"Katie, You Ignorant Slut"

Dan Rather has been quoted on the MSNBC "Morning Joe" show as saying,

"I want to make clear that I have nothing against Katie Couric at all. She’s a very nice person and I have a lot of friends at CBS News. However, it was clear at the time and I think it has become even clearer that the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up, in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

I find the phrase "tart it up" interesting. What does "tart" refer to? Or whom?

He might as well have said Katie "slutted" up the news.

Unfortunately, had CBS really sought to "tart up" the news and bring in a va-va-va-voom Paula Zahn/Mary Hart type, say, in her early 30s, the ratings for the Evening News probably would have been better. It's the "Anderson Cooper" formula -- 'cause he's hot.

So yeah, I agree with some of what Rather is saying. But when he says "tarted up," I can't help but see it as a dig at Couric herself. Which is beneath him.