Norah O'Donnell: 'I’ve Never Been So Lost in My Career'

After spending time at NBC being laughed at by her colleagues, TV simpleton Norah O'Donnell is now at CBS, where she's apparently held in contempt by staffers there.

After alienating CBS colleagues during President Obama’s bus tour, the network’s chief White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell is making nice. She was chastised by CBS News chair Jeff Fager for her performance during Obama’s recent bus trip, and “called [CBS News President] David Rhodes to blame her colleagues in front of everyone on the bus,” said a source. O’Donnell wailed, “I’ve never been so lost in my career. I need a buffer in Washington to help me ... This is not working out. I didn’t know what Jeff wanted,” another source said. O’Donnell was then met with “icy stares” at the space she shares with CBS staff in the White House briefing room. Now, “she’s trying to be nice,” an insider said. “She used to wear her Chanel sunglasses so nobody would speak to her.”

Who knows, maybe they're making fun of her for being semi-literate.

Pres Obama at accepts Boehner invite for Sept 8, one day later then the president called for publicly

Couric Blames Local Lead-In for Pitiful Performance

Dumping on her co-workers

After wasting $75 million on this talentless hack, this is the return CBS gets for their investment.

Katie Couric is blaming Ch. 2's local news for her last-place finish in the network news race.

In an interview to be published next Sunday in the New York Times Magazine, Couric, who is reportedly leaving the network next month, tried to explain why she could not move the needle on the nightly news show since arriving in 2007.

"I believe we were in third place for 13 years before I got here," she told the magazine. "And I think habits, particularly with an evening news broadcast, move at a glacial pace.

"And I think that local news stations have something to do with it."

"You weren't provided a strong enough lead-in by local affiliates?" the interviewer asked.

"Some people have said that local news is really important in terms of lead-ins," Couric replied.

"I haven't really analyzed that. I'm just saying what I've read or some of the theories about it."

She hasn't analyzed it, it's just what she's read or heard about it? Well, now, if that doesn't perfectly synthesize the mind of a modern-day liberal. She has no facts to support her claim, she claims to have read about it (hey, Katie, what newspapers do you read?), or it's a theory. From where, she doesn't say.

Why bother even theorizing it might be the fact you're an ultra-liberal who can't be trusted to deliver the news in a fair and balanced manner?

The gossip is Scott Pelley will be the next anchor at CBS News. They can't do any worse than Couric. She's managed to become fabulously wealthy with a limited skill set. She should be thankful she's gotten this far, rather than blaming others for her failures. Dan Rather's ugly departure from CBS almost seems classy in hindsight.

CBS News Reporter Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted by Freedom Loving Egyptian Mob

Come for the freedom! Oh, and that infidel babe over there. Let's celebrate deposing Mubarak with a good old-fashioned gangrape!

Savages.

On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.

In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.

Did 'Uncle Walter' Aid Vietnam Protesters?

Now this would be a shocker, huh? A high-profile media hack sympathizing with anti-war protesters? No wonder he's such an icon on the left.

Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite allegedly collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists in the 1960s, going so far as to offer advice on how to raise the public profile of protests and even pledging CBS News resources to help pull off events, according to FBI documents obtained by Yahoo! News.

The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, say that in November 1969, Cronkite encouraged students at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., to invite Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie to address a protest they were planning near Cape Kennedy (now known as Cape Canaveral). Cronkite told the group's leader that Muskie would be nearby for a fundraiser on the day of the protest, and said that "CBS would rent [a] helicopter to take Muskie to and from site of rally," according to the documents.

The claims are contained in an FBI memo recounting a confidential informant's report on a November 1969 meeting of a Rollins College protest group called Youth for New America. The group was planning rallies near Cape Kennedy on Nov. 13 and 14 — the latter being day of the Apollo 12 launch from Cape Kennedy, which President Nixon would be attending — as part of a nationwide Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. That protest action culminated in a huge march on Washington on Nov. 15.

According to the informant, the group's leader (whose name is redacted in the documents) told the attendees that during a visit to a local CBS News station to drum up publicity for the protests, he ended up in a 45-minute phone conversation with Cronkite.

Just nine months before, Cronkite had delivered his famous on-air judgment that the "bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate." Even so, such tight collaboration between a news organization and the anti-war movement — particularly the offer of CBS News resources to help ferry a sitting senator and future presidential candidate around in opposition to the war — was highly unusual and would presumably have been explosive if known widely at the time. It's unclear whether Muskie ever actually attended the event.

Considering his successor helped try and derail the re-election of George W. Bush by using phony documents on the air, nobody should be all that shocked. The only difference between Cronkite and today's media is they're much more out in the open with helping the enemies of America.

