Meet the Real Katie Couric
Table of Contents:
- Meet the Real Katie Couric
- Introduction
- Hardworking Hilary vs. Sexist America
- Feeling Her Feminism
- Envying Europe's Nanny States
- Distressed by Clinton Under Fire
- Deploring Ronald Reagan
- Republicans: "Rigid," "Exclusionary," "Divisive," and "Draconian"
- Christian Conservatives Created Murderous Climate
- GOP Win=Voters' Temper Tantrum
- Scolding NRA For Supporting Gun Rights
- Fawning Over Jimmy the Great
- Iraq, a Debacle Worse than Vietnam
- Let Big Government Fix Our Woes
- Denigrating "Divisive" Talk Radio
Christian Conservatives Created Murderous Climate
"Then the fallout from the death of Matthew Shepard. The tragic
beating of the college student in Wyoming has some activists in this
country saying there is a climate of anti-gay hate that’s been fostered
by a provocative advertising campaign by the political right in this
country. We’re going to get into that debate after news and weather."
— Katie Couric opening the October 13, 1998 Today.
"Some gay rights activists have said that some conservative
political organizations like the Christian Coalition, the Family
Research Council and Focus on Family are contributing to this
anti-homosexual atmosphere by having an ad campaign saying if you are a
homosexual you can change your orientation. That prompts people to
say, if I meet someone who’s homosexual, I’m going to take action and
try to convince them, or try to harm them. Do you believe that such
groups are contributing to this climate?"
— Interviewing Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer on the October 12, 1998 Today.
"Let’s talk a little bit more about the right wing because I know
that’s something you feel very strongly about. But this is actually not
necessarily about the right wing, but perhaps a climate that some say
has been established by religious zealots or Christian conservatives.
There have been two recent incidents in the news I think that upset
most people in this country, that is the dragging death of James Byrd,
Jr., and the beating death of Matthew Shepard. I just would like you to
reflect on whether you feel people in this country are increasingly
intolerant, mean-spirited, etc., and what, if anything, can be done
about that."
— Questioning former Texas Governor Ann Richards
at a 92nd Street Y appearance in New York City on March 3, 1999 and
shown by C-SPAN a month later. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)
Don’t Forget Those Dangerous Conservative Catholics
"Cardinal Ratzinger’s past includes a brief membership in the Hitler
Youth movement, service in the German army in World War II, which was
mandatory. But given his past associations do you think that will
create a rift between Christians and Jews, and what can he do to fix
that?"
— To liberal priest Father Andrew Greeley on Today,
April 20, 2005, the day after Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict
XVI. Greeley, a Ratzinger critic, dismissed her concern.
"Some of the values, depending on your perspective... may be deemed
wholesome, but in other ways, I think, people will see this community as
eschewing diversity and promoting intolerance....Do you think the
tenets of the community might result in de facto segregation as a
result of some of the beliefs that are being espoused by the majority
of the residents there?...You can understand how people would hear some
of these things and be like, wow, this is really infringing on civil
liberties and freedom of speech and right to privacy and all sorts of
basic tenets that this country was founded on. Right?"
— March 3, 2006 Today,
questioning Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan and real-estate
developer Paul Marinelli, who are building a community based on
Catholic values in Ave Maria, Florida. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)
