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September 07, 2006

Kiki Is Still Crappy

I took time out from watching Miami vs. Pittsburgh to catch Kiki Couric doing the nightly news. I missed her the last two nights. Tonight, I made it to exactly eight minutes before switching back to the game in anger. I had no idea how bad the CBS Nightly News had gotten. It's been years since I watched any evening news show. The first two segments of Kiki's broadcast tonight were almost total fiction. It was laughable, except for the fact that many thousands of people were watching who had no idea they were being lied to.

I don't blame Kiki so much. She's more of a master of ceremonies for this contemporary version of the Liars Club. Besides her poor posture and crooked mouth (which I never noticed before), she did a serviceable job. I find her manner more pleasant than Dan Rather's, but that ass surely didn't set the bar too high for his successor.

Kiki's show started with Jim Axelrod asserting quite unequivocally that the latest tape from Bin Laden contradicts the President's message in his recent War On Terror speeches. Anyone with a brain can see that just the opposite is true. In fact, the al Qaeda video features terrorists that are now in U.S. custody, whose interrogation led to the arrests of further terrorists. Bin Laden's video not only disproves beyond any doubt the stupid "inside job" conspiracy theories, but it shows how we've made a big dent in al Qaeda's leadership.

The second segment promised to show how support for the Iraq War has fallen among conservatives of the Bible Belt. They then showed only three people, two of whom said that they support the war! [Actually, the third guy supports the war too! See update, infra.] Now, I'm not trying to claim that support for the war has not fallen. It obviously has, but this joke of a news segment proved nothing of the sort. The one guy who said he was going to vote for Democrats was cut off just as he was about to state the reason why. No doubt his reasons had more to do with immigration and runaway spending, but CBS didn't want their audience to know that.

In the next segment, both Kiki and the reporter blatantly repeated the lie that Valerie Plame was an undercover agent. I guess they believe that old totalitarian principle about repeating the big lie often enough. Then followed an interview with Armitage, which nearly made me keel over with disinterest. This story is so irrelevant, why doesn't CBS just move on dot org?

That was when I turned it off, and to my dismay learned that I had missed a touchdown.

Update: The guy who said he was voting democratic in the second segment I mentioned above was retired Colonel Jim Van Riper, USMC. The unedited interview is here. I was wrong about his reasons for planning to vote Democratic. But CBS, very sneakily, omitted from their televised soundbites any of Colonel Van Riper's very strong pro-Iraq War statements. His objection is not that we're in Iraq, he just wants to win and he doesn't think the administration is getting the job done.

While I think it's misguided to think a Democratic Congress will do anything but weaken America, I can totally understand Col. Van Riper's frustration. We all want to win. Does anybody really think that Bush's poll numbers would be where they are now if we had already succeeded in Iraq? For most Americans — and this is the dirty little secret CBS and the elite media don't want you to know — the issue is victory, not whether the war was legal or right or wrong or unilateral or any of the other Michael Moore objections. If we had won already, nobody would be complaining. Wanting to win is patriotic, as is frustration that we might not be winning.

Posted by annika, Sep. 7, 2006 | TrackBack (0)
Rubric: annikapunditry



Comments

"support for the Iraq War has fallen among conservatives of the Bible Belt."

I don't see how this can't be true, even if you just start counting from last year. And it is overwhelmingly true if you start at "Mission Accomplished".

Posted by: will on Sep. 7, 2006

Never trade a touchdown for the newstwat. I, however, I'm bouncing back and forth between football and Federer/Blake, which is getting ugly.

Posted by: Preston Taylor Holmes on Sep. 7, 2006

Never leave a good football game for Kiki!

Posted by: Greta on Sep. 7, 2006

Wha' hap'n.?

Posted by: Tuning Spork on Sep. 7, 2006

All sane people have long ago stopped watching network news.

A study showed that people who regularly watch network news are more neurotic, more pessimistic and more fearful for their future.

Now you know why that study is true.

Posted by: Jake on Sep. 7, 2006

All that in eight minutes! Wow, she moves fast.

Posted by: Blake on Sep. 7, 2006

I recently found myself quoting from John Kerry's comments about killing Osama bin Laden during the 2004 presidential debates. Doubt he would have done it, but it sounded good.

Posted by: Ontario Emperor on Sep. 7, 2006

Jim, eh, I worked for his brother Paul many moons ago. Paul, or PK Van Riper is one of the Generals who has come our against Dubyah. Most of us thought he was crazy twenty-years ago.

Posted by: Casca on Sep. 8, 2006

We have the same viewing habits. I also tuned in to Katie, and, as the bullshit began piling higher and higher, my thoughts were:

"This is unbelievable! This is one lie, after another misrepresentation, after another lie, again and again! Is anyone I know seeing this? I would love for someone I know to see it, so they could verify what I am watching."

So, I'm really happy you saw it, and documented it, so I can show my friends. The clash of realities - as they said the Bin Laden tape was bad for Bush, and as they emoted that Republicans were turning against the war, all the while showing Republican after Republican saying they were in favor of OIF - was breaking my brain. Dissonance.

Posted by: gcotharn on Sep. 8, 2006

Casca, you ancient fuck, I went to The Basic School with Paul's *SON*.

Posted by: Matt on Sep. 8, 2006

Of course I'm ancient! Casca II graduates from IOC in two weeks.

Posted by: Casca on Sep. 8, 2006