Notable Quotables - 02/26/2007
Published: 2/26/2007 2:00 AM ET
| How the Media See Their Job | |
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Moderator Gordon Peterson: "Are the mainstream media bashing the
President unfairly?" Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas: "Well, our job is to bash the President. Thats what we do." Inside Washington, February 2. |
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| Trumpeting the Tears of a Tyrant |
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Co-host Diane Sawyer: "A number of
people have already said, Is there anything surprising, personal about
[Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad that we didnt know? Well, it
turns out, someone told me he cries a lot. That he is dramatically
sentimental and sympathetic if someone comes up and expresses a personal
plight. So I just asked him, are you often in tears?" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "Yes, thats true. Not only for Iranians, of course, they are very close to me and I love all Iranians. And anywhere, when I see people suffering, I have the same reaction....Even when I see on TV that, for example, some Americans, because of tornadoes or a hurricane, they have lost their homes, I become sad." ABCs Good Morning America, February 13. |
| Iran No Worse than America | |
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"A war of words, Wolf, heating up between the United States and Iran. U.S. officials yesterday showing off what they call a growing body of evidence that Iranian weapons are being used to kill coalition soldiers in Iraq. They say that Iran is making the violence worse there by providing Shiite groups with technology, money, and training.... Reminiscent, Wolf, of the war in Afghanistan, when Russia invaded. It seems to me we were, the United States was supplying weapons and intelligence and things like that to the Afghan rebels....So, that was okay but its not okay if Iran Im, Im confused, Wolf." |
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CNNs Jack Cafferty, The Situation Room, February 12. |
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| Not Surrendering Fast Enough |
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"If they [Democrats] cant pass a kind of
symbolic vote, how do they ever have the strength to do something more
serious?... Put yourself in the position of Joe and Mary Smith living
somewhere across this country right now and youve watched these politicians
for more than a month talk about passing a symbolic vote. Does it amount to
little more than them ringing someones door bell and running away?" NBCs Matt Lauer to Washington bureau chief Tim Russert on the February 19 Today. |
| NBC: Soldiers See "Lost Cause"... | |
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Reporter Richard Engel: "[Staff Sergeant Chris] Copley and others
wondered what are they doing out here?" |
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Story about Engels day with a group of soldiers from the First Infantry
Division, February 9 NBC Nightly News. |
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| ...But on ABC, GIs See "Treason" | |
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Reporter Jake Tapper: "Trying to seem strong on military issues,
Democrats lined up veterans of Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as their first
speakers in favor of the anti-surge resolution....ABC News asked these Army
sergeants in Ramadi what they thought of the resolution." |
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Sergeant Brian Orzechoski: "I dont want to bad-mouth the President at
all. I mean, to me its treason." ABCs World News with Charles Gibson, February 13. |
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| Money "Poured Down the Hole" |
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Co-anchor Jim Clancy: "Do you have any
idea at all how much money in U.S. taxes have poured down the hole, so to
speak, in Iraq?..." Tom Foreman: "How much money has been spent on Iraq? The Priorities Project estimates enough to hire more than six million teachers, enough to build more than 700 new elementary schools in each state. Eight million police officers could be hired, or six million cargo inspectors for ports. Or, we figure, every American driver could get free gasoline for a year....In the time it took you to watch this story, Iraq cost America almost a half million dollars more." CNNs Your World Today, February 6. |
| Al Gore, Global Warming Prophet |
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"Former Vice President Al Gore and Virgin
Group Chairman Richard Branson....announced here in London today that they
are teaming up to save the planet, offering a $25 million prize to fight
global warming....[to Branson] Youve only known each other about a year or
so as I understand it. Is Al Gore a prophet?" CBSs Harry Smith on The Early Show, February 9. |
| A Message from Mr. Tolerance | |