Hot Air and Verum Serum link. Thanks!

Heartbreak: Massive Job Cuts at CBS News

I blame Dan Rather and Mary Mapes for this. Five years after their perfidy the ill effects are still being felt by CBS. The news organization lost all credibility and has just never recovered.

By Monday afternoon, staffers from Washington to L.A. were sputtering in disbelief as they heard of top producers on the chopping block—particularly Mark Katkov and Jill Rosenbaum in D.C. and Roberta Hollander and Barbara Pierce in L.A. These were seasoned veterans, part of the old school known back in the Dan Rather days as “the Hard Corps.” Over the years, they had somehow managed to outlive every big buzz saw to cut through the newsroom. They knew how to get more from less. Each thought of himself as worth five producers at ABC News. Their theme song was Merle Haggard’s “Holding Things Together.” It was hard to imagine what the already third-place morning and evening news operations would look like without them.

The most disturbing news of the day for many observers was that Larry Doyle would no longer be working for CBS News.

Mr. Doyle, according to CBS News legend, joined the organization some 40 years ago, when then D.C. bureau chief Bill Small found him working as a porter at a Washington hotel. Mr. Small promptly made Mr. Doyle the bureau’s go-to “dogrobber”—the guy you sent into nasty situations to stare down snarling subjects and get the job done. From there, Mr. Doyle gradually worked his way up the news ladder, eventually becoming the network’s top war producer, churning out great television from every hellhole on the planet—including Baghdad, where he served as the network’s bureau chief during the early years of the ongoing war.

Reached the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 2, Dan Rather recounted various stories of Mr. Doyle’s heroism in the field, including his impressive management of gun-toting teenagers in Somalia. “He’s one of the all-time greats,” said Mr. Rather. “He’s the soul of the place.”

Maybe Rather can help support him with his many millions.

Or maybe the grossly overpaid Katie Couric can.

CBSNEWS anchorwoman and 60 MINUTES contributor Katie Couric faces a dramatic pay cut at the network, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

CBS boss Les Moonves is determined to save money and trim expenses -- from top to bottom -- at the former crown jewel of broadcasting.

Couric, the highest paid TV news personality in history, commands over $14 million a year, plus bumps for non-EVENING NEWS appearances.

But her salary is now in the direct line of fire, network insiders explain, and a populist backlash against Couric's cash is said to be forming inside the newsroom.

"She makes enough to pay 200 news reporters $75,000 a year!" demands a veteran producer. "It's complete insanity."

The angry source continues: "We report with great enthusiasm how much bankers are making, how it is out of step with reality during a recession. We'll, look at Katie!"

Couric's $300,000 a week paycheck has become the obsession of disgruntled CBS staff, just as deep layoffs rock the fishbowl.

CBS News Tries To Discredit Conservative Blogs, Fails Miserably

A blog post we put up September 18 contrasting the tall tales of the two Obamas seems to finally have registered with some in the antique media. Of course this CBS News report doesn't do any research into explaining why Barack and Michelle Obama had such divergent stories about their daughter's alleged meningitis. No, can't do that, what with their army of fact-checkers and layers upon layers of editors. Instead, they seek to discredit us and the other blogs who pointed out the huge discrepancy in their stories.

It seemed to be a perfect example of a tasteless political fib: Michelle Obama invoking a heart wrenching but untrue story about her daughter Sasha's medical woes. A conservative blogger concluded:

"Today Mrs. Obama says (Sasha) was four months old but fortunately did not have meningitis. Yet just eight days ago her husband said she was three months old and was diagnosed with meningitis." One blog used the opportunity to reprint the Obama-as-Joker photo, HotAir.com called it "serious incompetence" on the Obamas' part, it appeared on Breitbart.tv, and the crowd over at FreeRepublic.com dubbed the president a "chronic liar." There's just one problem with this nice little gotcha story. There's no evidence that either Obama lied.

So what does this intrepid CBS reporter use as evidence? Why the White House website, of course. So let's have a look at what she said.

I will never forget the time eight years ago when Sasha was four months that she would not stop crying. And she was not a crier, so we knew something was wrong. So we fortunately were able to take her to our pediatrician that next morning. He examined her and same something's wrong. We didn't know what. But he told us that she could have meningitis. So we were terrified. He said, get to the emergency room right away.

And fortunately for us, things worked out, because she is now the Sasha that we all know and love today -- (laughter) -- who is causing me great -- excitement. (Laughter.)

She does not say she had meningitis. She doesn't definitely say she didn't, but why would the NY Times say she did not? Maybe the CBS News reporter should ask them instead of bashing us.

