Surging GOPers 'Are to Varying Degrees Yahoos'
'The candidates who surged before [Gingrich] are to varying degrees yahoos. They proved it anew last week. Michele Bachmann seemed to be under the impression that we had an embassy in Iran, and Rick Perry was definitely under the delusion that the voting age in this country is 21 instead of 18.' –Former White House correspondent, now columnist Frank Bruni, December 4.
Herman Cain 'Seems Like Someone Who ...Has Never Opened a Newspaper'
'Let us pause here to make a necessarily severe assessment: to say that Herman Cain has an imperfect grasp of policy would be unfair not only to George W. Bush in 1999 but also to Britney Spears in 1999. Herman Cain seems like someone who, quite frankly, has never opened a newspaper.' –T.A. Frank in the November 13 edition of the Times Sunday Magazine.
London Rioters Spurred By 'Altars to Consumption and Greed'
'As the riots in London and elsewhere in August seemed to show, the profound gulf between haves and have-nots has been magnified by the inequalities and envies of a society that has built its newest altars to consumption and greed.' – Alan Cowell, November 14.
NYT Stringer Proudly Tosses Aside Pretense of Objectivity
'I was in complete agreement when, last month, the triumvirate of right-wing firebrands Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart all condemned me for being more than just a journalist. They are correct, and I agree with every pundit who argues that I have no place in the mainstream media.' – Former NYT freelancer Natasha Lennard in an article for Salon, November 15. Lennard had contributed to the paper's reporting on Occupy Wall Street, then participated in a left-wing panel discussion of Occupy Wall Street tactics in front of protest supporters.
Occupy's '99 Percent' Slogan Like 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death'
'Slogans have emerged from American protest movements, successful and otherwise, throughout history. The American Revolution furnished the world with 'Give me liberty or give me death' and the still-popular 'No taxation without representation.' The equal rights movement in the 1960s used the phrase '59 cents' to point out the income disparities between women and men. The civil rights movement embraced the song 'We Shall Overcome' as a slogan. During the Vietnam War, protesters called on politicians to 'Bring 'em Home' and 'Stop the Draft.' More recently, supporters of Mr. Obama shouted 'Yes, we can.'' – Media reporter Brian Stelter in a front-page story December 1 headlined 'Camps Are Cleared, but '99 Percent' Still Occupies the Lexicon.'
Read the full list of the worst quotes from the New York Times in the new edition of Times Watch Quotes of Note [1].