Watch Out, Republicans: This Is 1964 All Over Again

Watch Out, Republicans: This Is 1964 All Over Again

"It is very much like 1964. In 1960, Republicans lost narrowly with an establishment candidate, Richard Nixon. They got to 1964, they threw out all the establishment candidates, they threw out their party leaders and they nominated Barry Goldwater who - fine man - but he was far to the right of most of the people in his party, and they lost in a landslide. And that's why you have establishment Republicans worried about what's going to happen now in November."
- CBS's Bob Schieffer on the September 15 Evening News.

Liberal Media-Speak for "Congratulations, You've Won"

"You are going to have to answer some questions. We saw that the Republican Party chairman in Jon Karl's piece there, he went on to say that you're 'not a viable candidate,' that you 'cannot be elected dog catcher in Delaware.' He went on to say that you're either a liar or mentally unhinged."
- ABC's George Stephanopoulos to Senate primary winner Christine O'Donnell on Good Morning America, Sept. 15.

"Tea Party nutbag/Senate nominee from Del. was on CNN w/me in '96. Forget her ignorant nonsense until I saw this."
- Former CNN anchor Miles O'Brien in a September 15 Twitter posting, referring readers to an anti-O'Donnell article posted on the left-wing Talking Points Memo blog site.

Correspondent Nancy Cordes: "Polls show O'Donnell's ultraconservative social views-"
Old clip of Christine O'Donnell: "Lust in your heart is committing adultery."
Cordes: "-make her a decided underdog in this blue-leaning state."
- CBS Evening News, September 15.

"She needs to watch some porn and get some tips, is what she needs."
- Host Joy Behar on CNN's Headline News Joy Behar Show, September 15.

Are Republicans "Miscalculating At Their Own Peril"?

"You've got Delaware, you've got Kentucky, you've got Alaska, you've got Utah, one after another after another. Are all of these Tea Party victories good for the Republican Party?...Even Karl Rove came out and said last night this is - that's not going to help us get the seat in the long run....I wonder if you're making a miscalculation at your own peril at, you know, this perceived enthusiasm gap, these people are literally changing the face of a party."
- CBS Early Show co-host Harry Smith to GOP consultant Dan Bartlett, Sept. 15.

Katie Frets: Are "Moderate Republicans...an Endangered Species"?

"The party crashers. Big primary victories by fringe candidates open a rift in the GOP....Does this mean moderate Republicans are becoming an endangered species?"
- Anchor Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News, September 16.

Flashback:
"[Senator Arlen] Specter's a Republican who favors abortion rights, is against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and is a vocal supporter of embryonic stem cell research. [to Specter] Do you feel like an endangered species these days?"
- Couric to then-Republican Senator Arlen Specter on NBC's Today, May 13, 2005.

"What's So Good About" Bush's Failed Tax Cuts?

"One of the key issues also heading into the midterm elections, is this expiration of the tax cuts, Bush's tax cuts....These tax cuts have been in existence for quite a while, these Bush tax cuts. If they were designed to stimulate the economy and to create jobs, they didn't succeed. So what's so good about them?"
- Co-host Meredith Vieira to GOP Representatives Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy on NBC's Today, September 14. In the five years after the full tax cut package was passed in 2003, the economy added more than 8.3 million new jobs. [Audio/video (1:50): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Sawyer: Not Raising Tax Rates = "Tax Cut"

"Good evening. It will be the big battle to the finish line in November, and this is the question: How big a tax cut will you get next year?"
- ABC's Diane Sawyer opening World News, September 8, talking about the debate over whether to maintain current tax rates or let them rise to Clinton-era levels.

Was $862 Billion Stimulus "Big Enough?" How About "a New WPA?"

"Gretchen Morgenson, I want to go back to the stimulus....People complain about the size of government, they're complaining about the deficit, they're complaining about TARP and who knows what all else. As we're standing here looking at it right now, just if you can step away, was the stimulus big enough?"
"There are plenty of economists out there, Mark Zandi, who say what's really needed is a second stimulus."
"Laura Tyson, what about a more significant stimulus, beyond the things, these, you know, a block here, a block here, a block here, but another say couple hundred billion dollars, what about, say, something like a new WPA?"
- Fill-in host Harry Smith interviewing a panel of economists on CBS's Face the Nation, September 5. [Audio/video (0:27): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Applauding Obama's Four-Star Attorney General

Correspondent Rita Braver: "Ignoring political pressure is Holder's constant message as he talks to Justice Department lawyers in places like Mobile, Alabama....When he took office last February, [cheering crowd] he got a hero's welcome. It was in part, he believes, a reaction to cronyism and questionable policies advocated in the Bush-era Justice Department....[to Holder] Because you're the first African American Attorney General, do you put any extra pressure on yourself?"
Attorney General Eric Holder: "Yeah, I certainly feel that. I feel there's a certain responsibility I have...."
- CBS's Sunday Morning, September 12.

