French Really Despises This Beloved Journalist

Twitter is exploding over David French, who up until about an hour ago was relatively unknown outside of the conservative blogosphere. But since Bloomberg reported that two Republican insiders said that French was Bill Kristol's pick for a third-party presidential run, the Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and National Review writer has been getting a heaping dose of fame ... and scrutiny. Of his many articles that have come to the fore, there's a recent one in which French implores Yahoo to fire Katie Couric.

Less than a week ago, French devoted one of his columns to arguing that Couric should be fired because "she has lost her credibility" over allegations she actively misrepresented gun rights activists in Under the Gun, a new documentary which she executive produced and narrates. French added that "Any news organization that continues to employ her loses its credibility as well."

In the documentary, there's a scene in which Couric appears to stump members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League with the question: “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?" The movie is edited to show silence on the League's part. But Philip Van Cleave, the president of the group, also recorded the interview, and revealed that several responses had been offered. After receiving criticism from French and a number of others and initially saying that she was "proud" of the film, Couric released a response on Monday apologizing for the edit. She also said in her statement that she took "responsibility for a decision that misrepresented an exchange I had with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL)."

In his call for Couric to get the boot, French argued that no other news agency or organization should consider her fit for employment if it proves she was involved in the editing decision: "Americans can no longer trust a single news report or a single interview from Couric. They now know that she will unashamedly and proudly deceive them to advance her own ideological agenda."

If French indeed ends up running for president, there's a chance he and Couric could meet face to face. Perhaps this is Donald Trump / Megyn Kelly 2.0 in the making.