Kerry on tomorrow's Today Show - Rebutting SOTU

[kerrygoddess]

TV Alert: John Kerry on the Today Show
January 31st, 2006 @ 5:32 pm

Senator John Kerry will be LIVE on the Today Show tomorrow morning at 7:05 am. The topic is the State of the Union address. John Kerry will be the only elected official on tomorrow’s show. Don’t miss it!

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1818

Or as I like to say The State of the Mess We Are In!

[fedupinBushcountry]

1. This is great news

Thanks, KG.

[_dynamicdems]

2. Thanks, that's good news! n/t

[TayTay]

3. GIVE 'EM HELL JOHN!

Give the moth*rf*ckers hell. (Well, someone's in a good mood for no particular reason.)

Give 'em hell Senator. Go for it. We love you!

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Hurray!

I hope someone gets the video.

[rox63]

5. Damn, I'll be at work

I have to go in for 6:00 AM tomorrow. :hangover:

[emulatorloo]

6. THANKS for posting --

[YvonneCa]

7. YESSSSSS!!!!

Still Fightin' ! Go Senator Kerry!!:patriot:

[JI7]

8. is anyone on eastern time watching ?

[karynnj]

9. Just saw it - Kerry is really good , Couic is a Bushie

[Luftmensch067]

10. JK decimated that nasty Katie Couric!

Oooooh, it was beautiful. She was as mad as a wet cat and he was cool as cucumber. :-)

She's horrible! I always knew she was a MSM shill, but she truly hates JK, doesn't she? She kept rudely interrupting him in this furious tone (not to mention their not only showing a clip of the SOTU WHILE HE WAS TALKING, but also leaving the sound on so you had to strain to hear his comment over *'s voice!), and he remained polite but strong and passionate and truthful. I loved that he ended with a laugh, reinforced his position of dominance in the interview.

I stopped watching anything but C-SPAN so long ago that any visit to MSM "news" feels like a trip to some poisonous alternate universe. Makes JK all the braver for entering that arena.

[karynnj]

12. Her shrillness was beyond belief

She seemed startled that he would not credit Bush with making the world safer. Your first sentence captures the essence of the interview. Not only did Kerry remain cool as a cucumber, but sounded rational and reasonable. (bipartisanship question - Kerry spoke of how Bush's speech divided not united and blamed Bush for being partisan. All said in a smooth as silk voice. He ended up looking calm, Presidental and grown up and kindly tolerating her bad behavior.

[Mass]

13. I am beginning to wonder if their shrillness is not intended

Most of the stories are now about how the anchors are reacting and not what the substance is.

Kerry did great and made good points, but the story will finish to be how she was shrill. The ultimate goal of the media: be sure the story is about them, not those they interview.

[karynnj]

15. Interesting strategy

She really was out of line. I'm not sure it worked though because Kerry didn't react to her. So, you sort of got a picture of a distinguished man and a very flaky woman. I think for people with it on as they got ready for work, they would hear Kerry, not her, because he gave her almost nothing to work with. (The only thing she got was the opportunity to show fake outrage that Kerry could "blame the media", which he then handled very smoothly.)

[whometense]

23. I was shocked

by her tone of voice. What happened to perky upbeat Katie? Is she trying to show she's tough enough to be an anchor or something? She was foul.

[karynnj]

26. What amazes me is that it was so stupid

Kerry showed absolutely no anger on his face or his tone of voice - so it was just Katie who was angry for no apparent reason. She was like an angry little buzzing fly trying to have an argument, while Kerry was calmly stating his positions. She almost became irrelevant.

[whometense]

27. You're right.

If I hadn't been tuned in from the beginning I would have wondered what Kerry had said that pissed her off so badly.

Interestingly, as of now there is no mention whatsoever that JK was even on the show on their home page...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/

[whometense]

18. Best interview EVER

I didn't watch, but heard every word on the tv band of my shower radio.

He was INCREDIBLE. Took no crap whatsoever from KKKKatie (wow, did she receive her list of questions by fax this morning???)

They'll have a podcast up later - hope someone's got the video!!!

The laugh at the end??? - sheer genius. Not that it was planned, but it was masterful.

