"Bloodthirsty" GOP No Longer the Party of Life?
Moderator David Gregory: "I want to play a couple of moments from recent debates that had to do with really a challenge to the notion that the Republican Party is the party of life and supports a culture of life...."
Clip of Brian Williams at the MSNBC debate: "Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. Have you–
[audience applause]"
Gregory: "An awkward moment of applause. And then during the CNN debate, Wolf Blitzer asked Ron Paul whether a healthy man who had opted not to get insurance should be allowed to live, frankly, if it required intensive care for a period of six months. Here was the question:"
Clip of Wolf Blitzer: "Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?"
Ron Paul: "No."
Three audience members, separately: "Yeah."
Gregory: "Does the audience response in both cases trouble you as a Republican?"
— Questioning Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell on NBC's Meet the Press, September 18. [Audio/video (1:01): Windows Media [1] | MP3 audio [2]]
"How is it that not one single candidate — some who claim their spirtuality has been a guiding force in their politics — how could they not challenge the applause and maybe suggest that their invited audience take a step back from the bloodlust?"
— Commentator Nancy Giles on CBS's Sunday Morning, September 18.
"Critics say these debates promote extremism within the Republican Party, and show that the the mean season is upon us. They fault the candidates themselves for not stamping out the behavior when it happens. And they should. Also, some suggested the booing or cheering could turn off moderate and swing voters in the general election. And it should. Here's the question: Are Republican debate crowds bloodthirsty?"
— CNN's Jack Cafferty on The Situation Room, September 27.
Ryan Plan "Would Kill People, No Question"
CNN's Gloria Borger: "[House Budget Chairman Paul] Ryan became popular by pushing the unpopular, things like killing his colleague's pork projects, or trying to revamp Social Security, and eventually change Medicare into a program of vouchers for private insurers...."
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman: "To be a little melodramatic, the voucher would kill people, no question....The cuts in Medicare that he's proposing, the replacement of Medicare by a voucher system, would in the end mean that tens of millions of older Americans would not be able to afford essential health care. So that counts as cruelty to me."
— From a profile of Ryan that aired on CNN's Stories: Reporter, September 25.
"Anti-Immigration" Law in Alabama = "Arizona on Steroids"
"We turn to the toughest anti-immigration law in America that went into effect today in Alabama, a crackdown so severe it's been described as the Arizona law on steroids. Police have broad new powers to stop and detain anyone they deem suspicious and even use their children in classrooms to track them down."
— Anchor Diane Sawyer on ABC's World News, September 29. The new law does not target all immigrants, only those illegally in the United States.
Post-Partisan Obama vs. "Express Train of Bile"
"Obama, to be fair to him, when he came in to power, he said 'Look, I'm going to try to change all of this partisan crap that's going on. I'm going to try and do it a better way.' What he's found is he can't at the moment. I mean, it's like he's up against this express train of bile, and he can't get anything done."
— CNN's Piers Morgan to comedian Lewis Black on Piers Morgan Tonight, Sept. 28. [Audio/video (0:37): Windows Media [3] | MP3 audio [4]]
"Has the President really seen the light about the venom and the vitriol and the vulgarity of the enemy that he's up against?"
— Host Tavis Smiley to left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore on PBS's Tavis Smiley, September 19.
What Republicans Really Want: "No Women Voting, Slavery Was Cool"
"I get out of all of these things that many of these candidates would rather take legislation to build a time machine and go back in time to where we had, you know, no women voting, slavery was cool. I mean, it's just kind of ridiculous."
— Daytime anchor Thomas Roberts on MSNBC Live, September 23, talking about the previous night's GOP debate.
Congratulations on Your Victory — Why Don't You Quit?
"One man who is dreaming big right now, especially after a surprise over the weekend, is Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain....[to Cain] This is a grueling endeavor, it is expensive. You mentioned recently, you thought a couple times about dropping out, and most people would say, 'Look, you may have something people respond to, but your chances of actually getting that nomination, pretty slim.' So why stick with it then?"
— CBS's Erica Hill interviewing Cain on the September 28 Early Show, four days after he won the Florida straw poll.
While Poverty Soars, D.C. Wastes Time on "Tax Cuts for the Wealthy"
"Now we move to a subset of the American economy the President is also dealing with — the fact that a lot of African-Americans in this country are getting flat-out crushed in this economy. The stats, as you may know, are staggering — unemployment and poverty — while the D.C. debate is often admittedly about tax cuts for the wealthy."
