Posted on 12/25/2003 8:52:43 AM PST by SJackson
The Media Research Center (MRC) is out with its annual “Best Notable Quotables,” a compendium of the most outrageously biased and unintentionally humorous statements made by liberal journalists during the past year (December 2002 through November 2003). The following represents an extensive sampling of what passes for objective reporting and trenchant analysis in today’s media culture.
Ashcroft, American Torquemada
“Attorney General John Ashcroft has earned himself a remarkable distinction as the Torquemada of American law. Tomas de Torquemada...was largely responsible for... [the] torture and the burning of heretics – Muslims in particular.
“Now, of course, I am not accusing the attorney general of pulling out anyone’s fingernails or burning people at the stake (at least I don’t know of any such cases). But one does get the sense these days that the old Spaniard’s spirit is comfortably at home in Ashcroft’s Department of Justice.”
– Former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite in his syndicated column published in the September 22 Philadelphia Inquirer.
Isn’t Saddam Grand?
Diane Sawyer: “I read this morning that he’s [Saddam Hussein] also said the love that the Iraqis have for him is so much greater than anything Americans feel for their president because he’s been loved for 35 years, he says, the whole 35 years.”
Dan Harris in Baghdad: “He is one to point out quite frequently that he is part of a historical trend in this country of restoring Iraq to its greatness, its historical greatness. He points out frequently that he was elected with a hundred percent margin recently.”
–ABC’s Good Morning America, March 7.
Saddam Hussein, Feminist
Tom Brokaw: “NBC News ‘In Depth’ tonight. In the aftermath of the war on Iraq, new anxieties for some of the country’s educated, successful women. Although many may be glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein, many are also worried that a new government could set them back....’’
Mike Taibbi in Baghdad: “While the end to the Saddam regime means a return to long-denied freedoms for all Iraqis, it may also mean at least a temporary rollback of some hard-won freedoms for millions of Iraqi women.... While Saddam’s regime brutalized women – rape, torture, even beheadings – his secular government also gave women more rights than their counterparts in many other Islamic countries.”
– NBC Nightly News, April 22.
Why, We Just Love Saddam!
“Iraqis are growing increasingly enraged by the mounting damage to civilian sites – including this maternity hospital, smashed up by a bomb that exploded nearby. Several people were killed, even though patients had been evacuated at the start of the war. Walking through the streets of Baghdad today, it’s clear that this war is not popular. I asked this man if he thinks the war is about liberating him from Saddam’s brutal regime. “Liberation?” he asked me. “Who asked for America to liberate us?” ”
– Freelancer Richard Engel reporting from Saddam-controlled Baghdad, ABC’s World News Tonight, April 2.
Saddam, Patron Of The Arts
“This week we were surprised to see several hundred artists and writers walking through the streets of Baghdad to say thank you to Saddam Hussein. He had just increased their monthly financial support. Cynical, you could argue at this particular time, but the state has always supported the arts, and some of the most creative people in the Arab world have always been Iraqis. And whatever they think about Saddam Hussein in the privacy of their homes, on this occasion they were praising his defense of the homeland in the face of American threats.”
– ABC’s Peter Jennings in Baghdad, concluding the January 21 World News Tonight
Dukakis, Mondale No Liberals
“The rap on [Howard] Dean is that he’s like Dukakis and Mondale and McGovern. Well, McGovern was a liberal, but we had an issue and that was the war. Dukakis was no liberal and neither was Mondale. Both of them had several people to the left in those primaries. It was what the Republicans did to them once they got the nomination that made them seem to be liberals in both cases.”
– Former NBC and CNN reporter Ken Bode on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, August 10.
Kneeling Before Hillary (I)
“You became First Lady like no other First Lady before you. You had your own interests, you got involved in public policy. No First Lady had done that without being severely criticized. Did you realize what you were getting into?....I don’t think people realize how strong your faith is.’’
– Barbara Walters to Sen. Hillary Clinton in a June 8 ABC special promoting her book, “Living History.”
Kneeling Before Hillary (II)
“Senator Hillary Clinton is at Ground Zero this morning to attend the September 11th anniversary ceremony, and she joins us now. Good morning, Senator Clinton....You’ve fought so much for the heroes of 9/11. You have sought money for firefighters, you’ve taken the EPA to task for toning down their report on air quality at Ground Zero. Has enough been done for the heroes, the people who fought so bravely on that day?”
– CBS’s Hannah Storm to Hillary Clinton on The Early Show, September 11.
Kneeling Before Hillary (III)
Bob Costas: “How, from where you sit, have you maintained your dignity, and how can you be so controlled under circumstances that would be trying for the best of us?...If you became president, what kind of First Gentleman would Bill Clinton be?...What are your best and worst qualities as a politician?” Senator Hillary Clinton: “Probably my worst quality is that I get very passionate about what I think is right.”
– Exchange on HBO’s On the Record with Bob Costas, July 18.
Leftist Protesters = Superpower
“The size of the demonstrators, at least here, at least in Europe, seems to underscore, Chris, that there are now perhaps two world superpowers. There’s the United States and then there are those millions of people who took to the streets opposing U.S. policy.”
– MSNBC’s David Shuster to Hardball host Chris Matthews, February 17.
