Katie Couric: Sexist Media Hurt Hillary Clinton's Chances

Adding to her comments last night in Washington — "that Sen. Clinton received some of the most unfair, hostile coverage I've ever seen" — Katie Couric has filmed a Keith Olbermann-style special commentary (called ner "Notebook") slamming the media for its sexist coverage of Hillary Clinton and claiming that the sexist coverage hurt her chances at becoming the Democratic party nominee. The Notebook will air tonight on CBS affiliates and on CBS radio, and will live on CBSNews.com.

"One of the great lessons of [Hillary Clinton's] campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life, particularly in the media....It isn't just Hillary Clinton who needs to learn a lesson from this primary season — it's all the people who crossed the line, and all the women and men who let them get away with it."

Watch the video below:

Couric's reference in the video to "mainstream pundits saying they instinctively cross their legs at the mention of her name" is specifically about Tucker Carlson, who often made such a claim while still on MSNBC during the campaign.

Last night, without naming names, Couric seemed to excoriate both MSNBC's Chris Matthews — who has come under fire for sexist remarks against Hillary Clinton — and NBC's Lee Cowan — who reportedly said he found it "hard to stay objective" covering Obama — saying, "That's your job...find another line of work." Matthews notoriously announced that he "felt [a] thrill going up [his] leg" while listening to Obama speak, and was forced to apologize for sexist remarks against Clinton in January.

Comments

[olivia]

Katie and Hill are starting a new club for women who want to blame sexism for their failures.

[CTtransplant]

Think back to the beginning of the campaign, people. Cl inton made comments - and when others questioned those comments, she immediately came out with ‘they’re picking on me’ and did not answer the question she was asked. Cl inton sewed the seeds of sexism herself…and now blames the media for the fire she started.

[Shenygirl1]

CTtransplant

What comments? whoever you are you've got your facts wrong. Hillary Clinton never said "you're picking on me" When Russert and the sexist misogynistic pigs at MSNBC started attacking her for the most stupid, petty ridiculous comments and then misrepresented her words in their futile attempt at reading her mind just, it just showed us all how illiterate and unprofessional the media really is. Bill and her supporters spoke out against the unfair treatment as well as all supporters and campaigh surrogates have. .

The so-called debate moderators spent most of the time asking Hillary stupid, irrelevent,
small-minded, petty questions in an attempt to humiliate and embarrass her. But they treated the other candidates (who happened to be men) with kid gloves.

And through all the chaos, Obama got a free pass, while he agreed with everything Hillary said during the debates, since it was obvious that he had no knowledge of the issues. Hillary never played the victim, you've got it all wrong.. There' is no defense for the demonization that the media gave to Hillary Clinton and many of those responsible for her vicious treatment are now paying for their words and actions by low ratings. Whoever you are, try getting out a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word "sexism", and maybe you can get a true and logical handle on the facts.

[CTtransplant]

No. I do NOT have my facts wrong. I have watched this campaign from the beginning. On the average, read 10 to 15 newspapers a day, 8 different online news websites, etc. It is YOU who need to go back and recheck your facts! During this whole campaign, the Clintons were willing to twist anything and everything which ever way it suited them. Go back and review all the newspapers from the beginning and you will find I am indeed right. Hillary played the victim from the start. Oh, excuse me, after she realized she was no longer 'inevitable'!

[SanityClaus]

I tried watching Katie when she took over the CBS Evening News. But after about a week I realized I couldn't hear anything she was saying over the roar of her GLISTENING PURPLE LIP-GLOSS so I switched back to Brian Williams.

[rzan]

I have often defended Katie Couric even though I don't always agree with her point of view. But putting Hillary in the victim role doesn't help Hillary, Katie or women in general. Who wants a victim in the White House? or in any position of power, for that matter. I don't want to talk any more about why Hillary lost. We've heard it all. Enough said.

[1question]

K.C.:

Troallin' for viewers...maybe...!?!?

[SanityClaus]

She's aiming to shore up her ratings in the Thelma and Louise demographic...

[sfsj]

The Clinton campaign and surrogates ginned up the conversation on this by the likes of Carville saying Hillary had the cojones -- and if she gave Barack one of them, they'd each have one! A union leader introducing HRC, said we "need someone with testicular fortitude." Now, I'm sure it's not just me -- but if you make comments like that, you're inviting people to jump to certain judgments about the candidate and have people view her in a certain light. Their campaign worked this angle hard for a bit and then cried sexism when anyone commented at all. That campaign spun the spin and then some! They knew exactly what they were doing. I felt a bit manipulated by the tears to the cajones. Why didn't her people just let her do the speaking and she may have won.

read the actual quotes here...