Here again is Barack Obama. Note at the 2:40 mark the president says:

"when our youngest daughter Sasha was diagnosed with meningitis at three months old".

Compare that with the NY Times report we linked in the original story.

In her speech, Mrs. Obama also told the story of how her daughter Sasha would not stop crying when she was 4 months old. A doctor’s visit revealed she might have meningitis; she ultimately did not, but the illness produced a scare.

So all we did was point out the obvious: Barack Obama claimed his daughter was diagnosed with meningitis at three months old, while the NY Times report says she was four months old and did not have meningitis. Oh, but we're supposed to be the ones factually challenged, according to CBS News. That's CBS News, of all places. You remember them: It's fake, but accurate.

Maybe if Declan Mccullagh wants to do his homework he ought to call the reporter at the New York Times instead of taking a cheapshot at conservative blogs for something we pointed out three weeks ago. Better yet, maybe Mccullagh and the rest of the "mainstream" media should have noticed the obvious differences in their stories last month when the rest of us pointed this out. But no, they can't do that. Instead they have to take a swipe at the folks doing the work the media refuses to do.

Instapundit and Hot Air link. Thanks!

Ed Morrissey notes:

Normally, McCullagh does better work than this, but this is just embarrassing. We specifically included the New York Times link in our blog posts and quoted Zeleny. It wasn’t just a comparison of the two speeches. Either McCullagh is too unschooled to read, or he deliberately omitted it to tell his own tall tale about bloggers. I’d say this effort should win McCullagh the Mary Mapes Award at CBS.

Next time, read the whole post and click the links, Tiffany Network.

Ouch.

Update: By the way, in case you're inclined to think Mrs. Obama isn't prone to embellishment and exaggeration, look no further than this clip from her appeal to the IOC the other day.



H/T Jonny.

Update: An alert reader has pointed out the CBS News article has been altered without noting an update or the fact they've changed their story. I don't have a screen grab of the original or a cached version, but we have enough evidence. First, the commenter says:

The CBS report has now been updated apparently (without noting that it has been changed).

Now it says that Zeleny's account is incorrect and that Michelle didn't say the diagnosis was mistaken. Video of Michelle is provided.

So even though the bloggers' error results from relying on the NYT, CBS is still attacking them rather than the NYT.

A separate issue is whether CBS has independently confirmed that Sasha had Meningitis.
New NEW 10.06.09 - 12:08 pm

Indeed, the new and improved CBS story now says:

By contrast, when Michelle Obama gave a speech about health care a few days later, on September 18, the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny wrote a blog post for the Times' "Prescriptions" blog saying: In her speech, Mrs. Obama also told the story of how her daughter Sasha would not stop crying when she was 4 months old. A doctor's visit revealed she might have meningitis; she ultimately did not, but the illness produced a scare. (Emphasis added)

This was not part of Mccullagh's original report, which is why we made sure to point out our original link to the New York Times back on September 18. As we said originally, had he simply done the legwork and noted where we got the information from, he'd have saved himself from his own beclowning. After this was pointed out today, Mccullagh apparently realized he'd been busted and rewrote his article, the height of duplicity.

Indeed, Ed Morrissey noted this in his post this morning as well.

There’s just one problem with CBS’ reporting. They never address the New York Times report that said this:

In her speech, Mrs. Obama also told the story of how her daughter Sasha would not stop crying when she was 4 months old. A doctor’s visit revealed she might have meningitis; she ultimately did not, but the illness produced a scare.

So in an effort to demonstrate bloggers aren't telling the truth, the CBS News reporter alters his own report, without telling the readers the truth.

You can't make this stuff up. Unless, of course, you work for CBS News, where making things up and altering your articles without informing the readers is apparently standard operating procedure.

Ace links. Thanks!

Update: After exchanging emails with Mccullagh, he insists he didn't change his story, so I'll take his word for it, such as it is, so we'll stand corrected on that point. Still, he ignores the larger point which is I used the NY Times as the source that said the Obama child did not have meningitis. I suggested again he check with the writer from the Times. Also, by claiming the original story here was incorrect he disregards the differing statements of the Obamas.

Update: Mccullagh updates himself.

Update 6:35pm ET Tuesday: It appears as though at least one thin-skinned blogger doesn't like it when his mistakes are pointed out. Over at JammieWearingFool, you can see a report saying, incorrectly, that my article didn't mention the New York Times: "This was not part of McCullagh's original report." Of course it was: I haven't updated last night's story until now. After leaving up the incorrect report all day, JammieWearingFool finally sports an update saying "we'll stand corrected on that point" but defending everything else.

As you can see in my previous update I clarified that point and did so several hours ago. Unlike Mccullagh, I have a life and don't have the time to spend all day glued to a keyboard. Still, Mccullagh refuses to make any effort to question the inconsistencies in the two wildly different tales woven by the Obamas.

