Why No Public Love for Obama's "Many Acomplishments"?

Why No Public Love for Obama's "Many Accomplishments"?

"The President marked quite a week in Washington. The oil, for now, is finally stopped, and on the political front, his financial reform package finally passed. So why such low poll numbers?"
- Fill-in anchor David Muir on ABC's World News, July 16.

"With so many accomplishments in just 18 months, you'd think the President would be flying high. Instead, his approval rating continues to sink and now stands at just 44 percent."
- CBS's Chip Reid on the July 15 Evening News.

"You've had an enormous amount of legislative victories - it's comparable to any President in history. It has not translated into political capital with the public. Honestly, are you frustrated by that?"
- NBC's Chuck Todd to President Obama in an interview excerpt shown on MSNBC's Hardball, July 16.

Out of Work Two Days = 27 Years In Prison?

"I have to tell you, Rick, I don't want to put her [ex-USDA official Shirley Sherrod] on too high a pedestal. I don't think she would want that. But I kept thinking about Nelson Mandela as I heard her story, because he had to overcome the same sort of hatred on both sides. And he became this larger-than-life figure, and I think we all loved him and revered him because he was able to grow like that. And there is that quality about her story."
- CNN senior political analyst David Gergen talking to anchor Rick Sanchez on Rick's List, July 21. [Audio/video (0:27): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

ABC Touts Same Tea Party Smears They Helped Launch

"The NAACP points to the racial epithets allegedly hurled at black members of Congress by Tea Party members during the health care debate and to the racist signs that critics say they spotted at Tea Party events to support its conclusion that the 'Tea Party movement is a threat to the pursuit of human rights, justice and equality for all.'...[to Tea Party official who is black] We've all seen the signs. There have been signs that compare Barack Obama to a monkey, there have been signs that have had the 'N' word on them. When you see those signs, how do you feel?"
- ABC's Dan Harris on World News, July 13.

Flashback:
"Opponents of the bill have been out today, and some of them pulled out all the stops. Protesters roaming Washington, some of them increasingly emotional, yelling slurs and epithets."
- ABC's Diane Sawyer on World News, March 21.

"They've waved signs likening President Obama to Hitler and the devil; raised questions about whether he was really born in this country; falsely accused him of planning to set up death panels; decried his speech to students as indoctrination; and called him everything from a 'fascist' to a 'socialist' to a 'communist.'...Add it all up, and some prominent Obama supporters are now saying that it paints a picture of an opposition driven, in part, by a refusal to accept a black President."
- Dan Harris on ABC's World News, September 15, 2009. [Audio/video (0:51): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Three Cheers for NAACP's "Racism" Slam on Tea Party

"Good for the NAACP. We need an honest conversation about the role of race and racism in the Tea Party. Thanks to a resolution passed this week at the venerable organization's national convention, we'll get it."
- Former Washington Post and New York Times reporter E. J. Dionne in his July 15 Washington Post column.

I'm Confused - I Thought All Conservatives Were Racists

"How do you figure your state out? It's pretty conservative obviously. It's Strom Thurmond country in many ways and, and it has people like [Senator Jim] DeMint pretty far over, and then people like Lindsey Graham who are sort of regular conservatives. But then you nominated, your party has nominated an Indian-American woman, Nikki Haley - obviously an attractive candidate, she knows how to present herself, obviously - but what's that about? Is that just an interesting little aspect? 'It's okay to be Indian-American, but we got a problem with this black President?' What's that about?"
- MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews to South Carolina Republican Representative Bob Inglis, July 14. [Audio/video (0:30): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

If Obama Can't Get Marxist Confirmed, Senate Must Be "Broken"

"Do you think Washington is broken? And the reason I ask you this, because when you appointed - you did the recess appointment of Donald Berwick. You seemed to send the message of one of two things. Either you didn't want to debate about health care again on Capitol Hill, which got a little raucous a year ago or - you know what? - the Senate process is broken and we gotta go around it?"
- NBC's Chuck Todd on the July 16 Today asking President Obama about his bypassing the Senate to install the pro-redistribution/pro-rationing Berwick as the new administrator of Medicare and Medicaid.

