NBC's Williams: Defeat of 'Old-School Moderate' Lugar 'Ending the Era of Centrist Republicans'
Joining the rest of the media in mourning the primary defeat
of Republican Indiana Senator Richard Lugar on Tuesday, on Wednesday's
NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams praised th
e "old-school
moderate" who "was attacked for working to compromise with the White
House" and lamented: "His defeat comes close to ending the era of centrist Republicans in the Senate."
Williams
reported on Lugar being "trounced in the Indiana Republican primary
last night by Tea Party-backed opponent Richard Murdoch" and touted the
80-year-old Senator's bitter farewell: "[He] unleashed a 1,400-word
document examining these hyper-partisan times. He blamed outside groups
that spent millions on ads against them saying their, quote, 'prime
mission is to cleanse the Republican Party of those who stray from
orthodoxy as they see it.'"
Here is a transcript of Williams' May 9 report:
7:07 p.m.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Richard Lugar, one of the longest serving senators in
this country, was trounced in the Indiana Republican primary last night
by Tea Party-backed opponent Richard Murdoch. After conceding defeat,
the old-school moderate unleashed a 1,400-word document examining these
hyper-partisan times. He blamed outside groups that spent millions on
ads against them saying their, quote, "prime mission is to cleanse the
Republican Party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it."
Luger is a powerful voice in foreign policy, was attacked for working to
compromise with the White House. His defeat comes close to ending the
era of centrist Republicans in the Senate.
-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
