A slew of right-of-center websites are promoting a new video of leaked raw footage that alleges “proof” that CBS’ Evening News anchor Katie Couric was mocking then Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on the day she was announced as John McCain‘s running mate. 
 
 But what evidence is there that she was making fun of Palin? Not much actually. 
 
 Before launching into the break-down of what may or may not be the “smoking gun” in the following video, it’s important to place it in the proper historical context. Roughly two years ago, GOP Presidential candidate John McCain truly shocked the news world with the surprise announcement of Palin as his running mate. It’s almost hard to imagine that, back then, very little was known about Ms. Palin and her very unique backstory. 
 
 The unearthed video appears to be people watching and commenting on raw and unedited footage of Couric rehearsing news copy as well as recording interstitial promotional spots and recording voice over tracks. And the proof that she’s “mocking” Palin? Well let’s let the editors at Conservatives4Palin.com explain: 
 
 As you can see, the video shows Katie Couric preparing to go on the air on the day John McCain announced Governor Palin as his running mate. It shows some tantalizing hints of Couric’s attitude toward the Governor–when talking about first Trig, then Track, Couric says “where the hell do they get these [names]?…” At that point the producer running the sound board shut off the sound because he or she didn’t want to have Couric’s disdainful and contemptuous view of Governor Palin’s children captured on even an internal CBS tape that they never expected would see the light of day. You can tell this by the “OMG!” reaction of the CBS news employees who were in the control room as Couric said that about the Governor’s kids. This video also shows Couric taking a shot at female basketball players and at Governor Palin’s hometown, one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and the fifth largest city in Alaska. 
 
 So the “smoking gun” is Couric’s comment after reading off the names of Todd and Sarah Palin children, asking “where the hell do they get these (names)?” Clearly for some that is evidence of bias and mockery from Couric. But considering that, at the time that this was recorded, Couric almost certainly knew very little about the former Governor. And regardless of where one finds his or herself on the political spectrum, Palin’s kids DO have unique names. So, presuming that this is the first time that one is reading the names of the Palin’s children, “what the hell” is not an unsurprising response. 
 
 The post in Conservatives4Palin continues to present this footage in a a broader and, ostensibly, more damning context: 
 
 It’s not just what was said by Couric in her discussion of Governor Palin, but also the way CBS framed the narrative of Governor Palin’s life in their story. The script covers moose burgers, her kids, her being a former beauty queen and being on the cover of Vogue. Sarah Palin was a sitting governor, and at that time, before the Obama campaign and their allies in the press spent months relentlessly smearing her good name, she had the highest approval ratings of any governor in the country. 
 
 This line of thinking reveals a lack of understanding of relationships between news outlets and political campaigns. While the news copy was clearly crafted by the writers at Evening News, they were almost certainly given a set of details by the campaign. So to criticize the bullet points that Couric lists as evidence of her bias neglects the fact they were most likely provided by the McCain campaign. Further, if there was any frustration with the framing of Palin’s background and selection as VP candidate, surely Palin and her handlers would not have agreed to the now notorious and candid interview in which Palin did not list to Couric the titles of magazines that she regularly read. 
 
 Katie Couric is a well-regarded and very well-respected journalist, known just as well for her self-effacing style and sharp sense of humor. And the video clip seems to support her reputation as a “don’t take yourself too seriously” news anchor. Bottom line, to call this proof of her mocking Palin just falls way short of its mark. ||||| Video: Couric makes fun of Palin while taping before 2008 convention 
 
 posted at 2:15 pm on August 4, 2010 by Ed Morrissey 
 
 Via C4P and The College Press, the video of the day on the right shows Katie Couric taping some promo spots for CBS News coverage of the Republican convention in 2008 on the day that John McCain announced his selection of Sarah Palin as running mate. The tape appears genuine, although it’s difficult to know when the YouTube version was taken; the camera was pointed at a monitor during the playback (which is why the black bars appear, as refresh rates differ between the monitor and the camera). Did a CBS News employee shoot this while watching the satellite feed, or did a C-band satellite owner get a now-rare unencrypted feed from CBS at the time? Why did it take two years for this to come out? I assume these questions will eventually get answered, but for now, Couric’s snobbish reaction to Palin, the names of her children, and mooseburgers is pretty instructive: 
 