GOP Hypocrites Don't Really Care About Deficits

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): "Republicans are not opposed to unemployment benefits, hardly. We're looking at $34 billion in unemployment. But, remember, it was Democrats that made a big deal of the concept of pay-go. They said they would not spend money unless they made cuts in other places....It's important that they find other cuts in other places...."
Co-host George Stephanopoulos: "Let's take a look at that principle. The tax cuts passed by President Bush are set to expire at the end of the year. I know you want to extend them. Do you support paying for those, as well?"
- ABC's Good Morning America, July 20.

The Stimulus Didn't Work?! First I've Heard of It!

CNBC's Trish Regan: "His administration that came forward with an $800 billion stimulus package. And Americans are now sitting back and saying, 'OK, where did that money go? Why is it that we're still looking at an unemployment rate that is near ten percent' They're angry, they're frustrated, they want to get back to work. And it's clear that the spending didn't work. So he's facing a real challenge...."
Time's Joe Klein: "Who says the spending didn't work? Who says the spending didn't work?...It might have been 15 percent unemployment!"
- Exchange on The Chris Matthews Show, July 11.

Matthews Invites Democrat to Mock GOPers Who Belong in "Nut Bag"

"You're going around looking for nuts. Like, you know, [Texas Congressman Joe] Barton is crazy enough to side with BP in the worst catastrophe. Another one, [Minnesota Congresswoman Michele] Bachmann - you haven't gotten the other 'B' here. If you're going out looking for nuts, it would seem like you'd put her in your basket....What percentage of the Republican Party would you put in the nut bag right now? The party that, not just conservatives, but people that are just really crazy out there, even beyond the Tea Partiers?"
- MSNBC's Chris Matthews to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Representative Chris Van Hollen, July 12 Hardball. [Audio/video (1:12): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Defending Obama by Slamming Bush

"Given the ongoing crisis in the Gulf, the President's weekend escape received a good share of criticism....But it's not just where and when presidents travel, it's how often. Ronald Reagan took 349 vacation days at his California ranch during his eight years in office. In his first year and a half as President, George W. Bush vacationed 96 days. Over that same time period, President Obama has taken 36 days."
- Correspondent Michelle Miller on CBS's The Early Show, July 19.

"Whatever criticism there may be of the President's vacation choices, he's spent 33 days on vacation in his first 18 months. His predecessor, George W. Bush, spent 96 in the same period."
- CBS White House correspondent Chip Reid on the July 17 Evening News.

Slamming "Little Boy" Obama from the Left; He "Bends Over" for Wall Street

"Barack Obama, very aggressive on his campaign trail about how he was going to take care of the private equity tax loopholes, and he was going to work for the American people....[But] when it came down to it, when the Wall Street guys got across the table from him and said, 'Oh, you going to change our tax code, little boy?' I think not....With this guy, he just bends over every time."
- MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan on Morning Joe, July 14. [Audio/video (0:54): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

NBC Frets: Illegal Aliens Trying to "Flee" Arizona

"One way to measure the effect of Arizona's pending immigration law is the length of this line. It stretches around the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix every day, immigrants trying to figure out not how to stay in Arizona, but how to flee it....It may be months before anyone knows for sure just how many illegal immigrants and their business the law has scared away."
- Correspondent Lee Cowan on the NBC Nightly News, July 8.

Glimpse of How Liberal Journalists Really Talk to Each Other

"Part of me doesn't like this sh*t either. But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals....What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger's [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically."
- Then-Washington Independent writer Spencer Ackerman strategizing about how to suppress the Reverend Wright story, in a posting to the Journolist listserv group revealed July 20 by The Daily Caller's Jonathan Strong.

"Laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out."
- What producer Sarah Spitz of NPR affiliate KCRW said she would do if she saw Rush Limbaugh dying, in a posting to the Journolist reported July 21 by The Daily Caller. Spitz later conceded her comment was "poorly considered."

Arianna: "Voice of Truth," "Role Model for All of Us"

"The life and times of Arianna Huffington, who represents such a voice of truth and the highest aspiration for any individual that hopes to improve themselves each and every day, as they go through their days, to be better, not only for themselves, but to those around them. I believe she is a role model for all of us in that regard and couldn't be happier for her. Happy birthday, Arianna."
- MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan on marking the left-wing Huffington Post publisher's 60th birthday on the eponymous Dylan Ratigan Show, July 16.




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