On Monday’s edition of Newsweek/TheDaily Beast's daily NewsBeast in-house video [1], the promotional “highlight” was Newsweek/Daily Beast assignment editor and reporter Allison Yarrow [2] saying of Cheney: “But can you imagine being that organ donor?...I would never do it. I’d say ‘give me my heart back.’”
Welcome to the latest edition of Compassionate Liberals Show Their True Colors. Newsweek senior writer Ramin Setoodeh added, “I would never give my heart to Dick Cheney. It would freeze over.” Yarrow then offered: “He may be one of the most evil people in the world.”
Audio: MP3 clip [3]
Yarrow also worked as a producer for NBC News [4] (including some of those cheesy weekend MSNBC documentaries). That was a cozy fit, since NBC questioned Cheney getting a new heart [5] on Monday.
John Avlon played host of NewsBeast and did shame both of his colleagues. He called it “ridiculous” that Cheney would win a global-evildoer contest. He began by suggesting “We wish him well, and his family well.” Avlon clearly wasn’t speaking for the rest of the staff. Yarrow also said "The news is that he has a heart, I think."
YARROW: But can you imagine being that organ donor? It’s such a difficult decision to say "I want to give my body to someone else after I’m dead." I would never do it. I’d say "give me my heart back."
In the middle of that, Setoodeh said Cheney’s heart would freeze over, then added:
SETOODEH: Did he cheat?...I love the people that are defending him. They’re saying there’s no way that he could skip the list. I mean, Dick Cheney can find ways to do whatever he wants.
YARROW: Apparently he waited longer than average for this heart....
AVLON: Seriously, the ill will toward Dick Cheney getting a heart transplant is stunning.
YARROW: He may be one of the most evil people in the world
AVLON: Come on! That’s not true.
YARROW: Is it not?
AVLON: Not even a little bit.
Setoodeh asked Avlon who was higher on his list and Avlon began with Stalin, and Setoodeh shot back, “You have to go to dead people to find people more evil than Dick Cheney?” Avlon then turned to the Assad family. “To name Dick Cheney as one of the most evil people alive is ridiculous.”
Allison Yarrow is married to Ben Yarrow [6], who in the last decade was chief speechwriter for liberal Gov. Jennifer Granholm in Michigan and then worked as Communications Director for Bill Clinton's foundation.
-- Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. Click here [7] to follow Tim Graham on Twitter.