Year End Awards: The Best Notable Quotables of 2014

Welcome to the Media Research Center’s annual awards issue, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2014 (December 2013 through November 2014).

To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 40 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers, and expert media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of five to seven quotes in each category [List of Judges]. First place selections were awarded three points, second place choices two points, with one point for the third place selections. Point totals are listed alongside each quote. Each judge was also asked to choose a “Quote of the Year” denoting the most outrageous quote of 2014.

The MRC’s Kristine Lawrence distributed the ballots and tabulated the results. Senior news analyst Scott Whitlock rounded up the numerous video clips included in the Web-posted version. Rich Noyes and Brent Baker assembled this issue and Brad Ash posted the entire package to the MRC’s Web site: www.mrc.org.

Quote of the Year
“Okay. I’m just going to come right out and say it: This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across — well, come across in a long time anyway. A massive brawl in Anchorage, Alaska, reportedly involving Sarah Palin’s kids and her husband. It was sparked after someone pushed one of her daughters at a party....And now police have released audio of that interview. It does include some rather colorful language from Bristol. Here now is Bristol’s recollection of how that night unfolded. So sit back and enjoy.”
CNN Newsroom anchor Carol Costello on October 22, introducing audio of Bristol Palin describing how a man shoved her, dragged her on the ground and repeatedly cursed at her
See the Runners-Up for the Quote Of The Year
The Move Along, Nothing to See Here Award for Denying Obama’s Scandals

Jeff Zucker (52 points)

“We’re not going to be shamed into it [covering the Benghazi hearings] by others who have political beliefs that want to try to have temper tantrums to shame other news organizations into covering something. If it’s of real news value, we’ll cover it.”
CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker to New York Times television reporter Bill Carter at a Deadline Club event May 19, as quoted the next day by Nicole Levy in a Capital New York article
Runners-Up

Chris Hayes (40 points)

“Without the IRS, or something like it, we wouldn’t have a government. In fact, it’s the cornerstone upon which the entire edifice of the federal government is built. And that is precisely the reason conservatives have so consistently taken a sledgehammer to it....Conservatives recognize that one of the only things standing between us and a genuine plutocracy are thousands of anonymous bureaucrats doing the basic work of enforcing our nation’s laws.”
MSNBC host Chris Hayes on criticism of Lois Lerner, April 15 All In

Chris Matthews (34 points)

“The enemies of Hillary Clinton, by that I mean the partisan enemies, have got their voodoo doll. It’s called Benghazi. Every time they put the pin in, they hope it hurts Hillary....It’s become an obsession bordering on cultism among Republicans, with even John Boehner falling under its spell. You can almost smell the incense. ‘Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi.’ They keep chanting the word until it gets Hillary to fall.”
Chris Matthews starting off MSNBC’s Hardball, May 5

Julie Mason (28 points)

“All these hearings, all these investigations — where’s the proof of the crime? Howie, this morning, there were 100,000 stories on Google News about the IRS investigation. There’s a welter of coverage... but there’s no proof of a crime. And the coverage reflects that. Every journalist in town would love if there was proof of a scandal, they would be galloping after it. They’re not trying to protect President Obama. That’s over.”
Sirius-XM Press Pass radio host Julie Mason, a former White House correspondent for the Houston Chronicle, Washington Examiner and Politico, on the June 29 edition of FNC’s MediaBuzz
The Obamagasm Award

Michael Eric Dyson (70 points)

“You know, I’m a Christian preacher, and God finally said, ‘Look, I can’t send nobody else. I got to go myself.’ And I ain’t saying that Obama is Jesus, but for many of his followers he is.”
MSNBC contributor Michael Eric Dyson on Melissa Harris-Perry, August 23, arguing for Obama to visit Ferguson, Missouri
Runners-Up

Paul Krugman (47 points)

“Despite bitter opposition, despite having come close to self-inflicted disaster, Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history....I don’t care about the fact that Obama hasn’t lived up to the golden dreams of 2008, and I care even less about his approval rating. I do care that he has, when all is said and done, achieved a lot. That is, as Joe Biden didn’t quite say, a big deal.”
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writing the cover story for the October 23 edition of Rolling Stone, “In Defense of Obama.”

