Notable Quotables - 09/10/2007
Published: 9/10/2007 1:00 AM ET
| Using Craig to Smear "Right Wing" | |
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"Good morning, politician in peril. Idaho
Senator Larry Craig, an opponent of gay rights, admits pleading guilty to
disorderly conduct after a police officer accused him of soliciting sex in an
airport mens room. Can the right wing withstand yet another scandal involving
one of its own?" NBCs Matt Lauer opening Today, August 28. |
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"Its been a rough year for the right. Lets
list them: Congressman Mark Foley; conservative pastor Ted Haggard; Senator
David Vitter all involved in scandals, accusing them of inappropriate
conduct. So the questions gotta be asked, why do these kinds of scandals seem
to be following Republicans, lately?...How does this specter of hypocrisy
affect the party?" Fill-in co-host Ann Curry to MSNBCs Joe Scarborough on NBCs Today, August 28. |
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"The GOP campaigns as the party of family values and Senator Craigs bathroom
bust underscores the hypocrisy....There is former Republican Congressman Mark
Foley, who built his social life on male pages; conservative pastor Ted
Haggard, who had trysts with a male prostitute; Republican Senator David
Vitter, who campaigned as a family man but later acknowledged encounters with
a woman who police described as a prostitute. It all adds moral insult to the
injuries being suffered today by the victims of Hurricane Katrina." |
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| Time to Topple the Dictator! |
 "Everything
you said about [withdrawing some troops from] Iraq yesterday, and everything
you will say, is a deception, for the purpose of this one cynical,
unacceptable, brutal goal: perpetuating this war indefinitely. War today,
war tomorrow, war forever!...A man with any self respect, having
inadvertently revealed such an evil secret, would have already resigned and
fled the country! You have no remaining credibility about Iraq, sir!...Mr.
Bush, our presence in Iraq must end, even if it means your resignation, even
if it means your impeachment, even if it means a different Republican to
serve out your term, even if it means a Democratic Congress and those true
patriots among the Republicans standing up and denying you another penny for
Iraq, other than for the safety and safe conduct home of our troops. This
country cannot run the risk of what you can still do to this country in the
next 500 days."MSNBCs Keith Olbermann addressing President Bush in a "Special Comment" on Countdown, September 4. |
| No Harsh Aftermath to Vietnam? |
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"On the day I visited the old U.S. Embassy in
Saigon where some of those iconic photos symbolizing American defeat were
taken I discovered government workmen removing a plaque that once
commemorated the Norths victory over the U.S. imperialists. In the waning
days of that epochal year, 1991, the propaganda against American involvement
in Southeast Asia was suddenly no longer politically correct. Hanois new
message: Yankee Come Back (and bring your investment dollars)....This was
the harsh aftermath that George W. Bush attempted to describe this week
when he warned against pulling out of Iraq as we did in Vietnam. His remarks
to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City on Wednesday were
an abuse of historical fact no surprise, perhaps, coming from a president
who is just now catching up with the Political Science 101 reading he
shrugged off at Yale. Yes, a lot of Vietnamese boat people died on the high
seas; but many others have returned to visit in the ensuing years." Newsweek Senior Editor Michael Hirsh in a "Web-exclusive" commentary posted August 23. After the communist takeover of South Vietnam, about 230,000 were executed or died in concentration camps, while hundreds of thousands of fleeing "Boat People" died at sea. |
| Mocking Bushs Vietnam Analogy |
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"The mere mention of Vietnam and arguing for
more sacrifice in Iraq is fraught with potential political peril. After all,
President Bush didnt serve in Vietnam and Vice President Cheney received
multiple deferments, telling reporters a few years ago that in the 1960s he
had other priorities than military service." MSNBC reporter David Shuster, August 22 Hardball. "Do you
think the President has ever read a book about Vietnam?" |
| Hillarys Talk Radio Helpers | |
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"I think the secret weapon for Senator Clinton, if she is the Democratic
nominee, is not simply Rudy [Giuliani]s shortcomings, the perceived
shortcomings of her opponent. I think youll see on the part of right-wing
radio conservative talk, however you want to call it such overkill that it
will make her, transform her into a figure of sympathy by a majority of
people." |
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| Dreaming of an End to Humanity |
 Co-host
Matt Lauer: "The book is called The World Without Us, and it asks
the question what would happen to planet Earth if human beings were to
suddenly disappear....And really its all about trying to figure out how
long it would take nature to reclaim what weve created."Co-host Meredith Vieira: "The mess." Lauer: "How long it would take nature to fix the mess weve made?" Teasing upcoming segment on NBCs Today, September 4.
