"Appalled" by "Vulgar" Celebrations of bin Laden's Demise
"Some Americans celebrated the killing of Osama bin Laden loudly, with chanting and frat-party revelry in the streets. Others were appalled - not by the killing, but by the celebrations.... 'The worst kind of jingoistic hubris,' a University of Virginia student wrote in the college newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. In blogs and online forums, some people asked: Doesn't taking revenge and glorying in it make us look just like the terrorists?"
- New York Times reporter Benedict Carey in a May 6 news story, "Celebrating a Death: Ugly, Maybe, but Only Human."
"At the news of Osama bin Laden's death, thousands of people - most of them college-aged and in requisite flip-floppy collegiate gear - whipped up a raucous celebration right outside the White House gates that was one part Mardi Gras and two parts Bon Jovi concert....It felt a little crazy, a bit much. Almost vulgar....When I saw that folks were celebrating in the streets at the news of bin Laden's death, my first reaction was a cringe. Remember how we all felt watching videos of those al-Qaeda guys dancing on Sept. 11?"
- Washington Post "Metro" section columnist Petula Dvorak, May 3.
"It is just and necessary that this evil man was finally punished for the mass murders he engineered on September 11, 2001. But I am repelled by the scenes of mindless jubilation, from Times Square to the park in front of the White House, that erupted after President Obama delivered the news in a properly sober tone Sunday night."
- The Washington Post's "Spirited Atheist" blogger Susan Jacoby in a May 2 posting.
"It's idiotic to treat these kinds of international events like sporting events, like it's the World Cup that we're cheering for here....I think that this kind of jumping up and down, chanting 'USA, USA,' sends a message of almost sort of blood lust. I think we need to be really careful about that."
- Correspondent Jeremy Scahill of the left-wing The Nation magazine, on PBS's Tavis Smiley, May 2.
Awed by the "Almost Biblical" Nature of Obama's Success
"President Bush tried, President Clinton tried, but Barack Obama was the one who had the courage and the guts and the coolness, and took that chance....It was enormously, enormously courageous."
- ABC's Barbara Walters on The View, May 4. [Audio/video (0:43): Windows Media [1] | MP3 audio [2]]
"Professor Obama turned into General Obama and ran this incredible, incredible raid. That took a lot of guts, the kind of thing you do see in a Hollywood movie."
- Bloomberg columnist Margaret Carlson on MSNBC's Morning Joe, May 4.
"By calmly and meticulously overseeing the successful targeting of Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama just proved himself - vividly, in almost Biblical terms - to be an effective commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States."
- Ex-Newsweek correspondent and editor Howard Fineman writing at the Huffington Post, May 2.
Now, Barack Obama Is "Unbeatable"?
"Gas prices may finally be going down. The report last week shows jobs were added to the economy, and, of course, Osama bin Laden is dead. Does this make Barack Obama unbeatable in the coming election?"
- Anchor Carol Costello on CNN's Newsroom, May 9.
Touting Obama's "Cool Hand" vs. GOP "Clown Show"
"Barack Obama: The cool hand directs the operation, step by step. All this time, the crazies were talking birth certificates, he was working, planning, leading, bringing America's strength and brains to the enemy hideaway....Will this make the Republicans look for someone who can do what Obama can do? Or will they keep on celebrating the clown show? Will they stop enjoying their passion and go from cheering their buffoon parade to finding a real pick to put up against a proven master and commander?"
- Chris Matthews opening Hardball, May 2. [Audio/video (0:50): Windows Media [3] | MP3 audio [4]]
The "Devoted" and "Pious" Mrs. Osama Bin Laden
NBC's Ann Curry: "After more than 10 years of marriage, Amal was known to be devoted to him....She was in the room when her husband died. Amal is from Yemen, a country Osama considered his ancestral homeland, and she was much like him: simple, pious, not interested in luxuries like his other four wives. And it appears she lived his life on the run."
Terrorism expert Evan Kohlman: "She joined bin Laden and she traveled with him during one of the most difficult parts of his life, which is when he was mostly on the run traveling across Pakistan, Afghanistan with few luxuries. And yet, she stuck by him."
- NBC's Today, May 6. [Audio/video (0:54): Windows Media [5] | MP3 audio [6]]
Bush Tax Cuts Just a Big Flop
"Why not use an increase in revenues? Tax hikes to help with that debt problem? What is the evidence that you can present that the tax cuts of the Bush era have actually accomplished their goals?...When the Bush era tax cuts were passed in 2001, unemployment in this country was 4.5 percent. Today it's at 9 percent, just down from 10 percent. So why are the Bush era tax cuts creating jobs?"
