Katie Couric in a speech before the National Press Club, September 2007:
Couric took Rather to task for his reporting. "There were things in there that were quite egregious in terms of how it was reported," she said. "And sloppy work is sloppy work...They did not dot their I’s and cross their T’s when it came to that story...And our job is to get [it] right."
It's hard to figure out whose credibility is sinking faster: John McCain, who's apparently as unaware of recent history as he is of geography, or CBS, who covers up his ignorance for him.
First, a short primer:
2006----> The Anbar Awakening, in which Sunni tribes unite to resist Al Qaida.
2007----> Bush's troop surge
Enter Katie Couric, interviewing John McCain yesterday:
Couric Senator McCain, Sen. Obama says, while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?
McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane (phonetic) was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history.
Well, it's just a matter of history if you live life in reverse, I guess. And yes, it's tough indeed to figure out how to respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened, Senator McCain. But CBS figured out how to do it: just cut the inconveniently false portion out, as Keith Olbermann caught CBS doing last night.
Here's some masterful evidence presented by masterp2323:
Remember this is the same Katie Couric who confessed in the 2007 speech to the National Press Club to feeling "uncomfortable," and that somebody--certainly not her, but somebody with ... oh ... say ... a national media platform--ought to do something about the inevitable march to war back in 2003:
And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring The Today Show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this? And is this being properly challenged by the right people?’
One thing's become crystal clear: Couric isn't one of the "right people." And sloppy work is sloppy work. And oh, yeah. Someone once said it's your job to get it right.
(Hat tips to Daily Kos diarist rogereaton and Think Progress for publicizing this story.)