still joke about a disastrous stemwinder Graham delivered at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon; he lost the crowd early, droned on anyway, and killed any slim chance he might have had to join the ticket. Then there are the notebooks.”

( Michael Grunwald, “Bob Graham’s Message To The Voters Is Simple: However Frightened We Are, It Isn’t Nearly Frightened Enough,” The Washington Post Magazine, 5/4/03)

[vrwinger]

Yes, but now Graham can say, "If I was on the ticket in 2000, Gore would have won Florida."

[MainstreamConservative]

Not neccessarily. I live in Florida and while Graham is popular here, he cannot deliver a state merely because of his prescense on the ticket. If you doubt that a wildly popular democratic Senator in a republican leaning state can deliver it, ask Mike Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen.

[tom paine 2]

Yes it is what we in the business call a cranial rectaloctomy

[Gothmog]

Some additional details:

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/08/Worldandnation/_Today__has_trouble_w.shtml

'Today' has trouble with Graham joke
By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 8, 2003

MIAMI LAKES - Sen. Bob Graham got a prime opportunity to discuss his presidential campaign on the Today show Wednesday morning, but his appearance ended with a strange discussion about a bogus notebook.

Host Katie Couric asked Graham about his habit of logging his activities each day. She quoted a Washington Post story about unusual entries Graham had reportedly made about his Tuesday afternoon campaign kickoff:

12:19 Clap, wave.

12:20 Adjust tie - red, white stripes.

12:21 Double thumbs up.

12:22 Sing along with national anthem, right hand on heart.

Couric then asked Graham incredulously, "What do you do this for?"

"That is absurd," Graham replied. He tried to explain that he hadn't written Tuesday's log until Wednesday morning - an indication that the Post log was fake. But his answer was unclear and viewers probably did not realize what he meant.

Indeed, the Post article was a parody. It was written as if Graham had kept a minute-by-minute chronicle of his campaign kickoff. Graham keeps a running log of his activities each day, noting small events such as when he changes pants and applies his scalp medication.

Some critics have called it an odd behavior, but Graham says the notebooks are intricate to-do lists that allow him to manage his work as a senator.

Today show spokesman Lauren Kapp declined to discuss whether Couric had misunderstood the Post story, saying only: "Katie followed up on a story in the Washington Post regarding the senator's daily log. The senator answered the question."

The Graham campaign was miffed that Couric hadn't gotten the joke.

Campaign spokesman Jamal Simmons said the Post "wrote a parody, as is their right. You would hope the research staff (of the Today show) and any journalist that would refer to it would refer to it as a parody."

Simmons said Graham "was happy to go on the Today show and will again. We just hope in the future they make jokes a little clearer to their viewers."

[vrwinger]

I don't agree with the comment, but it has been said more than once in the media around Tampa Bay... It's just another woulda-coulda-shoulda from the 2000 election from the Dims...

[votelife]

I'm from Florida. Trust me, we don't want this guy going anywhere, except to retirement.