Bob Schieffer (41 points)

“You had a tough summer. We saw the rise of ISIS, the outbreak of Ebola, trouble in the Ukraine, illegal immigrants coming across the border. Did you ever go back to the residence at night and say, ‘Are we ever going to get a break here?’...You came here talking about hope and change. Do you still hope? Is change, was it harder than you thought it would be?”
Two of host Bob Schieffer’s questions to President Obama in an interview shown on CBS’s Face the Nation, November 9

David Remnick (39 points)

The New Yorker’s David Remnick: “The fact that this country didn’t fall into a depression, an economic depression, which it could easily have done; the fact that we are out of Iraq, for all the problems in Iraq, getting there in Afghanistan; the auto industry saved; gay rights more and more ensured, not without help from the President of the United States; the fact that there’s been no scandal, major scandal, in this administration, which is a rare thing in an administration; the fact that science is now discussed as science; the fact that climate change, however woefully inadequate the measures for it, is now-”
Host Charlie Rose: “Does this measure up to greatness for you?”
Remnick: “Well, let’s wait ‘til the end....[But] I think those achievements are huge.”
PBS’s Charlie Rose, January 20, talking about Remnick’s cover story on Obama’s presidency
The Blue State Brigade Award for Biased Campaign Coverage

Andrea Mitchell (57 points)

“It’s not a substantive argument. It was a scare tactic by the Republican opponents of Democratic incumbents, who tried to focus on ISIS and Ebola in the scariest, most non-factual ways, to take the eye off the real issues.”
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell during MSNBC’s election night coverage, November 4
Runners-Up

Chuck Todd (47 points)

“If November comes and goes and Democrats hold the Senate and break even in the House, I think we’re going to look back at the month of July as the month Republicans lost their shot at the Senate.”
Incoming NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, August 1, talking about Boehner’s lawsuit and the House immigration bill

Chuck Todd (44 points)

Host Chuck Todd: “Some Americans suddenly saying tax cutting has gone too far?”
Clip of Kansas voter: “It’s been a train wreck.”
Todd: “Could Republicans now become the victims of a new anti anti-tax fever?”
Opening show tease on the September 21 edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, as the on-screen headline trumpeted: “Anti Anti-Tax Fever.”

Norah O’Donnell (38 points)

Co-host Norah O’Donnell: “You serve in the U.S. Senate. Democrats are in control. The Republicans need six seats. On average, since World War II the opposing party of the President has won about six seats. What’s going to happen if Republicans take control?”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “Oh, it’s going to be ugly out there if the Republicans take control.”
O’Donnell: “I guess that was a softball of a question, wasn’t it?”
Warren: “How many ways can we talk about this?”
Co-host Charlie Rose: “She just teed it up for you. Go.”
CBS This Morning, October 28
The Media Hero Award

Barbara Walters (74 points)

“I would just like to say that I’m honored to be meeting you. I watched those hearings, as did so many other people. And to so many of us, you were our heroine.”
Longtime ABC News anchor Barbara Walters to law professor Anita Hill, who accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment before his 1991 confirmation, on ABC’s The View, March 19
Runners-Up

Diane Sawyer and David Muir (50 points)

Anchor Diane Sawyer: “Back here at home, a firebrand is back in the news with a big alert for middle class Americans, the bedrock of the nation....”
Correspondent David Muir: “It’s long been part of the American dream. Families hoping to secure their spot in America’s cherished middle class. And she is the firebrand who’s made a name fighting for them.”
Clip of Senator Elizabeth Warren: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.”...
Muir: “She says she’s not running for president, Diane, but she’s clearly campaigning for the middle class tonight.”
ABC’s World News, April 21

John Heilemann (47 points)

“The hands, they’re like the paintbrushes of Picasso. He just uses them as an artistic expression mode....The thing about Clinton is, everybody thinks he’s a great improviser, and he is a great improviser. But he also hones these speeches....He’s like a great editor, in addition to being a great spontaneous orator.”
Co-host John Heilemann on Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect, October 7, reacting to a clip of Bill Clinton campaigning in Arkansas

Andrea Mitchell (24 points)

“I just wanted to ask finally: With all your energy, what keeps you going? What is the secret, the magic of Jimmy Carter?”
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviewing former President Jimmy Carter on Meet the Press, March 23
The Planet in Peril Award for Climate Hysteria

Adam Weinstein (70 points)