"Would the Earth miss us at all? How long would it take for it to fix the
problems we created?" |
| Opposing Illegal Aliens = Racism |
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"Each generation fights the same battle, only
it becomes more subtle, more sophisticated, but its still a war....Look at
the immigration battle right now. We have about 13 million people who have
been living in this country for years, raising their children, educating
them, and theres actually an argument about whether they should be here.
They are here, and they are a vital part of the American fabric. The battle
is never won. There are some people who still believe that people of color
are not needed in this country." Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw in an interview with Television Week posted on their Web site August 6. |
| Appalled by "Ethnic Profiling" |
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"Are these two men terrorists casing the boats
for attack?... Or are they totally innocent passengers, the victims of
ethnic profiling?...The men are not accused of anything, leading the Muslim
community to wonder, what if the two men did not appear to be of Middle
Eastern descent?...Are these men a threat, or just victims of a jittery
public?" ABCs Neal Karlinsky on the August 23 Good Morning America, reporting on two men seen photographing the interior of ferry boats near Seattle, Washington. |
| Government Starving for Cash? | |
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"It takes leadership. After World War II, we maintained the infrastructure we
had and we built an incredible network of highways, and leaders in both
parties agreed that these were priorities. Now we have this tax-averse
society, rallied by the Republicans, tax-averse, where everything becomes sort
of a right-wing, libertarian refusal to let government spend any money or
raise any money." |
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| Good News on Poverty, But... |
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"Here at home, mixed economic news tonight.
For the first time in six years, the poverty rate is down slightly. In 2006,
12.3 percent of Americans lived in poverty, down from 12.6 percent in 2005.
Poverty level income for a family of four is $20,400 a year, hardly enough
for food and housing, much less other items like health insurance. And as
Wyatt Andrews reports, more people are going without." Katie Couric introducing a report about people without health insurance, CBS Evening News, August 28. |
| Scary "Totalitarian" Christians |
 "On
[Christian youth activist Ron Luces Honor Academy] campus, students must
follow a strict set of rules: No secular music or television. No R-rated
movies. No alcohol. No drugs. No dating. [To Luce] When I, you know, read
that women have to wear skirts of a certain length and guys arent allowed
to, you know, go on the Internet unsupervised, I mean, I think, you know,
totalitarian regimes."Correspondent Christiane Amanpour in her August 23 profile of "Christian Warriors," the last of CNNs 3-part special on "Gods Warriors." |
| Pot, Meet Kettle |
 "For
the past week, CNN has been proudly promoting and then celebrating its
series called Gods Warriors, presumably a look at radicals of different
religions willing to fight for their cause....CNN should have called it what
it was: a defense of Islamic fundamentalism and the worst type of moral
relativism....This series was well-produced and successful, but also
shameful advocacy masked as journalism."MSNBC General Manager Dan Abrams on his Live with Dan Abrams, August 27. vs. "I think that Keith Olbermann may become a model for the newscast of the
future." |
| Americans: Violent, Rage-Filled |
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"I dont believe that any gun should be in the
hand of a thinking, feeling, breathing human being. Americans are by nature
filled with rage-slash-fear. And guns are a huge part of our culture. I know
Im crazy because Im only supposed to say that in Europe. But violence
corrupts absolutely." Actress Jodie Foster in an interview with Entertainment Weekly to promote her new movie, The Brave One, September 7 issue. |
