Presentation

Master of Ceremonies Cal Thomas explained how those at each table would vote to pick the winners via electronic voting devices, before he shared an inspiring Dodge commercial narrated by the late Paul Harvey, which paid tribute to farmers. Thomas then introduced Martha Zoller who presented the “Puppy Love Award.” By audience vote, it was won by Lawrence O’Donnell and accepted in jest by Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst for the Fox News Channel.

2015 Award Nominees

Rachel Maddow Runner-Up

“We don’t know if the Iran deal is going to work. If it does, it will be the major foreign policy achievement, not only of this presidency, but of this American generation. At which point, people in the not too distant future will look back at this presidency, they’ll look back at this president, and they’ll say, of course they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize, of course they did. That totally makes sense.”

— Rachel Maddow, July 14, 2015 MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

Charlie Rose Runner-Up

“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 times 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, 2014.

Lawrence O’Donnell Winner

“Long before he was running for President, he had written the answer [to questions about past drug use] in a book called Dreams from My Father. It stands today as the finest literary work ever authored by a President of the United States. The book doesn’t contain the whole truth of Barack Obama’s life. Books can’t do that, but it is, by far, the most honest and open book, an artful book, ever written by a president.”

— Host Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC’s The Last Word, February 3, 2015.

Presentation

Martha Zoller presented “Damn Those Conservatives to Hell Award” which, by audience vote completed via electronic device at each table, was won by Ayman Mohyeldin and accepted in jest by Tom Fitton, the President of Judicial Watch.

2015 Award Nominees

Chris Matthews Runner-Up

“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, 2014.

Sally Kohn Runner-Up

“It would be unfair or I think dishonest of us to not be clear that part of what he’s speaking to is a part of the American public that for the last seven years has felt outraged. They talk about taking the White House back. They’ve said, and he re-tweeted this, they want the White House, capital W-H-I-T-E again.”

— CNN analyst Sally Kohn, re Donald Trump and conservatives, on CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello, July 21, 2015.

Ayman Mohyeldin Winner

NBC correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin: “When you juxtapose it [the movie American Sniper] with the real Chris Kyle and what has emerged about what kind of personality he was.... a lot of his own personal opinions about what he was doing in Iraq, how he viewed Iraqis. Some of what people have described as his racist tendencies towards Iraqis and Muslims as he was going on some of these, you know, killing sprees in Iraq on assignment. So I think there are issues-”

Host Joe Scarborough: “Wait, wait. Killing sprees? Chris Kyle was going on killing sprees?”

Mohyeldin: “When he was involved in his — on assignments in terms of what he was doing. A lot of the description that has come out from his book, and some of the terminology that he has used, people have described as racist in his personal attitudes about what he was doing overseas when he was on assignment.”

— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, January 29, 2015.

Presentation

Chris Plante presented the “Dan Rather Memorial Award for the Stupidest Analysis” which, by audience vote completed via electronic device at each table, was won by a group of analysts on CNN Newsroom led by Sally Kohn, and accepted in jest by former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, now a senior fellow at the Family Research Council.

2015 Award Nominees

Melissa Harris-Perry Runner-Up

Host Melissa Harris-Perry: “Well what if instead of saying #RaceTogether...[keep in the words here] it gave something substantive?”

The “Whiteness Project’s” Whitney Dow: “Oh, absolutely, I would rather have it say, y’know, ‘White supremacy has been the organizing principle of America since it was founded.’”

Harris-Perry: “Ah, there you go! Put that on the cup!”

— Talking about Starbuck’s ill-fated #RaceTogether campaign, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry, March 22, 2015.

Brianna Keilar and Mark Halperin Runner-Up

“Yesterday she stopped at a Chipotle, a campaign aide sharing with us that she had a chicken burrito bowl with black beans and guacamole and an iced tea. And you know what that kind of detail tells you — it says, ‘She’s just like us. She eats at Chipotle.’”