“Man-made climate change happens. Man-made climate change kills a lot of people. It’s going to kill a lot more. We have laws on the books to punish anyone whose lies contribute to people’s deaths. It’s time to punish the climate-change liars....Denialists should face jail. They should face fines....I’m talking about Rush and his multi-million-dollar ilk in the disinformation business. I’m talking about Americans for Prosperity and the businesses and billionaires who back its obfuscatory propaganda....Those malcontents must be punished and stopped.”
Gawker.com staff writer Adam Weinstein in a March 28 post, “Arrest Climate-Change Deniers.”
Runners-Up

Nicholas Confessore (50 points)

Co-host Joe Scarborough: “What’s a greater threat to civilization, Christian extremism, Jewish extremism or Muslim extremism?”
NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin: “To civilization?...I would not say any of those. I would not say radical Islam is the greatest threat to civilization today.”
Scarborough: “What is?”
New York Times political reporter Nicholas Confessore: “Global warming.”
MSNBC’s Morning Joe, October 6

Tom Friedman (36 points)

“So your son or daughter has a disease and you go to 100 doctors — 97 percent of them, 97 of the hundred say, ‘This is the cause and this is the cure,’ and three percent say, ‘This is the cause, this is the cure.’ That is what it is on the climate science: 97 percent of experts say this, three percent say that and conservatives are saying ‘I’m going go to with the three percent.’ That’s not conservative, that’s Trotskyite radical.”
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman on CBS’s Face the Nation, April 6

Bill Maher (30 points)

“Do we really need to make a bogey man out of everybody? I get it that ISIS is bad, but they’re not that different than so many other Islamic villains....The other day, Hillary Clinton said something I thought was very smart, which was that global warming...is the biggest issue that we should be afraid of. And I agree. I am much more afraid of ice, as in melting, than I am about ISIS.”
Bill Maher on MSNBC’s Hardball, September 10
The Obama’s Orderlies Award for Championing ObamaCare

Scott Pelley (63 points)

“We got a report today about ObamaCare that was both surprising and widely misunderstood. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said about two million Americans are likely to pass up full-time jobs because of the President’s health insurance program. Those aren’t necessarily jobs being lost. They’re also workers choosing to work less.”
Anchor Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News, February 4
Runners-Up

Ed Schultz (57 points)

“I’ll tell you what I think God thinks of the Affordable Care Act — it’s a big ‘amen.’”
Ed Schultz answering viewers’ questions on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, December 4, 2013

Bill Maher (41 points)

“I always hear that the moon landing was the last great thing that America did. I think the last great thing America did was giving health care to 30 million people. [applause] I find that to be so much more of a significant achievement than landing on the moon.”
Host Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time, July 25

Ellen DeGeneres (23 points)

“It’s doing very, very well....You’ve got five million people signed up so far. [applause] An enormous number of people have signed up, so it’s successful....I think everyone’s very grateful that you did this. And I think it is important for people to sign up. It’s just better to be covered. You just never know.”
Syndicated daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres talking to President Obama about the health care law on her March 20 show
The Ku Klux Con Job Award for Smearing Conservatives with Phony Racism Charges

Chris Matthews (65 points)

“Killing the black vote. This is Hardball....Good evening, I’m Chris Matthews in Washington. This is rotten stuff, isn’t it? The Republican effort to kill the black vote in state after state: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, Texas. We can all see what they’re doing. Believing they can’t convert the African American vote, they’ve decided to slaughter it....This is murder in broad daylight.”
Chris Matthews opening MSNBC’s Hardball, October 21
Runners-Up

Melissa Harris-Perry (48 points)

“I want to talk today about a controversial word. It’s a word that has been with us for years and, like it or not, it’s indelibly printed in the pages of American history. A word that was originally intended as a derogatory term, meant to shame and divide and demean. The word was conceived of by a group of wealthy white men who needed a way to put themselves above and apart from a black man, to render him inferior and unequal and to diminish his accomplishments.... Y’all know the word that I’m talking about: ObamaCare.”
Host Melissa Harris-Perry on her eponymous MSNBC show, December 8, 2013

Bill Press (43 points)

“The essence of this Tea Party is a racist institution. It is born of the fact that they cannot stand the fact that a black man is President of the United States. But it also shows me that despite what happened in Virginia — right? — this Republican Party hasn’t learned one lesson. They still will go as far right as they can, as extreme on the extreme fringe of the Republican Party. That’s who’s leading the party today.”
Left-wing radio host Bill Press on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, December 16, 2013

Ed Schultz (24 points)

“I think not raising the minimum wage is a racist policy....Not raising the wage, the minimum wage, is every bit as racist as comments made by Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. It’s just displayed in a different way.”
Host Ed Schultz on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, April 30
Damn Those Conservatives Award

