Katie Couric's move from the "Today" show to "The CBS Evening News" brings a "journalist" long known for a distinct liberal bias into the anchor chair once occupied by the revered Walter Cronkite.
"Since becoming co-host of NBC's Today' in April 1991, Katie Couric has often used her perch to salute her liberal heroes (including Hillary Clinton and Jimmy Carter) or complain about right-wing conservatives,'" notes the Media Research Center, a media watchdog group.
In one recent example of Couric's anti-conservative stance, she was openly hostile to Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan's plan to spend $400 million to create a Catholic town in Florida "open to anyone aspiring to live in communion with traditional values," writes Brent Bozell of the MRC.
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In an interview with Monaghan and his developer partner Paul Marinelli, Couric asked Monaghan four times about his stated hope that pharmacists would not sell contraceptives in the town.
She went on to say: "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?"
Here are some other examples of Couric's bias and bloopers:
It must have been a Freudian slip when Couric said last year that Saddam Hussein had "hopefully" escaped to Syria.
She later claimed that the capture of Saddam was only symbolic.
Speaking again about the mass murderer, she said: "No matter how deplorable Saddam Hussein was considered, he was the ultimate referee who kept the Sunnis and the Shiites apart from killing each other."
Couric promoted a defense fund for notorious child killer Andrea Yates.
Discussing Time magazine's Person of the Year issue, which honored the American soldier, she told editor Jim Kelly: "Tell me why you all decided to honor the American soldier? Wondering why there's no woman on the cover, too?" Kelly pointed to the cover and said: "This is a woman." Couric: "Oh, there you go, oh sorry ... I couldn't tell because of her helmet."
Talking about the 35-hour work week mandated by the French government, Couric told viewers: "So great that young mother being able to come home at three every day and spend that time with her child. Isn't that nice? The French, they've got it right, don't they?"
Opening the show in September 1999, Couric gleefully said: "Good morning. The Gipper was an airhead! That's one of the conclusions of a new biography of Ronald Reagan that's drawing a tremendous amount of interest and fire today." In the interview that followed, Reagan biographer Edmund Morris told Couric: "He was a very bright man."
Discussing Cuban despot Fidel Castro, Couric said he is "considered one of the most charismatic leaders of the 20th century ... Castro traveled the country cultivating his image and his revolution delivered. Campaigns stamped out illiteracy and even today, Cuba has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world."
In an interview with a liberal Catholic priest, Couric pointed out about the new pope: "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?"
Talking with co-host Matt Lauer about gas prices, Couric who was making about $15 million a year said: "It's ridiculous. I had to take out a loan to fill up my minivan."
She asked Hillary Clinton in November 2004: "Is it disappointing for both you and your husband that his detractors and critics continue to pursue him?"
In November 2003, Couric asked Jessica Lynch, the American G.I. held hostage in Iraq: "Do you think that somehow, this, your rescue, was manipulated by the government in order to, sort of, gin up support for this war?"
About then-Republican Calif. governor candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, Couric sniped: "He's admitted smoking marijuana, using steroids during his body-building career. He's the son of a Nazi Party member."
Defending Bill Clinton, Couric said during an interview with two journalists: "With the exception of the pardon of Marc Rich and some other moves that probably were somewhat questionable, would you concede this morning that it's gotten to the point where there is a bit of piling on going on here? I mean, it seems to me that he has done some things that other presidents have done in the past."
During the Elian Gonzalez controversy, Couric said: "Some suggested over the weekend that it's wrong to expect Elian Gonzalez to live in a place that tolerates no dissent or freedom of political expression. They were talking about Miami."
Finally, Couric did talk about bias in the media but the only "biased" outlets she discussed were the hugely popular conservative radio talk shows: "Some people are very concerned about talk shows, radio talk shows in general, of course. Most of them around the country have a decidedly conservative bent. The rap that some people give them is that they reflect the views of a very vocal minority, the extremists in this country, and don't really reflect the true nature of political debate in the United States. And, as a matter of fact, they tend to be quite divisive and sort of have a bad, a negative impact on the country."
P.S.: A poll by Newsbusters.org on Wednesday morning found that 41 percent of respondents thought Couric would be just as biased on CBS.
Another 54 percent said she would be MORE biased.
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