Wow, Wish We’d Been There
“It was a party a hundred thousand strong, flowing haltingly below the slated mansard roofs of Paris’s stately avenues, accompanied by balloons and banners and vendors selling foot-long hot dogs and fries. If there is one thing the French know how to do, it is how to conduct a demonstration.
“Ladies in stiletto heels and fur-fringed jackets, fathers pushing strollers trailing McDonald’s balloons, drably dressed union members, students in face paint and carnival clothes – all turned out to make some noise. Yet despite the gay atmosphere beneath a brilliant blue sky, the message was stark, even dark.
“ ‘The United States is a barbarian country,’ shouted some. ‘Bush, let’s murder,’ shouted others. One group chanted, ‘Bush, Blair, Sharon, Putin, Chirac: Justice in Palestine, don’t touch Iraq.’ ”
– Introduction of Craig Smith’s February 16 New York Times story, about anti-war protests in Paris, headlined, “Throwing a Party With a Purpose.”
Just Another ‘Objective’ Reporter
“This is the worst president ever. He [George W. Bush] is the worst president in all of American history.” – Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas at a Society for Professional Journalism banquet, as quoted by the Torrance, California Daily Breeze’s John Bogert in a January 19 story.
Clinton Good, Bush Bad
“A friend of mine here at CNN has a theory about the Bush administration. They’re convinced that everything Bill Clinton ever did was wicked, bad and awful, and so they want to do the opposite....Clinton wanted to save all that wilderness area in Alaska; and Mr. Bush wants to drill for oil there. Clinton fussed about clean air; this president wants to ease new restrictions on coal-burning power plants.... Clinton, my friend noted, had surpluses. Obviously, the Bush administration thinks those are evil, because what they want is deficits -- big ones, maybe the biggest ever.”
– CNN’s Bruce Morton on Late Edition, February 9.
We Did To Iraq What Bin Laden Did To Us
“I decided to put on my flag pin tonight – first time. Until now I haven’t thought it necessary to display a little metallic icon of patriotism for everyone to see....I put it on to take it back. The flag’s been hijacked and turned into a logo – the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism....
“When I see flags sprouting on official lapels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao’s Little Red Book on every official’s desk, omnipresent and unread. But more galling than anything are all those moralistic ideologues in Washington sporting the flag in their lapels while writing books and running websites and publishing magazines attacking dissenters as un-American....I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don’t have to make it....I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us.”
– Bill Moyers on PBS’s Now, February 28.
No Difference Between 9/11, Iraq Attack
“To many New Yorkers, the scenes of a city under siege were achingly familiar. New Yorkers watching the televised bombing of Baghdad yesterday said they were riveted by the raw and uninterrupted display of American military might. But for some, the bombing brought back particularly visceral and chilling memories. They could not help thinking about Sept. 11, and how New York, too, was once under assault from the skies.”
– New York Times reporter David Chen in a March 22 news story headlined “Baghdad Bombing Brings Back Memories of 9/11.”
Katie Couric, Girl Reporter
“There’s an article in the Style section of the Washington Post this morning. It says you’ve logged 26 years of personal minutiae, filling 4,400 two-by-three inch notebooks, color-coded by season. An example: ‘12:17’ – this is when you made the announcement – ‘Ascend stage, stumble, regain balance; 12:18: Applause, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ plays (U2); 12:19: Clap, wave; 12:20: Adjust tie (red, white stripes); 12:21: Double thumbs up; 12:22: Sing along with National Anthem, right hand on heart.’ What, what do you do this for?!”
– Katie Couric to Senator Bob Graham on NBC’s Today, May 7, apparently unaware the article she quoted from was a spoof of the presidential candidate’s diary.
Liberals? At CBS?!
CBS’s Lesley Stahl: “Today you have broadcast journalists who are avowedly conservative....The voices that are being heard in broadcast media today, are far more – the ones who are being heard – are far more likely to be on the right and avowedly so, and therefore, more – almost stridently so, than what you’re talking about.”
Host Cal Thomas: “Can you name a conservative journalist at CBS News?”
Stahl: “I don’t know of anybody’s political bias at CBS News....We try very hard to get any opinion that we have out of our stories, and most of our stories are balanced.”
– Exchange on Fox News Channel’s After Hours with Cal Thomas, January 18.
Give It A Rest, Peter
“I don’t think anybody who looks carefully at us thinks that we are a left-wing or a right-wing organization.”
– Peter Jennings, as quoted by USA Today’s Peter Johnson in a September 9 article on Jennings’s 20 years as sole anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight.
Another Pinhead Named Peter
Within the United States, there is growing challenge to President Bush about the conduct of the war and also opposition to the war. So our reports about civilian casualties here....help those who oppose the war.
“Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces....And I personally do not understand how that happened, because I’ve been here many times and in my commentaries on television I would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government, and the willingness to fight for their country. But me, and others who felt the same way, were not listened to by the Bush administration.
“Now America is re-appraising the battlefield, delaying the war, maybe a week, and re-writing the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance; now they are trying to write another war plan.”
– Then-NBC/MSNBC/National Geographic Explorer correspondent Peter Arnett’s comments on Iraq’s state-controlled television network, March 30, shown by C-SPAN.
And The Winner Is...
MRC’s Quote of the Year:
“If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age.”
– Charles Pierce in a January 5 Boston Globe Magazine article. Kopechne drowned while trapped in Kennedy’s submerged car off Chappaquiddick Island in July 1969, an accident Kennedy did not report for several hours.
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