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Originally Posted by dissention
No, Katie Couric never called Reagan an "airhead." The actual quote from the 9/27/99 Today transcript is:
Good morning. The Gipper was an airhead. That’s one of the conclusions of a new biography of Ronald Reagan that’s drawing a tremendous amount of interest and fire today, Monday, September the 27th, 1999.
She attributed it to Edmund Morris, doll, the man who wrote the biography on Reagan. And Sean Hannity, that pillar of integrity, even said the same thing on that very date, 9/27/99 on his show:
Welcome back to Hannity & Colmes. I’m Sean Hannity. Coming up, the authorized biography of Ronald Reagan calls him, quote, an airhead. And it is upsetting a lot of the former president’s supporters.
She also claimed on page 134 of Slander that the New York Times called Bush an "airhead" in a piece that ran on 3/12/00, but that's another lie.
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I was aware of her using the quote from Edmund Morris' book. Do you happen to notice the difference in approach as to the way it was used on the Today show and how it was used on Hannity & Colmes? "The Gipper was an airhead" were the opening remarks. Not to mention it was incorrectly quoted, leaving out the word "apparent" which can make a world of difference. As it did in the case of Mr. Morris' quote, which he brought to task whenever he appeared on the Today show saying that it was "brutal and grossly unfair. I did not call him an airhead." He explained that he had simply written that based on his first impression of meeting Reagan.
Also it is important to note that Hannity & Colmes did not consistently open their shows with the same inane assertion.
Coulter: So for the Today show to be opening three days in a row, Ronald Reagan was an airhead, I'm sorry, that's dishonest.
Couric: It was one day. And also, just for your information it, was one day.
Coulter: No, you said it one day. Matt Lauer said it another day.
Couric: No, it was just one day, and we'll get the transcripts for you
Let's go to NEXIS! Answer: Two days, three times (plus once on "Later Today"). Couric said it on Sept. 27, 1999. The next day, as charged, Lauer opened the show by talking about "the author's assertion that Reagan was a great president but an airhead." NBC's Jamie Gangel repeated the "airhead" charge without the "apparent" later that day in a Today interview with ex-President George H.W. Bush. The winner: Coulter on points. She was closer to the truth than Couric, who picked this particular fact fight and was wrong. ... The account in Coulter's book (which doesn't make the "three days" charge) appears to be completely accurate