As for being thin-skinned, he emailed me to make the assertion that I suspect him of being an Obama suck-up, which I never did, either here or in any emails to him. So not only is Mccullagh a lazy reporter who refuses to make any effort to contact the NY Times reporter, he's also seems paranoid and fancies himself an amateur mindreader. Maybe the next time he analyzes blog posts 18 days after the fact he'll do a little more homework. I pointed out my error, but he apparently can't bring himself to do so.

Oh well.

'For Us, This Was a Good Day'

There haven't been many good days for this scourge of broadcast journalism in the nearly five years since he used forged documents to try and sway a presidential election. So let Dan Rather enjoy this one while he can. Hopefully it'll just make his ultimate defeat all the more painful.

If you believe Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS is close to finished, folks, you'll believe rocks can grow.

The anchor's $70 million lawsuit against his former employers got a new lease on life today when a Manhattan judge restored his previously dismissed fraud claim against the network.

"I think by any reasonable, objective analysis, this was a bad day at Black Rock," Rather, 77, quipped after the hearing before Manhattan Supreme Court Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman. "For us, this was a good day."

The fraud charge contends the network's trickery cost Rather millions by scapegoating him for a flawed report on President Bush's Vietnam era military service, and then keeping him off the air - torpedoing the chance for a $4 million a year gig at CNN or another cable channel.

He now makes an average of $1.5 million a year at HDNet, the papers say.

Rather's contentions that the fix was in when CBS hired a panel to investigate the story also got a boost when Gammerman ruled he could have access to thousands of pages of documents that were being suppressed by a law firm that did work for the panel.

The judge also ordered CBS to turn over copies of "silence agreements" that banned 11 former employees from discussing anything about the Bush story and the panel's investigation.

Rather said he was hopeful the collection of documents would show "what really went on" at CBS "as opposed to what we were told went on."

Rather should have long ago slithered off into obscurity (then again, he is on HDNet), yet his supersized ego will never allow him to admit he perpetrated a fraud. How ironic he's pursuing a fraud claim against CBS.

'Rather's Position Defies Logic and Common Sense'

The sorry saga of a punch drunk has-been drags out in court, as the man who tried to sway a presidential election pathetically pursues a payday while flinging about zany conspiracy theories.

Welcome to the bizarro world of Dan Rather.

Dan Rather's conspiracy theories about CBS make about as much sense as a two-story outhouse, the network says.

Rather and his old bosses were facing off in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday, where the former Evening News anchor was seeking documents he says will prove his storied career there was sacrificed to appease the Bush administration.

Rather's lawyer Martin Gold maintained the fix was in once CBS hired a panel to investigate a discredited story on President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard, and thousands of documents being suppressed by a law firm that did work for the panel will show the report in a new light.

The panel's report found the story - which aired two months before the 2004 presidential election - was flawed, and should have been more heavily scrutinized by CBS before being put on the air.

"We allege this was a sham investigation on be half of CBS so they could mollify the right" and get rid of Rather, who'd been a thorn in Bush's side, Gold said.

That notion alone, that a network in this day and age would cater to the right, is patently absurd. Heck, even a former CBS newsman, Bernie Goldberg, laid out the bias for all the world to see in his books.

In their court filings, CBS states, "Rather's position defies logic and common sense."

"Rather's theory is that CBS News commissioned a costly panel, in order to criticize itself, exonerate Dan Rather, and give themselves cover for doing something that it had a contractual right to do anyway," which is remove Rather from his anchor seat, the filing says.

CBS lawyer Jim Quinn said that while the report found Rather did nothing wrong, it "excoriated CBS."

"If that's a sham, it's the dumbest sham I've ever heard of," Quinn said.

No, the dumbest sham is a court is even hearing this case.

Media Whore Helped Herself to Iraqi Artifacts

Remember all the media hysteria over artifacts being looted following the fall of Saddam Hussein? Well, according to this report a certain media figure apparently helped herself to some goodies.

CBS news hottie Lara Logan could be in hot water for swiping souvenirs from the wreckage of bombed-out Baghdad.

In a video profile of the "60 Minutes" star called "Lara Logan's Spoils of War," mementos from Iraq and Afghanistan are shown in her Washington office.

"The prize pieces are . . . pre-Iraq invasion portraits of Saddam Hussein. In one [he's] shown in military fatigues. Logan told us she found it in pieces, in the ruins of the Olympic committee building after it was bombed," reports Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable, the media industry publication that produced the online piece.