“The two words she needs are ‘fun’ and ‘new.’ And part of why yesterday was so successful is she looks like she’s having fun and she’s doing, for her, new stuff. We’ve never seen her get a burrito before.”

— Quotes on April 14, 2015 from CNN’s Brianna Keilar on CNN’s New Day; and from Mark Halperin, co-host of Bloomberg TV’s With All Due Respect, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Sally Kohn and CNN Colleagues Winner

“Right now, thousands of Americans are marching in New York and Washington and across the country, demanding a justice system that applies the same to everybody and honors our values. We want you to know that our hearts are out there marching with them.”

— CNN political analyst Sally Kohn wrapping up an hour of live CNN Newsroom coverage on December 13, 2014 as she, CNN analyst Margaret Hoover and CNN legal analyst Mel Robbins raised their hands, while CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin held up a piece of paper with “I can’t breathe” written on it.

Presentation

Chris Plante presented “The Celebrity Dumbass Award” which, by audience vote completed via electronic device at each table, was won by actress Ashley Judd and accepted in jest by former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill.

2015 Award Nominees

George Takei Runner-Up

“He is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court. He gets me that angry. He doesn’t belong there....This man does not belong in the Supreme Court. He is an embarrassment. He is a disgrace to America.”

— Actor George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on Star Trek, talking about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a June 30, 2015 interview with Fox 10 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Bill Maher Runner-Up

“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, 2014.

Ashley Judd Winner

“I mean, obviously, I love Hillary Rodham Clinton....And so seeing her talk about early childhood vulnerability and brain development. Man, that woman is stout. She is stout. So yes, I will be all in when the time comes....I think she might be the most overqualified candidate we’ve had since, you know, Thomas Jefferson or George Washington.”

— Actress Ashley Judd on Larry King Now, an Ora.TV show also carried on Hulu and broadcast on RT, the Russian TV channel, January 30, 2015.

Presentation

MRC President Brent Bozell asked the audience to show their derision, via jeers and noisemakers, of quotes from Lawrence O’Donnell, Ayman Mohyeldin and analysts on CNN led by Sally Kohn, who had won a news category earlier in the program. The audience’s very obvious preference was confirmed by Bozell and the presenters and acceptors brought on stage to judge the audience’s reaction. They chose to chastise Mohyeldin for his charge American hero Chris Kyle was a “racist” who went on “killing sprees in Iraq.”

Ayman Mohyeldin Winner

NBC correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin: “When you juxtapose it [the movie American Sniper] with the real Chris Kyle and what has emerged about what kind of personality he was.... a lot of his own personal opinions about what he was doing in Iraq, how he viewed Iraqis. Some of what people have described as his racist tendencies towards Iraqis and Muslims as he was going on some of these, you know, killing sprees in Iraq on assignment. So I think there are issues-”

Host Joe Scarborough: “Wait, wait. Killing sprees? Chris Kyle was going on killing sprees?”

Mohyeldin: “When he was involved in his — on assignments in terms of what he was doing. A lot of the description that has come out from his book, and some of the terminology that he has used, people have described as racist in his personal attitudes about what he was doing overseas when he was on assignment.”

— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, January 29, 2015.

Presentation

Joe Piscopo offered a short comedy routine before he presented funny video clips, from comedy and news shows, identified by Brent Baker and the MRC’s News Analysis Division.

Presentation

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell welcomed the audience to the post-dinner program. He then presented the ninth annual “William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence” to 2015 honoree Phyllis Schlafly who accepted via remarks shown on video.

Previous William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence Recipients

2014: Mark Levin

2013: Dr. Charles Krauthammer

2012: Andrew Breitbart

2011: Cal Thomas

2010: Stan Evans (video not available)

2009: Brit Hume

2008: Tony Snow

2007: Rush Limbaugh

A video montage, of the distinguished panel of 14 judges for the DisHonors Awards, played during the MRC’s annual gala. Beforehand, the judges narrowed the quotes to the three shown in each category.