 Couric was hardly the only person to make a snide comment about the tradition of names in Palin’s family, and Sarah Palin herself talked about their efforts to find unique names for their children during the campaign. Couric may have been first, however, even if it was in a presumably off-air moment. People make similar comments about Hollywood celebrities and the names they select for their children, but that usually doesn’t extend to major network news anchors. The comments themselves aren’t an indictment as much as they are a window into the first biases that formed in Couric’s mind, to such an extent that she felt it necessary to share them with her co-workers — and why the McCain campaign bet badly on having Palin give her first major interview to CBS News. 
 
 In the wake of the Sherrod disaster, it’s also worth pointing out that this is an edited clip; there is at least one cut in this video, and quite obviously we don’t have everything Couric said off air for context. It’s entirely possible that Couric also made approving comments about Palin at other moments on that day, which either didn’t get captured or were cut out. Likely? Well … 
 
 We have contacted both CBS and Governor Palin’s staff for comment on this tape, and will update if we receive any statements. 
 
 Update: CBS has an official non-statement statement on the clip through a CBS News spokesperson: “It must be a slow news day for this video to be getting so much attention.” We’re hearing from other sourcing that CBS isn’t disputing that this is Couric in an off-air setting, and that they won’t pursue how it got out. 
 
 Related Posts: ||||| By the Editors 
 
 The following video was sent to C4P’s tips account. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Update: 
 
 “It must be a slow news day for this video to be getting so much attention.” 
 
 We’re hearing from other sourcing that CBS isn’t disputing that this is Couric in an off-air setting, and that they won’t pursue how it got out. 
 
 As you can see, the video shows Katie Couric preparing to go on the air on the day John McCain announced Governor Palin as his running mate. It shows some tantalizing hints of Couric’s attitude toward the Governor--when talking about first Trig, then Track, Couric says “where the hell do they get these [names]?...” At that point the producer running the sound board shut off the sound because he or she didn’t want to have Couric’s disdainful and contemptuous view of Governor Palin’s children captured on even an internal CBS tape that they never expected would see the light of day. You can tell this by the “OMG!” reaction of the CBS news employees who were in the control room as Couric said that about the Governor’s kids. This video also shows Couric taking a shot at female basketball players and at Governor Palin’s hometown, one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and the fifth largest city in Alaska.There’s a larger story here, of course.It’s not just what was said by Couric in her discussion of Governor Palin, but also the way CBS framed the narrative of Governor Palin’s life in their story. The script covers moose burgers, her kids, her being a former beauty queen and being on the cover of Vogue. Sarah Palin was a sitting governor, and at that time, before the Obama campaign and their allies in the press spent months relentlessly smearing her good name, she had the highest approval ratings of any governor in the country. She was also responsible for getting the largest energy project in North American history underway after several decades of interminable delays in Alaska. She was a courageous corruption-busting whistleblower who turned in the leader of her own party in Alaska for his corrupt practices. She was a fiscal conservative who made the largest veto cuts in Alaska history, reined in the reckless waste, cut her own expenses, sold the governor’s private jet, let the personal chef go, and put away billions of dollars in savings for Alaska for a rainy day. She was a tough CEO who went toe to toe with the Big Oil companies and fought to get the best deal for Alaskans, the resource owners she represented. And she did all of this as a woman from a modest background who was entirely self-made – without the benefit of a rich or influential father or husband.But what in this impressive biography did CBS News and Couric choose to focus on? Moose burgers and beauty pageants.By their choice of the framing of the story, it’s evident Couric and CBS had an agenda here: They wanted to diminish Governor Palin because her impressive record of accomplishments towered over the non-existent record of the guy at the top of the Democrat ticket.We know from the JournoList archives that the national press viewed Governor Palin as a threat to their anointed candidate whom they sought to elect with ferocity and determination. We don’t even need to see Couric’s snarky comment about Governor Palin’s children to know that CBS News and Couric were not interested in covering who Sarah Palin was or what her qualifications were, but rather in caricaturing her to influence the election in favor of their favored candidate.As Governor Palin would say, “may the light continue to shine” to expose this sickness at the heart of our corrupt and biased mainstream media.Once again Sarah Palin has been vindicated.Ed Morissey at Hot Air has an "official non-statement statement" from CBS:Yesterday must have been a slow news day at CBS. How else might one explain a major news organization picking up a story about how Sarah Palin's Facebook comments are handled? Then there was the coverage of an impending divorce for the Palins, a falsehood that originated on Palin-hating blogs. Must have been a slow news day that day too. And all those days that Levi Johnston was interviewed on CBS. Must have been slow news days, as well.There seem to be a lot of slow news days over at CBS.Hot Air also says:That's quite a non-defense of their star that CBS has put up. Of course, with her bottom-of-the-barrel ratings and her efforts to blame all her troubles on her bosses, rumor has it that Couric's not long for CBS. Maybe they don't want to waste their efforts on an unprofessional sinking ship.* Bumped ||||| Sarah Palin will launch her national book tour next week, one part of a carefully crafted strategy that has allowed the former vice-presidential candidate to leapfrog traditional media outlets and appeal directly to her dedicated and vocal fan base. 
 
