Cracking Kaus-ian Conspiracies

Mickey Kaus has a great theory on Katie Couric’s hiring by CBS:

As Katie Couric’s newscast sinks back into third place, here’s a thought: Maybe CBS isn’t disappointed. Maybe the hiring of Couric had nothing to do with boosting the ratings for the CBS Evening News, attracting new demographics, blah, blah, blah. Maybe Couric was hired by CBS solely to screw NBC’s highly-profitable Today Show! After all, CBS’s Les Moonves could somehow get his network back into the lucrative morning-show game–by depriving the dominant competitor of its star–wouldn’t that mean a lot more to CBS’ bottom line than whether it gets an extra point or two in the shrinking evening news market? … Wait and see how the Couric-less Today does before you decide whether she was worth $15 million to CBS.

In an earlier Kaus File, Mickey suggested that Oliver Stone was a dreadful choice by Paramount to direct World Trade Center, due to his endless conspiratorial utterings–some of which have actually been about 9/11. While Paramount was able to keep a lid on Stone for a time, he’s back to doing what he does best:

Stone, who surprised many with the patriotic flavour of his new film World Trade Center, hinted in Moscow yesterday that he is considering a more controversial follow-up investigating the