[karynnj]

20. I copied it on VHS and can make VHS copies if they don't put it up

I agree that he was absolutely incredible and got out all the points he wanted to. He looked his usual dignified rational reasonable self and she looked like a nasty harridan (a word one rarely gets to use.) One thing I really liked was how he immediately gained the upper ground by saying Bush missed the opportunity to unite. Then he absolutely turned her question on bipartisanship to his advantage.

I only hope that for many people seeing it, the truth that he is a very serious, intelligent man was obvious. It may counter some of the "ski slope" nonsense.

[karynnj]

11. Summary from memory

On Foreign policy - Kerry said almost verbatim his paragraph that we're not safer and gave examples of problems. Katie counters with "You can't blame those things on Bush" Kerry repeats statement that Bush has not made us safer

Katie showed 63% of people thought Democrats didn't have clear plan - Kerry countered with using last night - Democrats had 10 minutes that few watched because the pundits were already analyzing Bush's speech. Katie, dripping sarcasm and shock, "You can't blame the press" - Kerry pointed out that without control of Senate, House or Presidency - we have smaller megaphone.

Would Democrats work with President on alternative energy-
Kerry: Sure, if it's real (SS reform was not reform and was so bad even Repubs didn't like)< alternative energy was a key issue in his campaign, Bush not proposing as much as could be done, listed several. Cheney let the oil companies write energy policy.

Bush doing poor job on education. I think he said 53% of kids not graduating. few have after school programs.


Overall comment - Kerry (like in other recent interviews) has learned to not stop when the (unfriendly host) wants him to. The combination of speaking with no breaks, his strong voice and his ability to still seem polite as he does this is cool to watch.

[ProSense]

14. Thanks for the summary. Hope a video gets floated around.

I missed it. :-(

[MH1]

17. I'll second that request.

Sometimes MSNBC posts them. But if their host really looked bad, guess we can't hope for that.

[blm]

16. GD can use this summary - the posts all ended up about Couric

instead of the substance of what Kerry said.

[karynnj]

19. Put it on one of the DU threads

It;s actually pretty bad - because he said so much. I hope they put out a transcript though Katie was so bad they might not.

[whometense]

21. I'm trying to remember

the question that preceded his answer - but my favorite moment was when he said, "Yes, if he means it..."

Or, maybe it was "Yes, if it's real..."

I have terrible recall for this stuff - but I was cheering out loud!!

[Mass]

22. It was if he was ready to work with Bush on a plan to reduce oil

dependence, I think.

[kerrygoddess]

24. If anyone finds an audio file

Let me know! He wiped the floor with poor little Katie!

[whometense]

32. I made an audio file.

I don't know where to put it so people can download it, though.

On edit, it's kind of fuzzy-sounding, so I'll try and improve it.

[beachmom]

25. I watched it. Everything he said is true. He spoke the truth.

Katie Couric is a radical neutral! Trying so hard to "balance" the interview that she comes across as totally pro-*. Ugh.

[StoryTeller]

28. VIDEO Available on MSNBC

I just watched it online. Here's a link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Scroll down to "News Video" where they have a photo of Bush. The link for the Kerry interview is the first one beneath that: "Sen. Kerry discusses State of the Union speech"

It was a good interview. I didn't think Katie Couric was that bad, but that was because JK kept control of the interview and didn't let her talk much. But I do think it was rude of her to interrupt, and she did seem defensive.

Kerry was very clear and concise and I liked how he kept control of the interview. And he made good points, too. I just hope people were listening. :)

[whometense]

29. Thanks!

Here's a slightly more direct link: http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=ab69f6ce-42c0-4185-b5c0-8a855df9ef0e&f=00

In the right hand column, • Sen. Kerry discusses State of the Union speech

[karynnj]

30. I think the problem with Katie Couric's behaviour is that

she showed no deference or respect for Senator Kerry. In 1996, Senator Dole lost by a land slide. His past was that he was Senate (Majority and Minority) leader with a reputation going back to Nixon as a hatchet man. He gave up his seat before running. After the election, he was always treated very respectfully and given the chance to give the Republican opinion. Even after he made an offensive Pepsi commercials oggling an underage Brittany Spears, he was still treated as a respected elder statesman. Senator Kerry who has acted with dignity and grace deserves respect. It's not limited to Senator Kerry, they are as dismissive of former Vice President Gore and (sometimes) former President Carter.