Carol Costello (65 points)

“Okay. I’m just going to come right out and say it: This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across — well, come across in a long time anyway. A massive brawl in Anchorage, Alaska, reportedly involving Sarah Palin’s kids and her husband. It was sparked after someone pushed one of her daughters at a party....And now police have released audio of that interview. It does include some rather colorful language from Bristol. Here now is Bristol’s recollection of how that night unfolded. So sit back and enjoy.”
CNN Newsroom anchor Carol Costello on October 22, introducing audio of Bristol Palin describing how a man shoved her, dragged her on the ground and repeatedly cursed at her
Runners-Up

Charles Pierce (47 points)

“[Senator John] McCain should pay a heavy price for unleashing this ignorant, two-wheeled bilewagon [Sarah Palin] on the country’s politics. If you think she’s a legitimate political leader, you’re an idiot and a sucker and I feel sorry for you....She is the living representation of the infantilization of American politics, a poisonous Grimm Sister telling toxic fairy tales to audiences drunk on fear, and hate and nonsense....It was the address of a malignant child delivered to an audience of malignant children. If you applauded, you’re an idiot and I feel sorry for you.”
Esquire’s Charles Pierce in a March 8 blog post about Palin’s CPAC speech

Ed Schultz (31 points)

“There’s nothing American about Ted Cruz.”
Host Ed Schultz on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, June 2

John Kelly (26 points)

“I still call Reagan National Airport ‘National Airport.’... It seemed odd to me to rename National after a man who, for the eight years he lived in Washington, didn’t even use the airport. (Air Force One lands at Andrews, remember?) Then there’s the irony of naming an airport after the guy who broke the air traffic controllers’ union. It’s like renaming Atlanta ‘Shermanville.’”
Washington Post Metro columnist John Kelly in a May 21 column about proposals to rename Washington’s Union Station after former President Harry S. Truman
The Pantsuit Patrol Award for Boosting Hillary Clinton

Barbara Walters (63 points)

“I think you’ve been on our ‘most fascinating’ list more than anyone, and — and you were THE most fascinating....No matter what their political views, you are someone we admire — and, for me, it’s more than admiration — it’s very deep affection, and I thank you for coming on....No matter what she does, she will always, to me, be the most fascinating.”
Barbara Walters to Hillary Clinton on Walters’ last day as co-host of ABC’s The View, May 16.
Runners-Up

Charlie Rose (49 points)

“Maya Angelou, the late Maya Angelou, wrote a poem about her during the 2008 presidential campaign. It contains these lines: ‘There is a world of difference between being a woman and a being an old female. If you’re born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies. Hillary Clinton is a woman.’ Some say she may be the first woman in the White House. I am pleased to have Hillary Clinton back at this table. Welcome.”
Host Charlie Rose setting up an interview with Clinton on his PBS program, July 17

Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes (39 points)

“Navigating through a buttoned-down sea of Brooks Brothers and Talbots as she made her way to the podium, Hillary was surrounded by applause, and by groupielike bureaucrats waving camera-phones. It was a historic moment, at least in the world of State…If her debut was a rock concert, Hillary was Bono — a bona fide international celebrity, with credibility as a crusader for the disadvantaged. In that regard, she was one of a kind.”
From the February 2014 book HRC co-written by Bloomberg News reporter Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes

Chris Matthews (35 points)

“Let me finish tonight with the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming not just the next president, but a truly great president. Let me be the first to say that the elements are there: her political positioning, her talents and personality....Hard work, experience, a willingness to work with Republicans — indeed, a real feel for the political world and how it works. If she weren’t a candidate, I’m sure a lot of Republicans would be saying this. It’s an established fact that people who work with her like her.”
Host Chris Matthews wrapping up MSNBC’s Hardball, May 19
America’s Royal Baby Award

Bianna Golodryga (61 points)

“Move over, Prince George. This morning, Americans have their own royal, or, rather, presidential baby, to look forward to.”
Correspondent Bianna Golodryga on ABC’s Good Morning America, April 18
Runners-Up

Kendall Breitman (55 points)

“Leading astrologers say that Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky is destined for a future working on social justice and will enjoy a strong relationship with her proud grandparents, Hillary and Bill. After Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinsky’s daughter was born..., Politico asked astrologers to weigh in on what is written in the stars for the former first daughter’s first daughter.”
Politico’s Kendall Breitman in a September 29 article