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"Look at the little empires that people like James Dobson or Pat Robertson run. They are despotic, Third World fiefdoms where these guys fly around with bodyguards and Lear jets and amass hundreds of millions of dollars taken from people who live on the margins of American soci-ety...The image that they present of Jesus and of the Christian is essentially a warrior cult. I mean, it is that obsession with violence, its that |
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notion that America can use its imperial power and use its violence to create
a Christian society. They condemn...other religion as satanic, I mean, theyre
constantly blasting Islam, nominal Christians, liberals. It is a message
thats deeply anti-Christian and I think filled with a lot of bigotry and a
lot of intolerance." Former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, author of the book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, on the February 8 Colbert Report on Comedy Central. |
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| CBSs Selective Poll Reporting |
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"Tomorrow the House will begin a three-day
debate on a non-binding, symbolic resolution stating its disapproval of
President Bushs Iraq troop build up. But our new CBS News poll shows a
majority of Americans wants Congress to go even further. A total of 53
percent say Congress ought to block funding for additional troops or for the
war entirely." CBSs Katie Couric on the February 12 Evening News. vs. "When it comes to what Congress ought to do about the war in Iraq, the
public remains divided, much as it was last month....44% would like to see
Congress pass a non-binding resolution against sending additional troops to
Iraq. Nearly the same percentage 45% oppose the resolution." |
| Dont Expect Hardballs from Chris |
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"On behalf of our producers here and everybody
that works at MSNBC, we would like a lot to have your candidate, Barack
Obama....on a town meeting with college students at some college, perhaps,
of his choice....Its a great platform for a guy who, clearly, according to
my kids, and maybe me, too, the kid in me, appeals to the youth of America
and the young at heart. Theres no doubt what you say is true. He does draw
on something deeply good about this country. And we will have to see whether
he can really deliver." Host Chris Matthews to Obama campaign aide David Axelrod on MSNBCs Hardball, February 19. |
| Read His Lips: No More Ranches | |
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"[Former New York City Mayor Rudy] Giuliani is the city guy, and Im so sick
of southern guys with ranches running this country. I want a guy to run for
President who doesnt have a f***ing Im sorry, a ranch. Wouldnt that be
good, Don, a guy who wasnt on the ranch during Katrina, he was on the street
corner answering questions?" |
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| Sorry Hillary, Bush Is the Worst |
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"A year ago I criticized Hillary Clinton for
saying this (Bush) administration will go down in history as one of the
worst. Shes wrong, I wrote. Then I rated these five presidents, in this
order, as the worst: Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Hoover
and Richard Nixon. Its very unlikely Bush can crack that list, I added. I
was wrong. This is my mea culpa. Not only has Bush cracked that list, but he
is planted firmly at the top. The Iraq war, of course, has become Bushs
albatross....Bush admitting his many mistakes on Iraq and ending that fiasco
might make many of us forgive, even though we can never forget the terrible
toll in lives and dollars." USA Today founder Al Neuharth in a February 16 column. |
| Prefers Suicide to Rosie ODonnell |
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Host Michael Eisner: "How would you
have done it if you had been in that same position [as co-host of ABCs
The View] and Rosie ODonnell just came in to replace Star Jones. Could
you control her?" NBC Today co-host Meredith Vieira, laughing: "I was gonna say I would have gone out into the alley with a gun and done away with me. I mean, again, extremely strong-minded, very opinionated person, and thats what the show is about. But its hard to rein people in." CNBCs Conversations with Michael Eisner, February 14. |
| Bush "Vain Half-Wit" & "Gilligan" | |
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"Joe Scarborough did a whole week of panel discussions on whether he [President Bush] was an idiot....People who were defending him were saying, Well, hes just inarticulate. But inarticulate doesnt explain foreign policy. I mean, its not that complicated. The man is a rube. He is a dolt. He is a yokel on the world stage. He is a Gilligan who cannot find his ass with two hands. He is a vain half-wit who interrupts one incoherent sentence with another incoherent sentence. And I hope Im not piling on, Jay." |
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HBOs Bill Maher on NBCs Tonight Show, February 20. |
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