The root of it may be the excess attention given to celebrities. Couric is a celebrity rather than a journalist. There is absolutely nothing she has done in her life that would justify her inflated opinion of himself. As you said, it wasn't that bad because Kerry effortlessly kept control of the situation. Someone on DU posted that the problem with this is that the audience who have followed her for years and side with her would of course pick up on her very obvious dislike of Senator Kerry. This, as the poster says, will lead them to want to emotionally disagree with Senator Kerry, rather than criticize her for her lack of professionalism.

[ginnyinWI]

31. the problem may be that

she doesn't like tough interviews, period. I don't know--I don't watch Today because those morning shows are so fluffy and devoid of content that they drive me nuts. It was like "Oh Geeze, I actually have to do some work this morning!".

Anyway, JK was a champ, as always. There was no logical reason for him to laugh at the end--I do think it was some kind of tactic.

[jenndar]

33. "The commentators are busy commentating"

That was so awesome, I almost fell out of my chair.

[Mass]

34. Does somebody know if there is a basis for the 53 % numbers of

kids graduation from high school or if he mispoke. Of course, this does not change his point, but the nuts are already on that.

[karynnj]

35. it sounds wrong to me

I know it's lower than it should be but this seems unlikely unless it were for a specific population. The interview sounded almost like he was giving some prepared points and it may have been in the tense situstion he lfet out a qualifying phrase.

[JI7]

42. Kerry gets it

listening to him, these things are very disturbing to him. it pains him to see different groups of people not doing well because of the unfairness in our system.

[whometense]

36. I saw a diary about this on Kos.

It seemed like he meant the graduation rates for black and hispanic kids: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/1/11640/48882

Link: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/2/1/11640/48882/48#48

[karynnj]

37. He probably meant to say that - has any one called his office?

It's so unfair that the standards demanded are so different on each side.

[kerrygoddess]

38. It should have Hispanic

I checked with his office. I just finished a long Note to Drudge and Malkin, debunking the "census report" they quoted. Will have it posted shortly.

[sandnsea]

43. There may be a basis

There are plenty of cities and states with graduation rates that low. Those are different than drop out rates or education attainment rates. I don't know if that's what he was referring to or not. But here's a link that has some info in it:

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_08.htm

[rox63]

39. Just watched the video

The first thing that jumped out at me was the statement at the bottom of the screen, which said "Do The Democrats Have A Plan?" Just putting that there puts the thought into viewers' minds that they don't have a plan. So the image of Kerry is branded right away with a question that sows doubt. Would they dare to do something similar to a prominent Republican, like Bush, Cheney or McCain? I don't think they would.

I think Kerry handled the interview wonderfully, except for the error on graduation rates. He kept making strong positive statements, and he never let KKKatie get the upper hand. He kept his calm, poised demeanor throughout, never letting even her stupidest questions rattle him.

All this said, I'm finding harder and harder to watch network news programs these days. Is it just me, or has the propaganda level just shot through the roof in the last few month?

[YvonneCa]

40. It's not just you...

...there seems to be an ANGER coming from some 'anchors' every time the Democrats (Kerry, Gore, Carter, Dean, etc.) speak intelligently with facts and authority on the issues. Katie Couric appeared angry and another MSNBC anchor 'model' did, too, earlier today. It's as if they're upset that Democrats are contradicting the Bush fantasy picture and they want to keep believing it. Here's my email to NBC:

>>>>
>>>>I'm a long time Today Show viewer (since back in the 70's). I love Katie, Matt, Al and Ann. But John Kerry NEVER gets a fair shake with your network or many others. Part of the RNC spin is that the Democrats are not united...but no one wants to speak of how united we were in our effort to preserve ANWR and Social Security...now THAT was a story. (But no one covered it.) The biggest thing blocking the Democratic message, in my opinion, IS THE MEDIA. This morning, Katie's questions were all biased toward the RNC spin...and I'm not sure she is even aware of it. EDUCATE yourselves, guys. The country needs to hear what Senator Kerry has to say.
>>>>>
>>>>>
:patriot:

[wisteria]

44. I mentioned the interview to my husband last night and he is always

quick to say I read to much into the actions of the stations and their interviewers. "They are just being fair". He even brought up Frist's interview on Sunday as an example. Well he watched the Today interview and he started laughing and said, wow she was catty.
It was nice proving my point!

[sandrakae]

41. Katie was rude. I won't be watching that bitch anymore.