A look around the news for a Wednesday afternoon.
- After the months of rumors, Katie Couric has announced that she'll be leaving the Today Show at NBC to sit in the Dan Rather Chair at CBS for the evening news.
Couric appeared close to tears at times as she made the announcement on "Today."
"Sometimes I think change is a good thing," she said. "Although it may be terrifying to get out of your comfort zone, it's very exciting to start a new chapter in your life."
Most people see her as a morning person, though.
Asked if they would rather see Couric in her longtime role as "Today" host or as the first woman to anchor a network weekday evening newscast on her own, 49 percent favored the morning and 29 percent said evening, according to a poll conducted this week by The Associated Press and TV Guide.
I somehow doubt she'll do what she would urge President Bush to do were he confronted with numbers like that, and reverse her course. Certainly it'll be interesting to see what happens to CBS News ratings ... which have been improving with Bob Schieffer.
Courage, Ms. Couric. Courage.
- Congratulations to Ed Morrissey and his Blog of the Year, Captain's Quarters. Yeah, yeah, I know, great blog and all that. Try fixing rotator cuffs all day and then blog, see how you do. Seriously, Mr. Morrissey is someone who collects and analyzes data before writing, and it shows. Very seldom will he jump in before fully testing the waters, and if he does and is snagged, he issues a correction. Are you listening, NY Times?
- The World's Smallest Violin is playing for ... Barry Bonds, who nearly came to tears on his own show on ESPN2 "The Deuce" today.
"If it makes them happy to go out of their way to destroy me or whatever they want to try to do, go right ahead. It doesn't bother me," Bonds said. "You can't hurt me anymore than you've already hurt me. You can't hurt my family anymore than you've already hurt them."
Bonds then went on, tearing up at one point.
"They can take me down. I don't really care," he said. "I never cared. Baseball, if they want to take me down, go right ahead take it. Anyone who ever knows me knows ... I don't care. But there's so many other people who depend on me to stay strong."
Stay strong, Barry. Just do it without the juice, okay?
- Democrats are currently hitting Republicans charging a "culture of corruption" has ruined the party. Personally I don't think that's a fair blanket assessment, but with Randy 'Duke' Cunningham and the swirling Jack Abramoff allegations they may make it stick. Republicans might well be justified in counter charging a "culture of arrogance" in the Democratic party. We've got Sen. John "I don't fall down" Kerry, Congresswoman Cynthia "It's racism" McKinney, Rep. Patrick "Do you know who I am?" Kennedy, and all those blue staters who really believe they're just naturally smarter. Here's another debunking of that bit of bunkum. "Culture of Arrogance" - it's kind of catchy, no?
- Speaking of arrogance, Power Line notes a Washington Post story on the move by Democrats in Maryland to
rig'facilitate' the Senate election this fall, allowing a full 5 days of voting ... but only in heavily Democratic districts. Nice.
