Notable Quotables - 12/01/2008
An “All Star” Team of Geniuses
“Although some critics say that his all-star cabinet might be difficult to manage, Obama is determined to pick the strongest, smartest people he can find, knowing that he is facing an economic crisis of historic proportions.”
— NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on the Nov. 21 Nightly News.
Co-host Robin Roberts: “Some would say it’s a team of rivals, a la President Lincoln, or is a better comparison a team of geniuses as FDR did?”
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “Well, one Obama advisor told me what they like is a combination of team of rivals and The Best and the Brightest, which is the David Halberstam book about the incoming Kennedy administration.... We have not seen this kind of combination of star power and brain power and political muscle this early in a cabinet in our lifetimes.”
— ABC’s Good Morning America, November 24.
Clamoring for a New New Deal
“People are comparing this to 1932. Is that a valid compari-son?...How high a priority are you placing on re-regulation of the financial markets?...Have you been reading anything about the Depression? Anything about FDR?”
— CBS’s Steve Kroft to President-elect Barack Obama on 60 Minutes, November 16.
Who Dumps on Wondrous Obama?
“When a new administration takes office, no matter how historically wondrous it is, like Barack Obama, there’s going to be someone out there on the other side who leaps to the chance to be the person who dumps on the parade every day. Is it going to be Sarah Palin?”
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on his syndicated The Chris Matthews Show, November 16.
Our President-elect of Cool
“Arriving in the nation’s capital, he was the President-elect in shades — the Obama cool on display, a sign of the low-key way he played his first visit to Washington after his election. But how could anyone be cool about this?”
— ABC’s Terry Moran on Nightline, November 10.
“President-elect Barack Obama has been named one of GQ magazine’s Men of the Year....Why was he a good choice? ...Can a guy who’s cool be President of the United States?”
— CBS’s Harry Smith on The Early Show, November 17.
Sign of Dear Leader’s Greatness
“It’s an astounding gesture of magnanimity....He [Barack Obama] turned over, basically, the jewel in the crown of his administration, Secretary of State, to his opponent. It’s a magnanimous gesture. It’s astounding to everyone involved, I think....This opportunity that Barack Obama has given her is — to say it is generous is to undersell it.”
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on NBC’s Today, November 21, reacting to reports that Obama would nominate Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
Katie Takes Joe to the Woodshed
“Do you feel as if you owe President-elect Obama one [an apology]?...You said, on whether Senator Obama is a Marxist, you said, quote, ‘It’s a good question to ask.’ Are you sorry you said that?...What really irritated — even enraged — some Democrats was your speech at the Republican National Convention. Did you understand at the time how nervy that might seem to some Democrats? How inappropriate?”
— CBS’s Katie Couric to Senator Joe Lieberman, who supported John McCain, November 19 Evening News.
A Feast for Giddy Europeans
Anchor Wolf Blitzer: “In Europe, how are they reacting [to Obama’s election]? How are they feeling, now that they’ve had a chance to absorb this historic moment?”
Reporter Richard Quest: “Giddy. They’re still giddy with excitement about it....They can’t believe their luck, Wolf. You know, you’re talking about people who have been like starving men, who have suddenly been given a food and a meal and it tastes brilliant to them.”
Blitzer: “That much?”
Quest: “Absolutely — no question. The expectations are unreasonable. They’re way out of the ballpark.”
— CNN’s The Situation Room, November 14.
Even the Good News Is Bad
“In places like Atlanta, gas costs under $2.00 a gallon again, less than half its price in July....[It is] a grim time for alternative energy champions. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens suspended his massive wind power project in Texas — plunging natural gas prices dried up credit. Sinking oil prices could have the same impact on plans to develop alternative sources of energy or fund green developments.”
— CBS’s Mark Strassmann on the November 13 Evening News.
Hailing the “Historic” Holder...
“[Barack Obama] has signaled that in the cabinet, there will be diversity, diversity of political party, of gender, of geography and of race. Today, ABC News has learned he will turn to one of his close associates to be the new Attorney General. If confirmed, Eric Holder would be the first African-American to hold that post.”
— ABC’s Charles Gibson on World News, November 18.