 The coming tour through small towns and midsize cities is designed mostly to maximize sales of "Going Rogue: An American Life," which will be formally released Nov. 17. But associates say it also serves as a reintroduction for Ms. Palin and a warm-up for what promises to be a starring role in next year's midterm elections and, if her supporters get their wish, the next presidential race. 
 
 Among the features of this new strategy: buying Internet advertising based on Google searches of her name, and using Facebook as a key means of communicating with voters. Her team also has considered filing libel suits against bloggers who spread rumors about her family. 
 
 Associated Press Sarah Palin emerged from two months out of the public view with a September speech in Hong Kong. Above, Ms. Palin at the Hong Kong airport. 
 
 Within its 413 pages, "Going Rogue" seeks to blame aides to Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain for many of Ms. Palin's worst media moments in the 2008 presidential campaign, such as her interview with CBS's Katie Couric, according to a copy of the book purchased from a bookstore by The Wall Street Journal. Ms. Palin complained that the network "systematically sliced out material that would accurately convey my message." A CBS spokeswoman said the interview "speaks for itself." 
 
 Since then, her political tactics have been unorthodox. Her August Facebook entry warning that President Barack Obama's health bill would create a "death panel" inspired "tea party" activists to crash congressional town hall meetings and moved public opinion against the White House. Her surprise resignation from the Alaska governorship during the July 4th weekend helped her dominate the news and drove heavy traffic to the Web site for SarahPAC, her political-action committee. 
 
 From 'Going Rogue: An American Life' On being interviewed by CBS's Katie Couric : "I have had better interviews…I choked on a couple of responses, and in the harried pace of the campaign, I mistakenly let myself become annoyed and frustrated with many of her repetitive, biased questions." 
 
 After Election Day: Ms. Palin assumed she would "go back to the job I loved. But what a difference ten weeks can make. Before my plane even touched down in Anchorage, shocking character assassinations of those I love had begun." 
 
 On being told by McCain aides that she couldn't speak on Election Night: "This isn't the way it's supposed to end, I thought. I walked toward the stage with just Todd and some of the kids, with a rolled-up speech in my hands that I wasn't going to give." 
 
 "She resigned as governor, still has all this power...and her book before it's even published is a best seller," said John Coale, a Washington lawyer who helped Ms. Palin devise her early strategy. "Going Rogue" is published by HarperCollins, a unit of News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal. 
 