Erin Burnett (35 points)

“Just moments ago, Chelsea Clinton and her new baby girl Charlotte, left the hospital....This is sort of like, you know, kind of reminds of the whole Kate and William moment. I mean, isn’t it even the same dress?”
Anchor Erin Burnett on CNN’s OutFront, September 29

Susan Saulny (25 points)

“Prince George is doing wonders for the royal family’s popularity. Look at those cheeks. This morning, speculation abounds: Could Chelsea Clinton’s own baby announcement have a similar impact on an American dynasty?”
Correspondent Susan Saulny on ABC’s Good Morning America, April 20
MSNBC = Mean-Spirited, Nasty, Belligerent Chris Award

Chris Matthews (60 points)

“If only the people who voted in 2010 show up this November, you can kiss all this goodbye. You’ll see the beginning of the end to what could have been — what many of us believe should have been — an historic turn toward full democratic government in this country....It will be a double-downing of efforts to suppress the votes of those who voted for him in historic numbers, the return to something like Jim Crow days, redolent of all the old anti-black gimmickry of that time — literacy tests and poll taxes and all the rest. The goal will be to erase not just Obama from the history books, but any evidence that someone of his background should ever think of being President. It will mean victory for the haters.”
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews opening the January 7 Hardball
Runners-Up

Chris Matthews (50 points)

“What’s worse, Thom Tillis or Ebola?”
Matthews on Hardball, October 27

Chris Matthews (34 points)

“Someone should ask Reince Priebus, him being the leader of the Republican Party in this country, why his party is so compelled to deny people the right to vote. Wasn’t it Abraham Lincoln — who would run the risk of being called a Republican-In-Name-Only today — who won the Civil War so people, especially African Americans, could be regular voting citizens?...Doesn’t it [the Republican National Committee] have a responsibility, a moral responsibility, to tell the parties across the country that the party of Lincoln shouldn’t become the party of Jefferson Davis?”
Matthews wrapping up Hardball, February 13

Chris Matthews (28 points)

“A mean-spirited political trickster trying to run up the score in an easy reelection. Sound familiar? Well, this is not yet a Watergate, but the more we learn about Chris Christie, the more he does look like Richard Nixon.”
Matthews on Hardball, January 15, teasing a nearly 12-minute segment comparing Christie to Nixon
The Twisted Tweets Award

Roger Simon (60 points)

“Rick Perry sending 1,000 National Guard troops to border to shoot small children. Could make good headlines — in Russia.”
Tweet from Politico’s chief political columnist Roger Simon, July 21
Runners-Up

Alan Pyke (51 points)

“I hope Roger Ailes dies slow, painful, and soon. The evil that man has done to the American tapestry is unprecedented for an individual.”
August 14 Twitter message posted by Alan Pyke, deputy economic policy editor for the far-left Think Progress blog, in reaction to the Fox News Channel’s coverage of the unrest in Ferguson

MSNBC (29 points)

“Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family.”
A January 29 posting to MSNBC’s official Twitter page. After many outraged responses, the post was removed and replaced by an apology: “It does not reflect msnbc’s position and we apologize.”

Bette Midler (29 points)

“Well, we can look forward to: unregulated banks, no health care, filthy air and oceans, and WAR, WAR AND MORE WAR. Thanks, folks!”
Post-election message posted on Twitter by actress Bette Midler, November 5
The Audacity of Dopes Award for the Wackiest Analysis of the Year

Eleanor Clift (85 points)

“Every media organization has investigated this [Benghazi] to death. This animates the right wing of the Republican Party. And I would like to point out that Ambassador [Chris] Stevens was not murdered. He died of smoke inhalation in the safe room in that CIA installation.”
The Daily Beast’s Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group, May 11
Runners-Up

Zachary Goldfarb (40 points)

“With the 2015 budget request, [President] Obama will call for an end to the era of austerity that has dogged much of his presidency and to his efforts to find common ground with Republicans.”
Washington Post business reporter Zachary Goldfarb in a February 21 front-page article, “Obama budget to rebuff austerity.” The federal government’s total public debt rose from $10.63 trillion when Obama took office to $17.42 trillion at the time Goldfarb’s article appeared

Peter Dinklage (34 points)

