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Ghoulish Couric Tries to Exploit Brother of Beheaded Hostage to Criticize War, Bush Administration
The Today Show

Posted on 09/22/2004 4:36:28 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest

In the wake of her performance this morning, to call Katie Couric a vulture might be an insult to that noble bird.

Her guest was Ty Hensley, brother of the latest American to be beheaded by Islamofascist terrorists in Baghdad.

Couric's M.O. in these situations is well established. She inevitably begins by asking sympathetic questions about how the widow and other family members are "doing," and gives the bereaved a chance to describe the victim's fine qualities.

That out of the way, Couric gets down to her real agenda - exploiting the horror to bash the Bush administration.

Couric: "It's been reported that the weapons scientist nick-named Dr. Germ is being released by Iraqi authorities. The family of the remaining hostage is asking [the terrorists] to release their family member since this indicates an attempt to fulfill the terrorists' demands that women prisoners be released. Are you angry that this wasn't done earlier in time to save your brother?"

Hensley, a dignified, articulate man, did not give a direct answer to the question.

In a final attempt to exploit the situation, Couric tried to lure Hensley into taking a shot at the war and the Bush administration with this question, asked in an emotional, almost choked tone: "How do you feel about the war in Iraq?"

Yes, there's nothing like asking the brother of someone who has just been beheaded how he feels about the war in which his brother died.

To his great credit, Hensley refused to play into Couric's agenda:

"At this point I'm too emotional to answer that. I have to go on what I thought and believed at the time the decision was made to go to war and the intelligence we had then. I want to believe that there is still much good we can do for the Iraqi people."

As Katie ended the interview and threw the show back to Matt Lauer, she seemed on the verge of tears. But were they tears of sympathy for the victims and outrage at the terrorists, or disappointment that she had failed to lure Mr. Hensley into her Bush-bashing game?

Every time you think Katie and her MSM cohorts can't sink any lower, we have a morning like this one.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I had to stop watching the Today show years ago. Kathie and Matt are purely entertainers, not journalists. They should not have any more respect than Pee Wee Herman.


21 posted on 09/22/2004 4:49:18 AM PDT by kassie ("It's the soldier who allows freedom of speech, not the reporter..")
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

after rather


22 posted on 09/22/2004 4:51:31 AM PDT by Gibtx (Wow)
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To: OldFriend
Since the murdered man was not in the military and his being in Iraq was totally under his own control, how dare Couric suggest that the death is the fault of President Bush.

Again to the credit of the victim's brother, he said that when the family raised concerns about his safety, Hensley said that for financial reasons, to help his family, he was committed to fulfilling his one year contract.

23 posted on 09/22/2004 4:51:53 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: All

Please let me know by post or private message if you would like to be added to my ping list for posts on liberal bias at The Today Show (and occasionally at other MSM).


24 posted on 09/22/2004 4:53:38 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Again, thank you for your service. If it weren't for brave souls like you willing to sacrifice time and energy I would never know what goes on with Miss Perky Couric.


25 posted on 09/22/2004 4:53:40 AM PDT by mrtysmm
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To: over3Owithabrain

Her point was tho totally destroy the family. Trying to get them to say if the Woman had been released earlier, he would be alive. Ghoul Couric is not an anomyly.. All dums are Ghouls. I bet she missed the detail that it was up to the Iraqi's to release them.


26 posted on 09/22/2004 4:54:14 AM PDT by marty60
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To: kassie

Less.


27 posted on 09/22/2004 4:54:30 AM PDT by sauropod (Hitlary: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.")
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To: mrtysmm

Thanks, mrtysmm. On mornings such as this, it's hard to say 'it's my pleasure,' but it's good to know that others find the threads of some use.


28 posted on 09/22/2004 4:54:48 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

She is one of Brent Bozell's favorites over at the Media Research Center. She and her buddy Matt frequently bait their guests into Bush Bashing! They're good at it too! I have seen them get angry when they don't get what they want from their guests so my guess they were tears of frustration not sympathy.


29 posted on 09/22/2004 4:55:35 AM PDT by Allosaurs_r_us (CBS is sending a trial balloon.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Wonder if Katie sits down and watches the videos of the beheadings of American citizens. My guess she doesn't.


30 posted on 09/22/2004 4:55:35 AM PDT by eternity (From here to...)
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To: marty60

Kouric is an evil bit*h.


31 posted on 09/22/2004 4:56:34 AM PDT by tomahawk
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I cannot understand why a family member would be going on television just after his loved one whose butchering was captured on video. The whole thing seems surreal and perverse to me.


32 posted on 09/22/2004 4:56:45 AM PDT by Don'tMessWithTexas
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Al Qaedie Couric, the same one who publically hoped that Saddam had made it safely to Syria during the earlier parts of this war...


33 posted on 09/22/2004 4:58:08 AM PDT by Sal
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To: Don'tMessWithTexas

I feel the same way, unless there is some very specific goal or cause the bereaved family members want to advance. In this case, the brother had no particular axe to grind and just wanted to remember his brother. That being so, it's hard to understand why he chose to appear.


34 posted on 09/22/2004 4:59:48 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: tomahawk

Big time. But evenually she'll get hers. Never thought I would get to see Dan Rather brought down, but it happened.


35 posted on 09/22/2004 5:01:15 AM PDT by marty60
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To: Don'tMessWithTexas

Further to my earlier reply, though I don't know why he appeared, Mr. Hensley conducted himself with great dignity. Perhaps some people in that position feel they have some kind of public duty to appear, and view shows like Today almost as some kind of semi-official institution that they don't really have a right to refuse.


36 posted on 09/22/2004 5:01:30 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

You deserve a Brass Figligee with Bronze Oak Leaf Palm and Aluminum Clusters for what you do. ( A V device has not been authorized. )


37 posted on 09/22/2004 5:04:48 AM PDT by Stentor
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To: mlmr

The woman scientist who worked for Saddam's bioweapons program was in prison as a top regime detainee. A horrible "lady" but not one of the terrorists I don't believe. A news story from Britain claims she might be released by Iraq's Gov., but the story wasn't confirmed(last I heard).


38 posted on 09/22/2004 5:05:53 AM PDT by txrangerette
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To: marty60

Now the guy that provided the fake docs is going to sue CBS for not keeping his identity confidential. What an a*shole.


39 posted on 09/22/2004 5:06:46 AM PDT by eternity (From here to...)
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To: Stentor
A V device has not been authorized.

But my citation, written in 2004 by General Eisenhower himself, specifically mentions the V!

40 posted on 09/22/2004 5:07:22 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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