Topic: Media Research Center
Talk about holding a grudge. Media Research Center executive Tim Graham proved himself to still be angry about something that happened 15 years ago in a Sept. 30 post:
Fox News media reporter Joseph Wulfsohn reported on Friday that former CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric boasted at the liberal Texas Tribune Festival last weekend about how she helped Barack Obama get elected in 2008 with her infamous attack interview on Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. "You're welcome, by the way," Couric told the audience, sparking laughter and applause.
She added, "I always thought that Barack Obama should have sent me a big-ass bouquet of flowers for that interview." Then-White House battle-axe Helen Thomas said Couric "saved the country" with that interview.
She justified sticking it to McCain for health reasons, and for his poor judgment in picking Palin. "I think people were concerned that here she would be a heartbeat away from the presidency, John McCain had cancer, I believe, four times. And I think suddenly, they were not only questioning her abilities, but also his judgment in selecting her," Couric said. "So I think that had a big impact on the election, on the campaign. And so I thought I did a good job."
So did liberal-media types. She earned several awards -- but was it for the journalism or for "saving the country"? Liberal journalists think those are synonymous.
As we've pointed out, the interview was not terribly challenging, and it's not Couric's fault that Palin could not give a coherent answer to a simple question about what newspapers she read. Further, Palin herself has admitted it was "a fair question" and that she "had a crappy answer" to it. But it's an article of faith at the MRC that the interview was biased and proved Couric to be some kind of liberal activist, despite the actual facts. Also: Helen Thomas has been dead for years, and Graham is still apparently traumatized by her.
He's also apparently traumatized by Couric as well. He took a shot at her by asserting that she "never earned a reputation as a powerful intellect" but "still felt she could trash Palin's brains," then complained that she said the interview "stood the test of, of being objective. Even Republicans afterwards thought it was extremely fair, a certain kind of Republican." Graham seems to have forgotten that his own MRC colleagues put out a report after the 2008 election admitting that "Most observers agree that Palin did not perform well in the Couric interview."
Graham is engaging in dishonest revisionism by calling it an "attack interview" when it clearly wasn't. This is yet another instance where the MRC is putting its preferred narrative before the facts.