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/carville-says-o.html

[rzan]

Don't forget "balls of steel." These comments are all from her campaign or her supporters, and I find them to be extremely offensive. But Hillary did nothing to correct any of it, so why is she blaming the media for what her own campaign has done? The nutcracker is offensive, I must admit.

[nickyhartzell]

Writing as the only person in the world not to have cable, because I live in BF**, Texas where there is no cable, all I got for TV news was endless pro-Clinton stories and virtually no coverage of Obama. Even when he was winning his 11 straight primaries, they were acknowledged on about story #6 with a one sentence comment, such as, "Senator Obama won So and So state." And if you blinked, you missed it. I was so offended, I even stopped watching the local stations' news. I never heard word one on sexist remarks towards Senator Clinton, only her supporters, e.g. Stephopolous on ABC, Ifill on PBS, etc. etc. So the "sexist" comments must have been in the domain of cable TV alone. And even if they acted like bastards, I am entirely unconvinced by the argument that sexism lost her the nomination, although it would be convenient to find something to blame besides Clinton's missing the boat early in the primary season. How would she have fared had she been on the receiving end of the racism Obama had to endure, or even of attacks against her own person like the ones she was so happy to dish out. I believe that she set the tone of her own campaign, decided early to employ Rovean tactics against her oponent, and has suffered the result in a season where the public is not willing to stomach attacks a la mode of Rove any longer.

[liseworks]

Bravo to Nicky from BF, (lol) Texas - !! Thanks for that !

[ClydeSloppers]

Katie, those words make you a Republican warmonger here at HuffPost.

[YellowPanties]

Moderators: "ClydeSloppers" is a dumb troll just trying to provoke. He's probably 12 years old and dumber than a bag of hammers, but could you please just ban him?

[HannibalSilver]

Katie needs a new work environment to move her brain waves towards empathy for immigrants, truth-telling about Iraq, and recognition of Obama's masterful campaign. FOX has suggested that Katie's low ratings is based on gender, perhaps, this unreliable statement has created affinity between Katie and Hillary manifested through the mechanism of projection. The problem with Hillary was Billhillary and Karl Rove.

[YvonneH]

Please......... give this one a rest! Pure and simple, Hillary Clinton blew her own campaign by playing the part of bully/victim. It got old fast. You're talking about a woman who had every advantage and more from the start of the primaries over a year ago. She had the most money, the most recognizable name, she had to back her one of the most (then) popular presidents in memory - her husband, she was able to hire the most prominent and experienced managers, and yet, she lost. And she lost because she was outsmarted by Obama and his less expensive and superior team of people. Obama and his team had a consistent message, Hillary and her team didn't. Obama and his team stayed away from drama, her's thrived on it and created it whenever possible. Perhaps her biggest blunder however, was this: she failed to see that Obama is always a gentleman. The only way to compete with that is to act like a lady. But she just didn't know how......
She has only herself to blame for her fall. Sexism by the media had nothing to do with it....

[liseworks]

Right on the money, Yvonne - ! Bully / victim repetitions get way old -
She repeatedly threw the kitchen sink, then it got hot in the kitchen & she was glowing over the effects of her sink-throwing, he took it calmly without throwing one pan ! ....
He stayed cool & turned out SHE couldn't take the heat.

[happytrails]

Gosh Katie, are you finally opening your eyes to the real world? And after all your cheerleading for the invasion of Iraq, and for the thugs running the country?

Hip, Hip, HOORAY!

[Mark01]

She needed to say something to get herself in the public. Low ratings and almost getting fired. She needs this one badly

[ZimboChick]

*this crap does not deserve a comment*

[DCtrain]

So Couric found an outlet through the primary for her own bitterness, her own losses

[DallasNE]

Katie Couric falls into the same trap as so many other in Government and the media. When she had chance to make a difference she said nothing. It was only after the horse got out of the barn that she decided to speak up. This is the knock on the liks of Colin Powell and Scott McClellan. What an empty suit.

[Bluejay00234]

And I guess the reason your show ratings STINK is because of sexist viewers also. Ah not too long -- your show will soon be canceled.