“Russia overwhelms. Russia mystifies. Russia transcends....The empire that ascended to affirm a colossal footprint; [over footage of communist symbols] the revolution that birthed one of modern history’s pivotal experiments. But if politics has long shaped our sense of who they are, it’s passion that endures as a more reliable route to their collective heart.”
Actor Peter Dinklage narrating a piece on Russia which introduced NBC’s coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, February 7. During the Soviet era, estimates are that between 8.5 million and 50 million people died of starvation, politically-motivated murder and in forced labor camps

Brian Williams (27 points)

Anchor Brian Williams: “Whatever else is remembered from Hillary Clinton’s trip to Iowa this past weekend to attend a big political steak fry, along with her husband, it’s this soundbite from her speech that may survive for all time.”
Hillary Clinton: “I’m back!”
NBC Nightly News, September 15
The Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity

Gwyneth Paltrow (83 points)

“I am one of your biggest fans, if not the biggest, and have been since the inception of your campaign....It would be wonderful if we were able to give this man all of the power that he needs to pass the things that he needs to pass...You’re so handsome that I can’t speak properly.”
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow introducing President Obama at an October 9 DNC fundraiser held at her Los Angeles home
Runners-Up

Harvey Weinstein (44 points)

“This is the only country in the world where we don’t have health care. Countries embarrass us around the world. And this is the only country in the world where we don’t have a gun law. I watched you, you know, talk about that. You know, quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. Obama is not embarrassing. The country is embarrassing.”
Movie producer Harvey Weinstein on CNN’s Piers Morgan Live, November 15, 2013

Max Brooks (36 points)

“This [the rise of the Tea Party] has happened before in history. In Germany in the ’20s and ’30s, there was this right-wing reactionary element that was so terrified of anarchy and communism, that they said, ‘You know what? There’s a group of street thugs that are real ideologues, and they’re willing to take it and they’re willing to bloody themselves. And you know, once they get into power we can control them.’ And that was why they backed them. ‘We can control this.’ And what they didn’t realize...What is true is that ideologues are only loyal to ideology.”
Graphic novelist, cartoonist and former Saturday Night Live writer Max Brooks, son of Mel Brooks, on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, June 27

Emmy Rossum (21 points)

“Then I got food poisoning the next day....The hospitals are amazing there. I went to the hospital: Free health care! Incredible....They don’t even ask you for your I.D. You give your name, you give your symptoms, they hook you up to a bunch of fluids. They say, ‘Just leave when you feel like it.’ You pay nothing! I paid nothing. They treated me for hours, I paid nothing. Amazing...It was amazing.”
Emmy Rossum, star of Showtime’s Shameless, on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, January 8, recounting what happened when she became ill during a visit to Britain
Quote of the Year

Carol Costello

“Okay. I’m just going to come right out and say it: This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across — well, come across in a long time anyway. A massive brawl in Anchorage, Alaska, reportedly involving Sarah Palin’s kids and her husband. It was sparked after someone pushed one of her daughters at a party....And now police have released audio of that interview. It does include some rather colorful language from Bristol. Here now is Bristol’s recollection of how that night unfolded. So sit back and enjoy.”
CNN Newsroom anchor Carol Costello on October 22, introducing audio of Bristol Palin describing how a man shoved her, dragged her on the ground and repeatedly cursed at her
Runners-Up

Eleanor Clift

“Every media organization has investigated this [Benghazi] to death. This animates the right wing of the Republican Party. And I would like to point out that Ambassador [Chris] Stevens was not murdered. He died of smoke inhalation in the safe room in that CIA installation.”
The Daily Beast’s Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group, May 11

Michael Eric Dyson

“You know, I’m a Christian preacher, and God finally said, ‘Look, I can’t send nobody else. I got to go myself.’ And I ain’t saying that Obama is Jesus, but for many of his followers he is.”
MSNBC contributor Michael Eric Dyson on Melissa Harris-Perry, August 23, arguing for Obama to visit Ferguson, Missouri
Judges

Brent H. Baker, MRC’s Vice President for Research & Publications; Editor at Large of the MRC’s NewsBusters blog

Mark Belling, radio talk show host, WISN-AM in Milwaukee

Neal Boortz, nationally syndicated radio talk show host (retired)

L. Brent Bozell III, Founder and President of the Media Research Center

Monica Crowley, news analyst for the Fox News Channel, nationally syndicated talk radio host and online opinion editor for the Washington Times

Mark Davis, talk host on KSKY (660 AM The Answer) in Dallas-Ft. Worth and Salem Radio Network; Dallas Morning News columnist

