Katie Couric gave the Class Day address at Princeton yesterday; encouraged, as she says herself, to be "saucy and sassy" she had many jokes sprinkled liberally (oh, c'mon, of course the pun is intended) throughout the address, including these howlers:
It's a tremendous honor to be part of your Class Day. When Princeton called to invite me I was thrilled. It also gave me a perfect excuse for turning down Harvard and Yale - my safety schools! And since I've been called a cougar lately in the tabloid press - today I'm very happy to be an honorary tiger! Coming here was a real no brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house!
One does hope that Couric remembers that the "Alaska from my house" line was a Tina Fey SNL spoof, not what Palin actually said.
There's also this one:
After all, a Latina has just been nominated to the Supreme Court...only the third woman in history. And I heard she graduated summa cum laude from a little school in New Jersey! Hillary Clinton was the first serious female presidential candidate and made 18 million cracks in the ultimate glass ceiling. And then of course, there's Carrie Prejean, Miss California. No one has done more to motivate gay rights activists since Anita Bryant. [Your parents know who she is.]And this one (referring to the tough job market):
There may be some opportunities in the Republican Party. They're still looking for an effective spokesman, and the only person they can find so far is Rush Limbaugh....and he won't take the job because he doesn't want to give up his prescription plan.
Of course, her funniest line, coming after all these references and a few off-color ones to Princeton grads David Duchovny (whom she refers to as "...really into the Triple X Files...") and Eliot Spitzer (she mentions the "Client 9" thing), is this one:
Next, don't be a hater. Princeton has taught you to think critically, to approach things with a healthy dose of skepticism...and that's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. But you really must guard against the cynicism and nastiness that are so pervasive today, particularly on the internet. It can be a wonderful, powerful and equalizing tool, but it's also populated by haters and trolls. People think they can say or do anything online under the cloak of anonymity. Don't get sucked in...In his book, entitled "Snark", David Denby writes, "Snark often functions as an enforcer of mediocrity and conformity. In its cozy knowingness, snark flatters you in assuming that you get the contemptuous joke. You've been admitted or re-admitted to a club, but it may be a club of the second rate."
It's just possible that Couric meant that seriously, and was completely unconscious of its effect coming not too long after her rather snarky references to all those above. In which case even a neophyte like myself can remind Couric that the speechwriting/journalism equivalent of her Carnegie Hall joke's punchline is: proofread, proofread, proofread.
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Carrie Prejean is my homie. I may not agree with what she believes, but I identified with her when she was treated unfairly during the Miss USA pageant. Asking that question was tantamount to religious discrimination during a job interview. She had class enough to answer it without trying to offend anyone.
Were I one of the parents who had to put up with Ms. Couric's shenanigans, I'd have asked for a refund, if I didn't walk out.
For Katie Couric to be giving a speech at Princeton's commencement is an insult to Princeton's graduating class, its alumni and faculty and the parents and taxpayers who footed the bill for the students’ educations. Commencements are supposed to be serious occasions, rituals of passage, and they should be presided over and addressed by people of moral and intellectual consequence. Katie Couric is a TV-show host; an entertainer, and such people have no more business giving commencement addresses than a stage actor/actress, mercenary athlete or any other member of the frivolous-menial orders.
To spare everyone an unnecessary bit of tempest-in-teapots, neither does Rush Limbaugh, the winning jockey of the Kentucky Derby or the semi-simian winner of the so-called "Academy Award" for "Best Actor".
Politics, in this instance, doesn’t matter. What does matter is having the appropriate level of moral and intellectual seriousness to acknowledge the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion.
Katie Couric ?? One of Princeton’s rookie janitors would have been a more appropriate choice.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
Lord Karth - Ms. Couric was the speaker at CLass Day - not commencement - class day speaker is supposed to be funny and irreverant
The baccalaureate speaker was Gen Petreus - too bad we had downpours today - graduation is outdoors
Class Day is NOT commencement. It's a ceremony that is usually funny, snarky, sarcastic and very casual.
Lord Karth, with all due respect, learn about these things before you get sactimonious.
Cecelia @ Jerry S.
I made a mistake, fair enough. Even I get one wrong on occasion. (Mark this one down in your baby books, people.)
Now let me ask you two questions: is "Class Day" an officially-sponsored event ? (I suspect it would have to be; some entertainer-servitors are not cheap in their hire.)
And, more importantly, is "Class Day" really necessary ? I spend a fair bit of time on various college campuses in my practice, and it would seem that there's entirely too much "Animal House" on today's college campuses as it is. Bear in mind that the "students" on these campuses are at least partially subsidized by the taxpayers, on both the national and provincial level; is it really appropriate to have those taxpayers subsidize this frivolity ?
Your servant,
Lord Karth
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