“The President-elect made his first cabinet selection today. Chip Reid is in Washington and, Chip, it’s another historic choice.”
— Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News, November 18.
“Barack Obama has made his choice for Attorney General....If confirmed, Eric Holder would be the first African-American to become the nation’s top law enforcement officer.”
— NBC’s Brian Williams, November 18 Nightly News.
...But Ashcroft a Sop to Far Right
“If confirmed, conservative Missouri Republican Senator John Ashcroft will be this nation’s next Attorney General. With this move, Mr. Bush rewards a defeated U.S. Senator, calms the far right politically, and makes a decidedly law and order statement.”
— Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News, December 22, 2000.
“Anti-abortion groups and the self-described Religious Right could not be happier with President-elect George Bush’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General....Planned Parenthood immediately urged Congress not to confirm him.”
— CBS’s Dan Rather, December 22, 2000 Evening News.
Fair & Balanced = Liberal Victory
“He [Barack Obama] was a great gift to democracy in that it would show the American people were fair and balanced, and honorable, and understood [it] didn’t make any difference in terms of race, color, creed and so forth.”
— Helen Thomas explaining why she voted for Obama in an interview with Cox Newspaper reporter Ken Herman posted November 12 on the Fishbowl DC blog.
Okay, We Might Be a Little Skewed
“I’ll bet that most Post journalists voted for Obama. I did. There are centrists at the Post as well. But the conservatives I know here feel so outnumbered that they don’t even want to be quoted by name in a memo.”
— Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell in her November 16 column.
Thirsty for a Little Balance
“The warnings are stark. A vortex of trash twice the size of Texas, toxins bleeding into the ocean, rivers that cannot reach the sea, species lost forever. Clouds, rain, storm’s fury born of the ocean, slowly drown distant nations. Islands disappearing and in their wake, a new kind of refugee, so far away and so close to home. Throughout our planet and within our bodies, water flows. We cannot survive without it. Yet, one billion people don’t have enough. Our new thirst may fuel wars. Is water the oil of tomorrow?”
— NBC’s Meredith Vieira on Today, November 17, helping to launch NBC Universal’s gimmicky “Green Week” pushing an environmental alarmist agenda.
MSNBC: Palin’s Turkey Massacre!
“Gov. Palin Picks Worst Possible Backdrop for TV News Interview”
“Turkeys Die as Governor Palin Takes Questions from Media”
“Gov. Sarah Palin Keeps Talking While Turkeys Get Slaughtered Behind Her”
“Gov. Palin Apparently Oblivious to Turkey Carnage Over Her Shoulder”
“Gov. Palin Not Realizing Incongruity of Her Words Versus Her Backdrop”
“Turkey-Killing Fowls Palin News Conference”
— MSNBC’s on-screen headlines during the November 20 Countdown, over video of Palin at a turkey farm.
He’ll Drink to That!
Host Ellen DeGeneres: “You must be thrilled [by the election results]. I mean what, what a moment.”
MSNBC Chris Matthews: “Well, I am thrilled!”
DeGeneres: “Yeah.”
Matthews, picking up a shot glass: “To Barack Obama!”
DeGeneres, toasting: “Yeah. To Barack Obama!”
— The Ellen DeGeneres Show, November 20.
Sadist Bush Caused Writer’s Block
“We live in a time where you have to say that politicians openly proclaim the law of viciousness and trampling over people they didn’t like: Bush has openly mocked law and proclaimed a certain pleasure in sadism and exulted in holding prisoners and mistreating and torturing them, really. Of course this affects one emotionally: my emotional life has been very strongly affected by the fact that Bush was president and my writing life is affected by my emotional life.”
— Actor/playwright Wallace Shawn as quoted in a November 3 Times of London piece asking celebrities what the election of a new president means to them.
PUBLISHER: L. Brent Bozell III
EDITORS: Brent H. Baker, Rich Noyes, Tim Graham
MEDIA ANALYSTS: Geoffrey Dickens, Brad Wilmouth, Scott Whitlock, Matthew Balan, Kyle Drennen and Justin McCarthy
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE: Michelle Humphrey
INTERN: Lyndsi Thomas