— NBC's Brian Williams on the September 15 Nightly News.
CNN Anchor: GOP Needs "Courage" to Make Tax Hike Deal
"George H. W. Bush had the courage, knowing it might cost him re-election, knowing for sure it would cost him support with his conservative base, to violate the central domestic policy pledge of his campaign, 'read my lips, no new taxes.'...There are some people now saying that we need a moment like that and that the Republicans should give President Obama some tax increases as long as they get from him significant spending cuts and a big deficit reduction package. Should the Republicans learn from George H.W. Bush and sit down with the President and cut a deal?"
— CNN's John King to Dick Cheney on John King USA, September 22.
Tea Party Just a "Very Small Group" Trying to "Control the Conversation"
"The Tea Party has really made some big inroads and has garnered a huge voice in this country. But, at the same time, there's a feeling by some folks that this very small group of people is starting to control the conversation. Do there need to be more voices at the table, in general, at this point?"
— Co-host Erica Hill to Newt Gingrich on CBS's The Early Show, September 29.
Newsweek Editor Admits: Obama "Wasn't Ready" to Be President
"But if he [Chris Christie] doesn't feel ready to run, actually, I just hope he doesn't, because in the end, you know, his tremendous misgivings, maybe he is right. I mean, we had this with Obama. He wasn't ready, it turns out, really. Maybe Christie isn't ready."
— Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown on MSNBC's Morning Joe, September 27. [Audio/video (0:30): Windows Media [5] | MP3 audio [6]]
Perplexed by "Moral Compass" of ObamaCare Opponents
"I have a confession to make. I can describe the legal arguments and the judicial conclusions, but on a fundamental level, I just don't get the attack on the federal law....I don't understand the moral compass of the owner of the fancy car I saw the other day that sported the bumper sticker: 'Repeal ObamaCare.'"
— Longtime New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse in a column [7] for the Times's "Opinionator" blog, September 21.
After 32 Months of Obama, Everything Is Still Bush's Fault
"At some point it became the popular wisdom that Iraq and Afghanistan were 'Obama's wars,' and that the recession had become 'Obama's economy.' Given the systemic burden Bush left for his successor, that judgment seems to me to be less about fair play than about short memories. But this is what passes for accountability in our system. And the Republicans have been relentlessly effective at rebranding every failing of the Bush administration as Obama's fault."
— Ex-New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller in a September 19 column [8].
Singing the Praises of "Saint Bill Clinton"
Host Joy Behar: "I think people are going to look back on his presidency the way they look at Saint Ronald Reagan. They'll say Saint Bill Clinton eventually. Because he had his problems during his administration, but in retrospect he did a great job."
Rachael Ray: "But he left the country with a surplus of money and goodwill."
Behar: "Yes, he did, which was squandered."
— Exchange on HLN's Joy Behar Show, September 19.
"We Are the Balance"
"Every other network has given all their shows to liberals. We are the balance."
— Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, as quoted by Howard Kurtz in Newsweek [9], October 3.
Hollywood Trashes the Tea Party
"Yesterday, my daughter had a tea party with her little friends and it was so cute. They complained about taxes, called Obama a communist and wondered how the Latina kid got in?"
— Actress Jane Lynch hosting the Emmy Awards on Fox, September 18.
Piers Morgan: "Has Obama helped the process of eradicating racism, or has it in a strange way made it worse?"
Actor Morgan Freeman: "Made it worse. Made it worse. Look at, look, the Tea Partiers, who are controlling the Republican Party....Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What's, what does that, what underlines that? 'Screw the country. We're going to whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we're going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here.'... It is a racist thing."
— CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, September 23.
"America's this country full of such hatred in terms of politics, and the politics of hate is so rampant. And now, the only kind of minority that can really be dealt with in that way is the gay population....I think that the Tea Party have some very, very — some quite sensible notions, actually, when — on paper. But also that kind of seems to be an umbrella thing that just covers up a lot of real homophobia and racism."
— Actor Alan Cumming, who stars on CBS's The Good Wife, on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, September 22. [Audio/video (1:04): Windows Media [10] | MP3 audio [11]]
PUBLISHER: L. Brent Bozell III
EDITORS: Brent H. Baker, Rich Noyes, Tim Graham
DEPUTY RESEARCH DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Dickens
NEWS ANALYSTS: Scott Whitlock, Brad Wilmouth, Matthew Balan, Kyle Drennen and Matt Hadro
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE: Michelle Humphrey