Person With Vagina Delivers News: America Reacts To Katie Couric

So, last night marked a huge turning point in the struggle for American equality: Someone with ovaries read from a teleprompter all by herself. After the jump, a highly selective look at how our nation's critics responded.

Alessandra Stanley, in the Times, finds Katie "subdued," calm and competent. The psychologist in Alessandra can't help but speculate that Katie is "perhaps a little spooked by all the fuss over her appointment." Stanley also notes that "[Correspondent Lara] Logan's arresting screen presence also helped deflect attention from Ms. Couric's much scrutinized appearance (fitted white jacket over a black sheath dress)," which is a nice way of pretending to eat one's cake and have it too.

Stanley raises an eyebrow at "CBS executives[' complaints] that Ms. Couric is being held to a cattier standard," which is pretty rich coming from someone who once mocked her "peremptory voice and clickety stiletto heels," and claimed that "'Today' has turned her popularity into a Marxist-style cult of personality. The camera fixates on Ms. Couric's legs during interviews, she performs in innumerable skits and stunts, and her clowning is given center stage even during news events." Yeah, no cattiness there.