"A second portrait recovered from the ruins of a shelled palace in Baghdad shows a paternal Saddam surrounded by a group of adoring children, Hovering above the scene is the disembodied head of a stern-looking elderly woman . . . which Logan says is Saddam's mother."

Taking such items out of the country is considered theft under a federal provision designed to protect Iraqi heritage. One former Fox News engineer has already been prosecuted and placed on probation for smuggling paintings from Iraqi palaces. Other journos have been warned.

"Why is it OK for Lara Logan to be displaying a few of those same kind of items framed on her office walls at CBS News and have public media stories done about them without any US Customs people paying attention?" asks ERSnews.com, a muckraking media Web site.

Why? Because she has special privileges. That's why.

It's a mystery why this homewrecking slut is even still employed by CBS.

Clueless Rather's Bad Day in Court

This stooge should be thankful he lives in a country where he can have his day in court. In other places he'd probably have been thrown in jail, or worse, for trying to help sway a presidential election.

As it is, all he'll get is more public humiliation in a courthouse. He should stop whining and take it like a man.

Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS is getting whittled down like a redwood at an Alabama beaver party.

A Manhattan judge yesterday threw out two more of Rather's claims against the network, including his charge that his former bosses committed fraud by falsely promising to help restore his reputation after he became a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's military career.

"We are extremely gratified that the court has now dismissed the vast majority of Mr. Rather's claims," CBS said in a statement.

Rather's lawyer, Martin Gold, said that despite Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman's ruling striking down two of their remaining four claims, their suit is still alive.

"The whole story is coming out," he said, predicting that Rather will prove claims that he was railroaded by his longtime bosses so they could curry favor with the Bush administration.

Sure, as if a network actually wanted to suck up to Bush. As if the administration has received glowing coverage ever since then.

Geez, do these people realize how clueless they sound?

Rather filed suit against CBS last year, charging they hung him out to dry after the uproar over a flawed story on the president's days in the Texas Air National Guard.

The report, which aired during the 2004 presidential race, said Bush avoided Vietnam by pulling strings to get into the Guard, and then shirked his duties once he was in.

The story came under fire when some of the documents the report relied on were revealed to be forgeries.

Shocker: Media Whore Now Pregnant

When it was first reported a couple of weeks ago, CBS News reporter Lara Logan was all indignant that the media was discussing her sordid personal life.

Well, clearly there was some fire behind the smoke as she's now admitted to being pregnant, with the father a married federal contractor.

Lara Logan, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, tells The Washington Post she is pregnant, and the father is a married federal contractor whom she met while stationed in Iraq.

Logan's relationship with Joseph Burkett — who's in the midst of a divorce from wife Kimberly, with whom he has a 3-year-old daughter — has made media headlines, including the front page of the New York Post.

Logan is going through a divorce from estranged husband Jason Siemon, a Chicago-based energy lobbyist whom she married in 1998.

"Nobody likes to read about themselves like that, especially the way it's been sensationalized," Logan, 37, told The Washington Post. "I hated it. But I'm just going to rise above it and keep going."

Logan, whose pregnancy was unplanned, told the newspaper her due date is in January, and she's "looking forward to being a mom."

Logan — a South Africa native who began dating Burkett following her November breakup with CNN correspondent Michael Ware — said she and Burkett plan to marry eventually.

REJECTED! Or Birth of a Moonbat

This is not news to me since I did my time in hell known as recruiting back in the 90's, but every time I have brought it up in an argument I have always had to rely on my anecdotal evidence. My personnel experience back then was about 4 out of every 10 would qualify. Now since CBS is giving their seal of approval on it I guess that lends some sort of credibility to my claims. What am I saying? CBS lends credibility? How about this. I can corroborate the assertions put forth in this piece.

Put it another way: Only three out of 10 young people between the ages of 17 and 24 even qualify to serve in the Army, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

The rest are ineligible either because they didn’t graduate from high school, have a police record or are not physically fit.

Besides the physical fitness, which we can actually work with, my experience was that most were disqualified for medical reasons. All those drugs teachers pump into your kids like Ritalin disqualify them. Drugs to handle their other psyche failings like Zoloft also disqualify them.

But it seemed no matter how many times I tried to present these sort of things to moonbats it was poo-pooed. It is also why a draft would never work. I think a lot of these moonbats may in fact be closet wannabee military types that got turned down, and rather then have walk around with the word REJECTED tattooed on their forehead they became anti-war wackos. It gives them cover for not being good enough to join and allows them to strike back at the institution that told them no.

Lara Logan, In-Bedded Reporter

Looks like CBS has a mess on their hands, and what do you know, a website scooped the entire media on this story six months ago.

Sexy CBS siren Lara Logan spent her days covering the heat of the Iraq war - but that was nothing compared to the heat of her nights.

