Couric to CBS

The new face of CBS News.

Quotes from the Media Research Center.

Defending Bill Clinton: "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. I mean, you look at other presidential libraries, they are filled with things that those Presidents got during their, their years at the White House. And yet somehow it’s become a high crime for Bill Clinton to take some of these things with him to put in his presidential library."
— To Chris Matthews and Mike Barnicle, February 20, 2001.

Repent, Anita Hill Critic: "You know you, you angered a lot of feminists when you accused Anita Hill. In fact, you detailed how she changed her testimony during questioning, during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. And you accused of her publicly, quote, ‘Flat out perjury.’ Any regrets?"
— To Sen. Arlen Specter, March 6, 2000. Couric did not ask if he regretted not voting guilty during Bill Clinton’s Senate trial.

Cuban-Americans: "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. All eyes on south Florida and its image this morning. Another writer this weekend called it ‘an out of control banana republic within America.’ What effect is the Elian Gonzalez story having on perception of Miami? We will talk with a well-known columnist for the Miami Herald about that."
— April 3, 2000.

First Victim Hillary: "Why do you think Hillary Clinton elicits such powerful emotions? Why is she such a polarizing figure?"

"But don’t you think there’s an awful lot of projection that goes on in terms of how people view her, placing their own confused states or their role in society or how powerful should women be and it’s sort of projected upon her as an individual?"
— First two questions to Laura Ingraham, author of The Hillary Trap: Looking for Power in All the Wrong Places, June 7, 2000.

Colin Powell Must Have Been Duped: "Only four percent of the delegates in the convention hall are African-Americans. Do you feel troubled at all by this, and do you feel used by your party?"
— To Colin Powell, August 1, 2000, during the week of the Republican convention.

Gore Like Reagan: "All this week you all have made much of Al Gore’s exaggerations, but the same things were often said about Ronald Reagan who would pass off as true stories things he had seen in the movies. You know, Republicans brushed that off as part of Ronald Reagan’s charms or charm, but now you cite it as a major character flaw when it comes to Al Gore. Why was it charming then and not presidential now?"
— To Bush campaign Communications Director Karen Hughes, October 11, 2000, NBC.

Blaming Right Wing for Murder: "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 Junior 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, et cetera, and what, if anything, can be done about that because a lot of people get very discouraged when they hear and see this kind of brutality taking place."
— To former Texas Governor Ann Richards as she hosted a 92nd Street Y appearance in New York City on March 3 shown by C-SPAN on April 3, 1999.

Republicans Are So Alienating: "I think it’s been reported increasingly lately that the Republican Party realizes, especially moderate members of the party, that they have a real identity crisis and a real split within the party, people like Christie Todd Whitman, et cetera. And they had a meeting down in Florida, I believe, where they talked about the only people that still liked them are, what, businesspeople and who else did they say? One other subset of the population, it was pretty small. So do you think that they are going to fix the party? Don’t you think they might somehow bring it more to the center? They realize they are alienating so many moderate Republicans in this country...." — To former Texas Governor Ann Richards on March 3, 1999 shown by C-SPAN April 3.

"Golden Years" of Camelot: "With the death of JFK Jr., there is now only one survivor of Camelot. That, of course, is Caroline Kennedy, the little girl who walked her father to the Oval Office and rode a pony on the White House lawn. And now grown up with a family of her own, Caroline remains our only link to those golden years." — July 19, 1999.

Reveling in Reviling Reagan: "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, Monday, September the 27th, 1999."
— Opening the show, September 27, 1999.