Notable Quotables - 08/27/2007
Published: 8/27/2007 1:00 AM ET
| Castigating Rove "The Divider" | |
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Anchor Terry Moran: "Tonight on Nightline: The Divider.
Inspiring awe or anger, scoring historic victories for a polarizing President.
The man who made our politics a no-holds barred battlefield, Karl Rove....Look
around at American politics today and you see that there is much, much more
that Karl Rove built." Clip from Swift Boat Veterans ad: "John Kerry cannot be trusted." FNCs Bill OReilly: "Hes the villain. He is the villain in Massachusetts." |
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Ann Coulter, from June 26 Hardball: "The wife of a presidential
candidate is asking me to stop speaking. No." Moran: "Divisiveness, anger, ruthlessness. Thats what you might call Rovian politics. Karl Rove didnt invent Red America vs. Blue America; he exploited it relentlessly." ABCs Nightline, August 13. |
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Reporter David Wright: "His signature
move, what some have called political jujitsu turning opponents strengths
against them. In 2000, many saw his fingerprints in the attack on John
McCains character. 2004 witnessed a
similar sustained attack on John Kerrys war record." Lieutenant Commander George Elliott, Vietnam War veteran, in 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad: "John Kerry has not been honest." Wright: "An audacious move considering Bushs Vietnam War record was weak." ABCs World News, August 13. The 2004 ads against Kerry were produced and paid for by an independent group, not Rove or the Bush re-election campaign. |
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| Bush "Knighted" Rove the "Bum" | |
| "Can President Bush think without the man they call his brain? What about all those great ideas like dividing the country over Iraq and leaving New Orleans to drop into the sea? A country without Karl Rove calling the shots? Lets fear for the Republic. Lets play Hardball....The President said, that anyone of my people involved with leaking this will be taken care of. Did he, is that what he meant by todays ceremony, the bear hug and everything? |
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Was that being taken care of? And, I mean, Ive never seen a staff aide be
signed-off on at the presidential helicopter with such majesty. It was almost
regal today, like he was knighting the guy. And, and he said he was going to
take care of this bum, anybody that leaked in the CIA case. Well, this is how
he took care of him. He knighted the guy." MSNBCs Chris Matthews, August 13 Hardball. |
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| Good Riddance to the "Crippler" |
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"My take: If Karl Rove had been a professional
wrestler, they might have called him the Constitutional Crippler.... He
may be one of the great political operatives of all time, but from a
lawyers perspective, as someone who studied the Constitution, relishes the
rule of law, appreciates our courts, I will not shed a tear at his farewell
bash." MSNBC General Manager Dan Abrams on MSNBCs Live with Dan Abrams, August 13. |
| Jack Wants Bushs Scalp | |
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"[Democratic presidential candidate Chris] Dodd also said this: If we become
preoccupied with an impeachment process, I think we could turn off an awful
lot of people who might otherwise be willing to support Democrats and be
willing to change the direction of the country in the fall of 2008, unquote.