George's "Tough Questions" for President Obama

"Now, in his first post-summer interview, President Obama takes on George Stephanopoulos and the tough questions."
- ABC promo aired during the September 8 Nightline, touting Stephanopoulos' interview with Obama.


"I wonder what this must feel like from behind your desk. You're President of the United States. You have to deal with the fallout. And he's a pastor who's got 30 followers in his church. Does it make you feel helpless or angry?"
- ABC's George Stephanopoulos asking President Obama about the Florida pastor who threatened to burn Korans, in an interview segment shown on Good Morning America, September 9.

The GOP = "The Party of Hate"

"Tonight, we start with the party of hate. The Republican Party in this country has been running on hate and division for the last 50 years....What black person, gay guy or girl, immigrant or Muslim American in their right mind would vote for the Republican Party? They might as well hang a sign around their neck saying, 'I hate myself.'"
- Fill-in host Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's The Ed Show, August 26.

Is America's Islamophobia Suppressing Muslims' Freedom?

"The plans to build an Islamic center close to Ground Zero have whipped up anti-Muslim sentiment....Not since 9/11 has the country seen such anti-Muslim fervor....[to Feisal Abdul Rauf] In the latest poll that ABC's conducted, only 37 percent of those who were asked expressed a positive feeling about Islam. Do you think that Muslims, people such as yourself, others here, can actually have a place to practice their religion freely, to live freely as Americans, given that figure?"
- Host Christiane Amanpour interviewing the imam organizing the Ground Zero mosque on ABC's This Week, September 12.

Columnist Mimics Jennings' 1994 Tirade Slamming Voters' "Temper Tantrum"

"According to polls, Americans are in a mood to hold their breath until they turn blue. Voters appear to be so fed up with the Democrats that they're ready to toss them out in favor of the Republicans - for whom, according to those same polls, the nation has even greater contempt. This isn't an 'electoral wave,' it's a temper tantrum....The American people are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats."
- Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, September 3.

Flashback:
"Imagine a nation full of uncontrolled two-year-old rage. The voters had a temper tantrum last week....Parenting and governing don't have to be dirty words: the nation can't be run by an angry two-year-old."
- ABC's Peter Jennings in a November 14, 1994 radio commentary after the GOP congressional victories that year.

"Well-Meaning" Hostage Taker "May" Have Gone Too Far

"He's an activist, may be very well-meaning, but he's now put himself in a situation where he, the police officers and his hostages' lives are endangered....He's a bit of an activist, a guy who truly believes, seemingly, in his heart that he needs to do all he can to save the planet. Most watching this would argue he may have taken it way too far on this day...."
- CNN's Rick Sanchez during live coverage of the Sept. 1 stand-off at the Discovery Channel. The hostage-taker claimed human beings were "parasites" and demanded the network show programs talking about "ways to disassemble civilization." [Audio/video (0:36): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Incoming CNN Host Will Fit Right In

"I'd love to do President Obama. I like what he's done for the reputation of America abroad, which I'm not sure many Americans fully understand."
- British journalist Piers Morgan, who has been hired to replace Larry King as host of CNN's 9pm ET hour starting in January, on the September 9 CBS Early Show talking about people he would like to interview.

Now, Chris Admits to Thrills "All Over"

Clip of Barack Obama from 2008: "My family gave me love. They give me an education. And most of all, they gave me hope. Hope, hope that in America, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it, and fight for it, and work for it."
MSNBC's Chris Matthews: "I get the same thrill up my leg, all over me, every time I hear those words. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, that's me. He's talking about my country and nobody does it better. Can President Obama stir us again and help his party keep power this November?"
- Setting up a segment on MSNBC's Hardball, September 7. [Audio/video (2:01): Windows Media | MP3 audio]




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