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Guess He Liked It |
"A speech worthy of Abraham Lincoln....What I personally view as the best speech
ever given on race in this coun-try....I think this is the kind of speech I
think first graders should see, people in the last year of college should see
before they go out in the world. This should be, to me, an American tract.
Something that you just check in with, now and then, like reading Great
Gatsby and Huckleberry Finn....One of the great speeches in American
history."
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews talking about Barack Obama’s speech on race
relations, March 18 Hardball. |
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Wright’s Rant a Bogus Issue? |
"At issue now, a video of a sermon given by Barack Obama’s minister at the
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago....We’re running it because — like it
or not, legitimate or not — it has become an issue....All this seems to have
nothing to do with actual issues that the country is facing, which these
candidates should be talking about and we probably should be talking about."
— CNN’s Anderson Cooper introducing a story about inflammatory comments made
by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Anderson Cooper 360, March 13."I don’t even know how these candidates can talk about policy
because it seems like every day someone’s asking them to apologize for the
comments of their supporters. Rush Limbaugh went nuts today on his program about
this [Jeremiah Wright] story. John McCain is talking about this particular
story. How do we get away from this?"
— MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell to The New Republic’s Michael Crowley
during live coverage, March 14.
vs.
"We bombed Hiroshima! We bombed Nagasaki! And we nuked far more than the
thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye....We have
supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and
now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought
right back into our own front yard. America’s chickens are coming home to
roost."
— Sermon delivered by Reverend Jeremiah Wright on September 16, 2001, the
Sunday after the 9/11 attacks. |
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Lauding Obama’s "Act of Honor" |
"By refusing to renounce Reverend Wright, that was in many ways an act of honor
for Senator Obama."
— ABC’s George Stephanopoulos discussing Obama’s speech on race relations,
March 18 World News. |
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Conservatives "More Offensive" |
"How is this different than John McCain chasing after Pat Robertson or the
late Reverend Jerry Falwell, who talk about how we have a culture of
murdering unborn children in this country and that we’ve turned into Sodom
because we coddled the gay community in this country? I mean, to me, that
stuff is considerably more offensive than decrying racial violence and
intolerance in this country, which members of the black community have some
firsthand knowledge of."
— CNN’s Jack Cafferty talking about the controversy over Rev. Wright on
The Situation Room, March 17. |
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"Good Luck, Barry!" |
 "Barack Obama’s latest endorsement from his old classmates in Jakarta,
Indonesia. [Shows group in front of large lettering reading "Good Luck, Barry!"]
They’ll be sending these photographs to the boy they all knew as Barry....The
fact that Obama lived in Jakarta and studied at this school has really captured
the popular imagination. It’s already working wonders for America’s battered
image here....His friends hope there’ll be no turning back on his journey to the
White House. And Barry might attend their next reunion as President of the
United States."
— Reporter Ian Williams, March 14 NBC Nightly News. |
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No (D) For Scandalous Spitzer |
"In a stunning development this afternoon, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer,
whose reputation for righteously prosecuting wrongdoing gave him the nickname
Eliot Ness, publicly apologized after being linked to a prostitution ring."
— Fill-in anchor Ann Curry, March 10 NBC Nightly News."Good
morning, Client #9. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, a hard-charging moral
crusader caught in a federal sting involving a high-price call girl ring."
— Co-host Meredith Vieira opening Today, March 11. None of NBC’s news
programs identified Spitzer as a Democrat until March 13, the scandal’s fourth
day.
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Thanks to NBC’s Non-Labeling
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Co-host Meredith Vieira: "Let’s talk very quickly about Governor
Spitzer’s resignation. He was a super-delegate for Senator Clinton. So she loses
his vote. Beyond that, do you see any other fallout for the Democrats?"
Washington bureau chief Tim Russert: "Probably not."
— NBC’s Today, March 13. |
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"American Dream Slipping Away" |
 "This country’s in a rut, on the war in Iraq and pending wars elsewhere in the
Middle East, the economy, everything, we’re in a rut. We can’t fix anything,
whether it’s Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, we can’t fix our health care
system. Nothing’s [been] done since ’65 when we did the civil rights bill.
People want something done."