So, Senator Dodd is putting the election prospects of the Democratic Party
next year ahead of whether or not President Bush might be guilty of high
crimes and misdemeanors....Congresss job is oversight of the executive branch
unless, of course, that oversight interferes with getting elected." CNNs Jack Cafferty on The Situation Room, August 21. |
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| Cheering Pelosis "Promises Kept" |
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"In January, a new Congress swept into
Washington promising ethics reform, fiscal responsibility, and a change in
direction for the war in Iraq. Now theyre on August recess, so how did they
do?...This new crop worked much harder than the last. A big accomplishment
was in challenging executive power with oversight hearings on Iraq,
Medicare, the Department of Justice, and global warming. Stem cell
legislation and immigration reform were stymied, but Congress did raise the
minimum wage and pass an ethics and lobbying reform bill....Promises,
promises. Sometimes they are kept, even in Washington." Katie Couric in her August 6 "Katie Courics Notebook" video on CBSNews.com. |
| Rewarding Liberal Union Gimmick |
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"What does it say about the state of our
health care that youve got an 86-year-old man being taken care of by a
61-year-old woman, and you put the two of them together and they probably
dont have a living wage?" NBC reporter Lee Cowan to Senator Barack Obama as the candidate spent a day as a home health aide as part of a PR stunt for the Service Employees International Union, August 9 Today show. |
| Blame War for Bridge Collapse |
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"The [Minnesota bridge] collapse was something
Somalis never expected to witness in their new homeland. And it has some
wondering if the American government has misplaced its priorities by
ignoring a decaying national infrastructure in favor of its costly foreign
policy." Chicago Tribune reporter E.A. Torriero, August 8. |
| Badgering Bush to Raise Taxes |
 "Youve
been clear about saying that you will veto overspending by
Congress....Youve also been clear you dont want to raise taxes. Can you do
justice to the kind of programs the government needs for bridges, for
housing, and also continue to spend as much as you do on the war in Iraq?"ABC News reporter Ann Compton at the August 9 presidential news conference. "Would you be willing to go along with an increase in
gasoline taxes of five cents a gallon or more?" "Mr. President, are you considering a plan to cut corporate taxes? Do you
believe Americas corporations are not making enough money these days?" |
| Newsweek vs. "Denial Machine" |
 "Global
Warming is a Hoax* Or so claim well-funded naysayers who still reject the
overwhelming evidence of climate change. Inside the denial machine." Cover of the August 13 Newsweek. "Since the late 1980s,
this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists,
free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt
around climate change." vs. "Self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism. Last weeks
Newsweek cover story on global warming is a sobering reminder....The story
was a wonderful read, marred only by its being fundamentally misleading
....Newsweeks denial machine is a peripheral and highly contrived story." |
| Smitten by Leos Liberalism |
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Co-anchor Julie Chen: "Youve taken
personal action. Tell me what are some of the changes youve made in your
day to day life." Actor Leonardo DiCaprio: "I try to live a green lifestyle, quote/unquote. I mean, Ive, Ive done the things that I can do in my house to make it, my house green, energy efficient appliances. I drive a hybrid car. I have solar panels." Chen: "Where did this passion come from?"... Co-anchor Harry Smith: "Hes such a smart guy." Chen: "He is a smart guy and hes such a great spokesperson to have for this very important cause." CBSs Early Show promoting The 11th Hour, DiCaprios apocalyptic movie about global warming, August 13. |
| Newsroom Cheers Rove Departure |
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"Seattle Times Executive Editor Dave
Boardman wrote today in one of his morning notes to staff that there had
been an awkward moment at yesterdays news meeting. Thats the meeting
where editors and other staff from throughout the newsroom talk about the
stories planned for the next days paper. Boardman wrote in Daves Raves
(and the occasional rant): When word came in of Karl Roves resignation,
several people in the meeting started cheering. That sort of expression is
simply not appropriate for a newsroom. It sounds like a conservatives
parody of how a news meeting would be run." Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman in his "Postman on Politics" blog, August 14. |
| Editor Admits to "Blue" Newsroom |
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"If we wore our politics on our sleeves in
here, I have no doubt that in this and in most other mainstream newsrooms in
America, the majority of those sleeves would be of the same color: blue.
Survey after survey over the years have demonstrated that most of the people
who go into this business tend to vote Democratic, at least in national
elections. That is not particularly surprising, given how people make career
decisions and that social service and activism is a primary driver for many
journalists." Seattle Times Executive Editor David Boardman in an August 15 e-mail to his staff, posted by Poynter.org. |
| Paragons of Professionalism | |
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"Ive got to say, my first night here at MSNBC was the Presidents State of
the Union address in 2003, and I was shocked because there were actually
people in the newsroom that were booing the President basically from the
beginning to the end." Joe Scarborough on MSNBCs Morning Joe, August 16. |
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