McCain, Letterman, Couric and Drudge

The weirdness of the week is best illustrated by a news flash from a place where irony is only unintentional, the Drudge Report:

"David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.

"Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, 'Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?'

"Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, 'You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves.' And he joked: 'I think someone's putting something in his metamucil.'

"'He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?'

"'What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!'

The McCain campaign will undoubtedly spin this as another media attack on their man. By Drudge?

The Rocky Republican Horror Show

The McCain campaign is unveiling Sarah Palin in a way that brings back the creepy fear I felt as a nine-year-old watching a scene in "The Invisible Man," when the mad scientist slowly unwound the bandages from his face to reveal...nothing.

Much more than the frightening figures of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, that absence chilled the imagination as does the current blankness where the face of someone a heartbeat away from the most powerful position in the world should be.

Now, almost a month after McCain chose her and six weeks before voters have to decide, Sarah Palin has yet to show her face at a press conference where reporters can question her.

This week will feature a photo-op shaking hands with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the UN, followed by a controlled end-of-the-week two days with Katie Couric that will be doled out by CBS next week. Other than that, there will be Palin's robotic stump speech to cheering crowds with hand-written signs provided by the McCain campaign.

What we know about Palin continues to dribble out second- and third-hand, to be decried by her surrogates as smears, such as the news today that the woman who is courting ardent feminists was the only mayor in Alaska whose town made victims of assault pay for rape kits.

There may be a plausible explanation for that, but we won't get to hear it until reporters are allowed to question the candidate, a possibility that keeps receding toward Election Day.

Movie buffs will recall that the hubris of "The Invisible Man" led to an unhappy ending but, in today's political and media climate, who can say?

Not Doing It for the Money

For those who wonder if public service would attract better people if it paid more, there is sobering news from the economic journal TV Guide.

Last year Oprah Winfrey earned $260 million, more than twice as much as Bush, Cheney, Congress, the Supreme Court and governors of all 50 states combined. As public servants struggle along on their six-figure pittances, voters might give a thought to how poorly they are paid.

During the Presidential campaign, we learned that John Edwards earned $479,512 from his part-time job with a hedge fund, and yet here he is working so hard to get a position that pays less than that for long hours and much more stress.

Policy wonks who study the latest figures should look for an explanation for the fact that Simon Cowell ($45 million), Judge Judy ($30 million) and Katie Couric ($15 million) earn more than the headliners of all three Federal branches combined.

Meanwhile, taxpayers can take comfort in knowing that they are getting such good government at bargain prices.

Rather's Remedial Journalism for Couric

Rapidly depleting the good-will balance in his Journalism Hall of Fame account, Dan Rather had a few words yesterday for Katie Couric, who succeeded him as anchor of the CBS Evening News.

Discussing broadcast news with Joe Scarborough, the pole-dancing expert, on Imus’ old show, Rather observed Couric was “dumbing it down” and “tarting it up,” stopping just short of describing her as nappy-headed.

Rather’s decline into an intemperate scold is saddening for those who remember and admire him as a feisty reporter who stood up to Nixon, helped expose Watergate and succeeded Walter Cronkite as a fabled network anchor.

His condemnation of CBS News’ current approach could be debated, but its form and manner come with ill grace from a man whose illustrious career imploded during the George Bush era.

On Bill Moyers’ recent “Buying the War,” Rather, clearly racked by guilt, confessed there was no excuse for “my performance and the performance of the press in general in the rollup to the war,” citing only the trauma of 9/11 in mitigation.

Even worse, by inexcusable sloppiness that ended his CBS career, Rather helped reelect Bush in 2004. In failing to verify documents, he allowed the Bush smear machine to make his reporting the issue rather the subject of it, Bush’s avoidance of serving in Vietnam.

Armchair psychology might suggest that Rather’s new role as a scourge may stem, in some part, from guilt and anger over his own failings. But that does not give him license to, in effect, call Katie Couric the journalistic equivalent of a nappy-headed ho.