 The official publicity for the book starts Monday with a conventional feel -- taped sit-downs with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters. 
 
 On Wednesday, starting in Grand Rapids, Mich., Ms. Palin will ride a bus adorned with large images of her face and start connecting with supporters in the kinds of places she once described as "real America." The tour takes her to Noblesville, Ind., Roanoke, Va., Washington, Pa., military bases at Fort Bragg and Fort Hood, and the Villages, a GOP-friendly retirement community outside Orlando, Fla. 
 
 News Hub: Palin Hopes for More Than a Best-Seller 1:56 With Sarah Palin's book hitting stores next week, WSJ's Peter Wallsten discusses whether it's part of a larger political strategy to boost her political base. He talks with Kelsey Hubbard and Simon Constable in the News Hub. 
 
 A number of Republican candidates for 2010 races are reaching out to Ms. Palin, hoping she can bring them political good fortune with an energized party base. Ms. Palin met for 30 minutes last week with Scott Walker, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Wisconsin. 
 
 Mr. Walker said Ms. Palin offered no commitments, but made clear her intention to be present in next year's national campaign. 
 
 "What we said was she would bring a lot of excitement," Mr. Walker said, describing her ability to bring "a rally-like atmosphere for grassroots folks." 
 
 Discussion of Ms. Palin's Internet strategy among a core group of advisers began during the spring. One concern, said a consultant who was part of the talks, was her frequent appearance in unfavorable news articles and blog postings. 
 
 Associated Press 
 
 Ms. Palin was particularly angry at bloggers and the media, associates said, for speculation that her baby Trig was really the child of Bristol, her daughter. 
 
 At one point, according to people familiar with the discussions, Ms. Palin considered pursuing a libel suit against at least one blogger, the Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan. Ms. Palin decided against such a move because of the publicity it would bring. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan, in response, said asking "factually verifiable questions is obviously not libel." 
 
 A spokeswoman for Ms. Palin didn't respond to email requests seeking comment. 
 
 Ms. Palin's resignation as governor gave her freedom to try to reshape her image. Her announcement sparked the biggest surge in Palin interest since the election, according to Google Insights, a service that ranks the popularity of online search terms. People conducting Internet searches were directed through online advertising to the Web site of her political action committee, which collected email addresses and donations. 
 
 A page on Facebook, the social-networking Web site, became Ms. Palin's main sounding board. Nearly one million people have "friended" her. The page is accessible to people who aren't Facebook members. 
 
 "Whereas most people think the Internet is the place you lose control of your message, they have almost complete control of their message," said a consultant who has worked with her. 
 
 —Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Peter Wallsten at peter.wallsten@wsj.com 
 
 Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A4
– Right-leaning websites such as Conservatives4Palin are jumping on a 2008 video they say shows Katie Couric "mocking" Sarah Palin. In the footage, taken the day Palin was picked to be the VP candidate, Couric struggles off air with the names of the candidate's kids. "Where the hell do they get these names," she asks after reading off "Trig" and "Track." The site also accuses Couric of being generally dismissive of Palin throughout her initial coverage, with a focus on "moose burgers and beauty pageants." Some other reactions: "The comments themselves aren’t an indictment," but the video does allow us to watch the seeds of bias get planted in Couric’s mind, "to such an extent that she felt it necessary to share them with her co-workers," writes Ed Morrissey for Hot Air. "The McCain campaign bet badly on having Palin give her first major interview to CBS News." The criticism is off base, writes Colby Hall at Mediaite. Keep in mind that Palin was virtually unknown at the time, "and regardless of where one finds his or herself on the political spectrum, Palin’s kids DO have unique names." And any other "bullet points" about Palin's life highlighted by CBS undoubtedly came from the McCain campaign. "To call this proof of her mocking Palin just falls way short of its mark." Still, it will be interesting to see if Palin seizes on the tape, notes Ben Smith at Politico. Given her "fixation" on the media in general and Couric in particular, "it would seem quite tempting."