Midge Decter, author; Heritage Foundation Board of Trustees

Bob Dutko, nationally syndicated radio talk show host, WMUZ in Detroit

Jim Eason, retired radio talk show host

Erick Erickson, Editor of RedState.com

Eric Fettmann, Associate Editorial Page Editor, New York Post

Lucianne Goldberg, publisher of Lucianne.com media forum

Tim Graham, Executive Editor of the MRC’s NewsBusters blog and Director of Media Analysis for the MRC

Quin Hillyer, Contributing Editor to National Review

Mark Hyman, commentator, Behind the Headlines for the Sinclair Broadcast Group

Jeff Jacoby, syndicated Boston Globe columnist

Cliff Kincaid, Director, Accuracy in Media’s Center for Investigative Journalism

Mark Larson, radio talk show host, KCBQ-AM 1170 ; news analyst for KUSI-TV in San Diego

Mark Levin, nationally syndicated radio talk show host; President, Landmark Legal Foundation

Jeffrey Lord, blogger for NewsBusters and contributing editor to The American Spectator

Steve Malzberg, host of The Steve Malzberg Show on NewsmaxTV

Patrick McGuigan, Editor of CapitolBeatOK.com and Publisher of The City Sentinel in Oklahoma City

Vicki McKenna, host, the Vicki Mckenna Show on WIBA in Madison and WISN in Milwaukee

Jan Mickelson, radio talk show host, WHO in Des Moines

Rich Noyes, Director of Research, Media Research Center; Senior Editor of the MRC's NewsBusters blog

Kate O’Beirne, former Washington Editor of National Review

Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-Chief of World News Group

Katie Pavlich, News Editor for TownHall.com

James Pinkerton, Fox News contributor

Wladyslaw Pleszczynski, Editorial Director, The American Spectator

Chris Reed, editorial writer, San Diego Union-Tribune

Mike Rosen, radio host at KOA; columnist for the Denver Post

Tron Simpson, radio host at TronShow.com and KVOR in Colorado Springs

James Taranto, editorial board member, The Wall Street Journal and Editor of "Best of the Web Today"

Cal Thomas, syndicated and USA Today columnist and Fox News contributor

David Webb, SiriusXM radio talk host; Fox News contributor

Walter E. Williams, Professor of economics, George Mason University

Thomas S. Winter, Editor-in-Chief emeritus of Human Events

Genevieve Wood, Senior Contributor to The Daily Signal

Martha Zoller, Editor-in-Chief of zpolitics

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Media Coverage

In addition to discussions on numerous radio talk shows where hosts cited quotes or interviewed MRC representatives, the Best of NQ Awards issue has been highlighted by these outlets:

Print:

Denver Post, column by Mike Rosen on December 21: “Liberal media ravings of 2014”

World magazine, by Marvin Olasky, posted on December 19 (Jan. 10, 2015 printed publication): “Lap dogs and attack hounds; My votes for the worst reporting of 2014.” Also posted January 9 on TownHall.com: “Lap Dogs and Attack Hounds”

Waterbury [CT] Republican-American editorial on January 1: “Chronicles of Bias XXVII”

Video:

Fox News Channel’s Hannity segment with MRC President Brent Bozell on December 18. Video

Newsmax TV’s America’s Forum segment with the MRC’s Tim Graham on December 30. Video: Part 1Part 2

Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends segment with Genevieve Wood on December 30. Video

NewsmaxTV’s Steve Malzberg Show segment with the MRC’s Tim Graham on December 30. Video: Part 1Part 2

Online:

National Review Online, by Quin Hillyer on December 1: “H8ers Gotta H8: In 2014, the media delivered a torrent of anti-conservative bile”

FoxNation on December 21: “MRC’s Year-End Awards: The Biggest Obamagasms of 2014"

NewsBusters on December 23: “The Worst of 2014: ‘Victory for the Haters,’” a syndicated column Brent Bozell and Tim Graham.

The Daily Signal, by Genevieve Wood on December 26: “Here Are the Most Biased Media Quotes of 2014”

Washington Examiner, by Paul Bedard on December 29: “Worst liberal media quote of 2014: CNN’s Carol Costello’s slap at Bristol Palin”

TownHall.com on December 31: “Year-End Awards: The Most Outrageous Media Quote of 2014”

CapitolBeatOK.com, by Patrick B. McGuigan on January 6: “The best of the worst: The Media Research Center’s ‘Notable Quotables’ for 2014”