The "60 Minutes" reporter and former swimsuit model apparently courted two beaus while she was in Baghdad, and has been labeled a homewrecker for allegedly destroying the marriage of a civilian contractor there, sources said.

Passions got so hot in the combat zone that one of her lovers, Joe Burkett, brawled in a Baghdad "safe house" with her other paramour, CNN war reporter Michael Ware, a source said.

The wife of Burkett, a US Embassy worker, claims the sultry 37-year-old correspondent seduced him while bullets flew overhead.

Burkett's wife, Kimberly, also accuses Logan of teaming up with him to take her 3-year-old daughter away, according to the source.

A close pal of Logan, who confirmed the allegations to The Post, said Burkett's marriage to Kimberly was already finished six months before they sparked up a relationship.

"She is not the cause of their divorce," the friend told The Post yesterday.

"It was going to happen."

The pal also said Logan was particularly hurt by the comments because she had met Kimberly Burkett and thought the two were "friendly."

Kimberly filed for divorce from her husband in January in a court near their hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas.

The husband, 36, and wife, 32, are now battling over custody of toddler Ashley.

Pals of Logan said that the divorce attorney is just grandstanding by dragging the rising television star into the Texas couple's split.

"Lara is not part of their divorce proceedings," a friend said.

"The simple truth is that this was a marriage that was breaking up. And that's the bottom line."

As for the other claims, pals admitted that Logan had a one-time fling with CNN reporter Ware - but denied that there was any sort of fight between him and Burkett in Baghdad.

"There was no screaming match," the pal said.

Tale of the love fight first broke on the freerepublic.com in December.

Howard Kurtz gushed over Logan being a rapid riser a couple of years ago. Apparently she knows how to get a rise out of others.

She has conveniently now been given an assignment in Washington.

Thanks to Ace and Gateway Pundit for the links.

This Explains So Much: Olbermann Diagnosed With Neurological Disorder

We know the odious Chris Matthews has openly declared his love for Barack Obama by famously uttering that just witnessing The Messiah gives him a tingle up his leg. Now it appears his unctuous PMSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann also has an odd twitch himself.

THE perplexing mystery of why Keith Olbermann acts like a twitchy, hopped-up geek on his MSNBC show has been solved.

The New Yorker's Peter J. Boyer reports the TV loudmouth "has been given a diagnosis of Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome, also known as 'restless legs syndrome' (and also 'the kicks,' 'Jimmy legs' and 'the jitters'), a neurological disorder that produces a prickling, itching or crawling feeling in the legs."

Known as a women's ailment because it strikes twice as many women as men, the syndrome has stirred controversy among doctors who don't agree whether it's even real or instead caused by various physical and/or emotional factors. Olbermann is uncoordinated - he can't drive, having once smashed his swollen head leaping into a subway car. The concussion permanently upset his equilibrium, he claims.

This explains so much about his weird, impulsive and erratic behavior. Perhaps he needs a long rest at a nice psychiatric facility. Maybe when Barack Obama loses in November, he'll really come unraveled and be carted away by the nice men in white coats.

Another interesting tidbit is the note about how a befuddled CBS, following the Dan Rather fraudulent TANG memo fiasco, nearly hired the crazed Olbermann. Talk about compounding your problems.

The New Yorker also reveals that CBS was so desperate to find a replacement for Dan Rather, it nearly stooped to hiring Olbermann. CBS president Les Moonves and his news chief, Andrew Heywood, held a "secret meeting" with Olbermann, where he said he wanted to "redirect" the last three minutes of each newscast with "his personal touch." After a second meeting, the CBS suits picked Katie Couric instead.

It was a major relief to old-school news vets. "Oh, no, no, no, [Olbermann]'s not a newsman. He's not a reporter. I've never seen anything that he's done that was original in terms of information. It's all derivative," said Sandy Socolow, who was Walter Cronkite's final executive producer.

Socolow will be the next Worst Person in the World on Olbermann's low-rated screed tomorrow.

Punchdrunk Rather Proceeds With Lawsuit

Dan Rather, the Mountain Rivera of television news, is trying to get another bite at the apple with his lawsuit against SeeBS. After having most of his original lawsuit laughed out of court, he is repleading the case. I love it when moonbats sue moonbats.

Former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather was back in court Tuesday asking for a second chance at claims against the network that a judge dismissed April 10.

Rather and his lawyer, Martin Gold, argued that they should be able to submit an amended complaint "to replead the legal claims that were dismissed" by New York judge Ira Gammerman.

Gold said the court would entertain the motion; CBS News' attorney Jim Quinn said the judge had significantly limited discovery.