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews during live coverage of the Texas and Ohio
primaries, March 4. |
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No Progress In 43 Years |
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"Jim Rutenberg, who was the lead reporter on this; Bill Keller, who’s the editor
who made the decision — these are not ordinary journalists. These are
outstanding journalists and that probably needs to be said. Now, if they can’t
back it up any further than they have it, they’re in a heap of trouble. But, on
the record, it deserves to be said these are very responsible journalists."
— Dan Rather on the February 24 Chris Matthews Show talking about the
anti-McCain New York Times story. |
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Jack’s Latest Conspiracy Theory |
"Oil was $28 a barrel when George Bush was sworn in. It’s $104 right now and
could go to $120 soon. Now, why do you suppose that is? It wouldn’t have to
do with the policies of the Bush administration or the relationship they
have with the oil companies, would it? Come on."
— CNN’s Jack Cafferty on The Situation Room, March 5. |
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Rush, the "Pervert" of Democracy |
 "Rush Limbaugh and others on the far right, now trying to pervert tomorrow’s
results, calling on Republicans in Ohio and Texas to vote in the Democratic
primary for Hillary Clinton — not because they like Clinton, but because they
want to keep the Democrats in disarray....The right-wing media’s hatched a new
plan to damage not just the Democratic Party but perhaps the democratic
process."
— MSNBC’s Dan Abrams on Live with Dan Abrams, Mar. 3."He [Rush
Limbaugh] was upset that I said he was perverting the process by encouraging
Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in open primaries in an effort to quote,
‘bloody up’ Obama....When you encourage someone to vote for a candidate that
they don’t want as President, I believe it is actually un-American....It is
shameful."
— Abrams reacting to Limbaugh pointing out that many Democrats had voted in
GOP primaries, MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams, March 5. |
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Barack Obama = Mark Twain? |
Host Chris Matthews: "[Barack Obama’s book, Dreams of My Father,
is] unique because he’s a politician and not since U.S. Grant has a politician
written his own book-" Radio Host Michael Smerconish: "Exactly."
Matthews: "- and that is refreshing."
Smerconish: "Yes."
Matthews: "And your thoughts here? Did you read the book? Once you read
it you have a different take. It’s almost like Mark Twain. It’s so American,
it’s so textured. It’s so, almost sounding like great fiction because it reads
like us. It’s picturesque. Is that the right word, ‘picturesque’? I think it’s
got that quality."
— Exchange on MSNBC’s Hardball, March 13. |
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Harry Hits GOP’s "Low Road" |
"In 1980 [sic, actually 1984], Ronald Reagan’s optimistic ‘Morning in America’
appealed to the most basic beliefs about who we are as Americans, and it gave
Reagan a big boost. There’s a high road and a low road. Remember Willie Horton?
The ads played to racial fears and portrayed Massachusetts Governor Michael
Dukakis as soft on crime."
— CBS’s Harry Smith reviewing TV commercials from previous campaigns on
The Early Show, March 10. |
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Katie’s Feminist Defense |
Jesse Hardy, Ohio voter: "Hillary’s made emotional outbursts and I feel
like if she’s put in a tragic situation where, God forbid, we have another
terrorist attack or something like that, you know, is it going to be an
emotional outburst or, you know, how do you handle that situation?"
CBS’s Katie Couric: "But some of the male candidates, like Mitt Romney,
have gotten misty eyed as well. It’s just harder for you to take coming from a
female candidate?"
— CBS Evening News, March 4. |
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America: War-Mongering Rapist |
"We’ve been redefined for seven years now as a war-mongering, far-right,
intolerant nation who’s raping our own atmosphere and demonizing the poor and
letting the banks rob us blind. I think if — any incremental move away from that
would be a godsend. And I think Obama will, at the very least, put the brakes on
this madness and in some ways heal it....I think the rest of the world, if they
see that America elects a man of color I think they’ll breathe a big sigh of
relief and not think that we’re this war-mongering, rich white guy country."
— Actor/comedian Richard Belzer on FNC’s Geraldo At Large, March 2. |
PUBLISHER: L. Brent Bozell III
EDITORS: Brent H. Baker, Rich Noyes, Tim Graham
MEDIA ANALYSTS: Geoffrey Dickens, Brad Wilmouth, Scott Whitlock, Matthew Balan and Kyle Drennen
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE: Michelle Humphrey
INTERNS: Lyndsi Thomas
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