Katie Couric was Jay Leno's guest on Thursday's Tonight Show.
She had done a book-signing for The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives at the Reagan Library on Wednesday.
Couric told how she's gotten to know Nancy Reagan quite well through the years. After the event at the Library, they all had dinner. Couric sat next to Mrs. Reagan. She said she's "still sharp as a tack. She's a really wonderful and remarkable woman." Couric said they "had so much fun kind of gossipping and catching up." She said they also talked about the "political climate in Washington and how the approval rating for Congress is so low."
Right.
Obama's approval rating isn't exactly soaring.
How weird for liberals like Couric and Leno to speak highly of President Reagan and Nancy Reagan! Was this some parallel universe?
Couric went on to tell a story that Mrs. Reagan told her the other night.
Transcript
KATIE COURIC: She actually told me this story and I called her today and I said, 'Can I share this story you told me last night?' And she said I could, about after President Reagan was shot. He was in the hospital and nobody was allowed to see him. But Tip O'Neill came in, the Speaker of the House at the time. And he took off his shoes and went into President Reagan's hospital room, and he knelt down on the floor and started reciting the Lord's Prayer. And President Reagan started reciting it with him. And they said it together and Nancy was witnessing this. And then Tip O'Neill stood up, kissed President Reagan on the cheek, and said, 'I love you, Mr. President.' And President Reagan said, 'I love you, too.'
And it was, she was so moved telling, retelling the story, and we were just commenting that could never happen in this current political climate. Because, you know, whenever you talk about incivility in Washington, Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan inevitably come up because even though they might have been at loggerheads over legislation, at the end of the day they would share a scotch or a drink in the Oval Office and talk to each other man to man.
JAY LENO: Yeah, yeah.
COURIC: And so it was really actually a wonderful experience. Everybody was very gracious and welcoming. I had a great time. So, it was nice.
...
It was just interesting to talk to her because I think, even if you don't agree with President Reagan politically, it was just a much more civil time and a much more, you know, polite and collaborative time in our history. And I hope eventually we'll be able to get back to that.
LENO: It would be nice. That would be a nice thing.
A few things--
It is a touching story.
And an assassination attempt would certainly bring people together. Naturally, political disagreements become less important in the face of life and death.
However, this notion that President and Mrs. Reagan were treated with civility and politeness is just not true. The Democrats and the Leftist media excoriated the Reagans. They mercilessly mocked them. Their criticism was brutal. They hated President Reagan and Nancy.
Do Couric and Leno have amnesia? This rewriting of history is a joke.
Furthermore, it's awful for Couric to suggest that if a president were shot today and survived, then a leader from the opposing political party wouldn't come to the hospital and show true concern and affection. I don't believe that's the case. During a crisis, there is unity and disagreements are put aside.
After 9/11, the Democrats actually rallied around the hated, "selected, not elected" President Bush. It was far too brief, but there was a coming together.
To be sure, the climate in Washington is poisonous now, but let's not forget the reality of Reagan's time in office and how he was treated by the opposition. The climate was not pleasant.
Another thing--
I think it's very odd for Couric to be preaching about civility and politeness given the way she's berated Sarah Palin. She bragged about her 2008 interview with Palin in May of 2009 on the Tonight Show with Leno! They even showed a stale, old clip of it!
Couric is not the person to be calling for a kinder, gentler political climate when she proudly contributed to the ugliness.
What a hypocrite!
Here's video of last night's interview:
Couric tells the President Reagan - Tip O'Neill story in Part 1.
Katie Couric, Part 1
Katie Couric, Part 2
1 comment:
Actually, not everyone comes together in time of tragedy. Did Speaker of the House John Boehner visit Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot? No.
Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan were very good friends, even before the assassination attempt.
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