The bottom line is Rather does not think it's his fault that he went with a story based on the now famous phony TANG memos in an effort to damage President Bush prior to the 2004 elections. Rather lost his job as part of the fallout from that journalistic disaster and is suing CBS for breach of contract.

But the money quote is this:

"Soon we'll have those who were in a position to know what happened with their right hands up in the air," Rather said. "That is when hopefully we will get the truth, which is all I ever wanted."

Hey Rather, you have never been interested in the truth. You have spent the last 40 years whoring your position as a journalist out to every leftwing cause that came down the road. You're the same guy who has supported various leftwing fundraising functions. You're the same guy who went with the TANG story even after your own hired experts tried to warn you off the story because the documents appeared to be phony. You're the same guy who then had to admit that the documents were not verifiable and tried to blame your source, again after you had been warned off the story by your own hired experts. You're the same guy who then went with the "fake but accurate" line to justify your attempt to influence a national election in the favor of the Democrats with false documents. You're the same guy who became the icon of "agenda based journalism" as a shameless shill for the Democratic party. You're the same guy who's name has become the standard punchline for jokes about shoddy journalism.

And then you have the gall to say all you are interested in is the truth. I can't wait for the CBS attorneys to get you on the stand.

Fire the Idiots Who Hired Her

Didn't take a genius to see that Katie Couric wouldn't last long as the anchor for CBS Evening News. Forget the fact she's a third-rate talent and not very bright, but she was taking over the helm of the journalistic Titanic that was well on its way to the ocean floor after Dan Rather's perfidious attempt at swinging the 2004 presidential election.

After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- possibly soon after the presidential inauguration early next year.

Ms. Couric isn't even halfway through her five-year contract with CBS, which began in June 2006 and pays an annual salary of around $15 million. But CBS executives are under pressure to cut costs and improve ratings for the broadcast, which trails rival newscasts on ABC and NBC by wide margins.

Of course, today they're saying no decision has been made.

What should happen is most of the news division should be cleaned out and they should start fresh. Or just give it up entirely.

Maybe they should see if Roger Ailes would be interested.

Andrea Peyser piles on.

WHEN will someone admit the truth about Katie Couric?

Katie was trotted out to the public less than two years ago as no less than the savior of modern American communications - a woman combining Joan of Arc's zeal and Madonna's legs.

She had the gumption to smash through the glass ceiling to make the world safe for gals. Well, at least for those who rake in $15 million a year, plus a free ride to work.

But now that her career has crashed and burned into a wicked-witch-size puddle, it's time to say it: Katie screwed up on behalf of more than just one woman who had trouble reading the TelePrompTer with conviction.

She did it for all of us.

Which network is going to take a chance on an overpaid fluff ball now?

Sure, it isn't fair. Neither is it fair that Katie was paid like a queen while rival networks wiped the floor with her. And lest you think it was not her fault, the proof is in the numbers - her ratings dipped significantly from the period in which her interim predecessor, Bob Schieffer, sat in the anchor chair.

To pay Katie her king's ransom, CBS reportedly cut the salaries of network stalwarts such as Lesley Stahl, a female veteran with far better news chops.

Couric's hiring was a disaster from day one. CBS execs figured she'd bring along the same dolts who watched her on the Today Show all those years. Problem is, they were interested in fluff and makeup tips, not real news. Same thing essentially applies to Couric.

It's the idiots who hired this empty head who should follow her out the door.

From Bad to Worse: CBS May Outsource Jobs to CNN

A grim milestone for CBS. They may as well just close up shop entirely if they plan on giving more airtime to hacks like Christiane Amanpour.

CBS, the home of the most celebrated news division in broadcasting, has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its news-gathering operations to CNN, two executives briefed on the matter said Monday.

Over the last decade, CNN has held intermittent talks with both ABC News and CBS News about various joint ventures. But during the last several months, talks with CBS have been revived and lately intensified, according to the executives who asked for anonymity because of the confidential nature of the negotiations.

Broadly speaking, the executives described conversations about reducing CBS’s news-gathering capacity while keeping its frontline personalities, like Katie Couric, the CBS Evening News anchor, and paying a fee to CNN to buy the cable network’s news feeds.

Another possibility, these people said, would be for CBS to keep its correspondents in certain regions but pair them with CNN crews.

But, these people cautioned, no deal was imminent. Sandy Genelius, a spokeswoman for CBS News, said, “We are extremely pleased with and proud of our news-gathering operation. No outside arrangements are being negotiated.” A CNN spokeswoman said, “we don’t comment on speculative business matters.”

For CNN, a deal with a broadcast network would mean a new revenue stream without having to add much in costs. For CBS, an arrangement with a cable channel would allow it to cut costs while maintaining the CBS News brand, although in a much trimmed-down fashion. CBS is mired in last place amid the continuing struggles of Ms. Couric, who was given a $15 million a year contract, to attract new viewers.