- Host Matt Lauer to House Speaker John Boehner on NBC's Today, May 10. In the five years after the full tax cut package was passed in 2003, the economy added more than 8.3 million new jobs.
Scolding Ryan's "Reverse Robin Hoodism;" Need "Courage" to Raise Taxes
"People who have been studying your numbers very carefully have been saying that the numbers don't add up....[They say] two-thirds of the savings that you want to make in spending cuts come at the expense of programs designed for the poor, for the disadvantaged. And this is reverse Robin Hoodism, if you like - take from the poor, give back to the rich again."
- ABC's Christiane Amanpour to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on This Week, May 1.
"What I think is really missing - in both the Republican and the Democratic approach right now, and is really an example of political cowardice - is taxes....That's the thing that I think no one has the courage to talk about. It's partly going to be, I think there should be more taxes on the very rich. They're doing incredibly well in this economy, but it is going to be about more taxes on the middle class, including consumption taxes."
- Chrystia Freeland, global editor-at-large for Thomson-Reuters, on ABC's This Week, May 1.
Did We Mention He's Conservative?
"The most compelling part of Representative Allen B. West of Florida is his own biography, there for all to see: an African-American Tea Party activist Republican congressman and ally of hard-right Israelis....One of the right's most visible spokesmen....Mr. West's popularity among conservatives goes far beyond South Florida.... [West] is frequently featured on the Fox News Channel and in other conservative settings.... West's political beliefs hew closely to the most conservative members of the House....His views on the Middle East tend to tack even more to the right of the strongest supporters of Israel."
- From New York Times reporter Jennifer Steinhauer's April 29 profile, "Conservative Congressman's Star Power Extends Beyond Florida District." [Bold added for emphasis]
Excited How Obama Sounds Like Their Hollywood Hero
Correspondent Savannah Guthrie: "Today, as [Donald] Trump held forth in New Hampshire, the cable TV split screen gave way to the President, who played his Trump card."
President Obama: "We live in a serious time right now, and we do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do."
Guthrie: "At that moment, the real President sounding a lot like that Hollywood one."
Clip of Michael Douglas as "President Andrew Shepherd" in The American President: "This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your 15 minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I am the President."
- NBC Nightly News, April 27.
Impugning Swift Boat Vets as Liars
"President Obama released his birth certificate, proving Donald Trump wrong, yet Trump still claims victory. Can you believe it? Can you believe this?...Does this remind you of the swift-boating that went on when John Kerry was running?...These people make up a lie, they continue the lie, they perpetuate the lie, and then people start to believe it. They destroyed Kerry."
- Headline News 10pm ET host Joy Behar, April 28. [Audio/video (0:32): Windows Media [7] | MP3 audio [8]]
Using Sympathetic College Kid to Push for Obama's "Dream Act"
Correspondent John Blackstone: "For Pedro Ramirez, there is one hard fact about immigration reform - his future depends on it."
College student Pedro Ramirez: "I have aspirations and dreams just like anybody else."...
Blackstone: "Last year he joined other young undocumented immigrants pushing for passage of the Dream Act. It would award legal residency to children brought to America before they were 16, as long as they graduate from high school and go on to college or the military. Supporters of the Dream Act were disappointed when the Senate failed to join the House in passing it in December....In the next few weeks, some 65,000 students who came here illegally as children will graduate from high school, but for now they'll face a life in the shadows in America."
- CBS Evening News, May 10.
Far Left Whines Over bin Laden: "One Killer Killing Another"
"I'm glad he's gone. But I just feel something has - we've lost something of our soul here in this country. And maybe I'm just an old school American who believes in our American judicial system.... [Snarls] 'What do we need a trial for, just get rid of him.' The second you say that, you're saying that you hate being an American. You hate what we stand for, you hate what our Constitution stands for."
- Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, May 5.
"People cheer because they thought they saw justice, but this was not justice....This was one killer killing another, a big killer, the United States government, killing another, someone who's actually a smaller one, bin Laden."
- Journalist Allan Nairn on the far-left Democracy Now radio program, May 2.
"So when does SEAL Unit 6, or whatever it's called, drop in on George Bush? Bush was responsible for a lot more death, innocent death, than bin Laden. Wasn't he, or am I wrong here?"
- Left-wing radio host and former CNN producer Mike Malloy on The Mike Malloy Show, May 2. [MP3 audio [9] (1:13)]
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