CBS long ago forfeited any shred of credibility with the bogus Dan Rather hitpiece on George W. Bush in 2004, and the Couric hiring has been an unmitigated disaster.

Partnering with CNN will just be another nail in the company coffin.

Blame Dan Rather

The old media death spiral continues unabated.

CBS reduces TV stations' news staffs

LOS ANGELES - CBS-owned TV stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago are reducing their news staffs. The cuts include two well-known anchors in Los Angeles, five on-air veterans in San Francisco and one of Chicago's highest-paid anchors.

About a dozen news staffers will depart KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV in Los Angeles, according to a person who works at one of the CBS-owned stations and requested anonymity because policy prohibits disclosing personnel matters.

The person told The Associated Press on Tuesday that longtime anchors Ann Martin and Harold Greene will leave when their contracts expire in May. Others, including reporters Jennifer Sabih and Jennifer Davis, were laid off Monday.

Technical staff was also trimmed, the person said.

Of course they blame the economy.

"It was our decision in these economic times to try to go forward and do the best as we could with our stations," said Monifa.

Maybe if you had a better product things would be brighter.

"We have to rethink how we do business," Ahern told the newspaper.

Try being honest, for starters.

Dead tree media feels their pain.

Courage.

Blockbuster Ratings for Giants-Patriots

As expected, Saturday night's Patriots-Giants game racked up huge ratings, with the game coming in as the most watched regular season NFL game since 1995.

The historic New England Patriots-New York Giants game pushed past this year's Patriots-Indianapolis Colts thriller to become the most-watched regular-season NFL telecast since 1995.

At least 34.5 million people tuned in to various outlets, including both CBS and NBC, to watch the Pats earn a place in NFL history Saturday by completing a perfect 16-0 regular season with a 38-35 victory over the Giants, according to preliminary estimates released Sunday by Nielsen Media Research.

That tops everything since the Thanksgiving 1995 Kansas City Chiefs-Dallas Cowboys game that averaged 35.7 million viewers. It also was ahead of CBS' 33.8 million viewers for the November 4 Patriots-Colts game.

Saturday's game was the first time since Super Bowl I in the mid-1960s that an NFL game was simulcast on more than one network. It also was available on three channels in New York (the local CBS and NBC outlets as well as Fox-owned indie WWOR) and all three of the Big Three in Boston (CBS, NBC and ABC).

CBS averaged 15.7 million viewers, which was the largest share of any of the networks simulcasting the game. NBC averaged about 13.1 million viewers, with 4.5 million viewers for the NFL Network nationwide and the rest spread across the three over-the-air channels in the New York and Boston markets (WWOR, Boston's WCVB and New Hampshire's WMUR).

NBC, CBS to Simulcast Patriots-Giants

In an unprecedented move, the NFL Network will now allow both CBS and NBC to simulcast the much anticipated New England Patriots at New York Giants game Saturday night, as the Patriots look to go to 16-0 for the season.

The Patriots-Giants game, which was to be broadcast Saturday night to less than half the country by the NFL Network, will be available to the entire nation under an agreement reached Wednesday by NBC and CBS to simulcast it.

The 15-0 Patriots are attempting to become the first National Football League team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to go undefeated throughout the entire regular season. Miami went on to win the Super Bowl and finish 17-0 that season.

NBC and CBS will show the NFL Network’s production of the game, with the announcers Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth, and will not pay an extra rights fee. They will each get to sell 18 30-second commercial units.

Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports, said yesterday by telephone that in a conversation in October with Steve Bornstein, the chief executive of the NFL Network, that he would be amenable to a simulcast, and would share it with another broadcast network, if the Patriots’ momentum toward an undefeated season continued. Then, on Monday morning, Bornstein called to ask him if his idea was still viable for NBC.

“As early as last week, I didn’t think it would happen, but then Steve called and I ran it past Jeff, and he said, ‘yes,’ ” said Ebersol, referring to Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC Universal. He added, “I’m intrigued by the historic nature of two over-the-air networks carrying the game. It’ll be fun and will give the NFL Network a chance to exhibit their wares.”

Joe Browne, a spokesman for the league, said: “The two networks independently expressed an interest in carrying the game. They saw the problems we were having with a few of the big cable companies, and so we went back to them earlier this week, and said, ‘What if you both simulcast the NFL Network?’”

What a shame the Giants will have to ruin the party for everyone.

Wait, did I just say that?

Just kidding. They have nothing to play for after locking up the NFC's No. 5 seed and a date with Tampa Bay next week.