"Cataclysm" of GOP Win "Would Destroy America"
"[The Tea Party-backed Republicans are] a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons...It is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy, to buy America wholesale and pave over the freedoms and the care we take of one another, which have combined to keep us the envy of the world. You do not think your freedom is at stake next Tuesday?...If you sit there tomorrow, and the rest of this week, and you let this cataclysm unfold, you have enabled this. It is one thing to be attacked by those who would destroy America from without. It is a worse thing to be attacked by those who would destroy America from within."
- MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in a 21-minute "Special Comment" on Countdown, October 27. [Audio/video (1:00): Windows Media [1] | MP3 audio [2]]
Liberal Media Desperation: "The GOP's Agenda Has to Be Stopped"
"We [the press corps] are so eager to promote ourselves with the smartest take on how President Obama and the Democrats got themselves in this pickle that we haven't done a good job explaining the stakes....A right-wing Republican takeover of Congress and state capitals isn't something to accept with indifference. Midterms matter, and voters tempted to skip this election should have their heads examined."
- Newsweek's Jonathan Alter in the magazine's November 1 edition, "Why the Midterms Matter: The GOP's agenda has to be stopped [3]."
Tea Party Fools Don't Know They're Pawns of the Rich
Host Chris Matthews: "What do you think of these Tea Party people, Mr. President? I look at a lot of them as - they're not all crazies, they're regular people, a lot of them middle, middle-class people and they're very religious. They're church-going people like yourself. And I wonder, do they know that they're being backed by big corporations and all this conservative money at the top?"
Ex-President Jimmy Carter: "The ones that know it, deny it. And obviously, the Tea Party movement has been almost completely financed by hard-right oligarchs....The Tea Party movement has been suborned by these very right-wing people who don't give a darn about low-class working people, but just want to feather their own nest."
Matthews: "Well, I wish they knew that."
- MSNBC's Hardball, October 25. [Audio/video (0:56): Windows Media [4] | MP3 audio [5]]
Ruing Lack of Credit for Dr. Obama, Politicians Too "Terrified" to Raise Taxes
"It reminded me of a doctor who has this horrible burn victim come into the hospital, and he saves the guy's life - this is our economy - saves the guy's life, but the guy wakes up and he's got scars all over his face, and that's all he sees, that's all anybody sees. The guy's living, but he looks awful. And how - what's the doctor supposed to say? And that's what he's [Obama is] fighting, he's fighting an economy that just won't give him anything.... He cannot get any traction on what he's accomplished."
- CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl on MSNBC's Morning Joe, October 18. [Audio/video (0:55): Windows Media [6] | MP3 audio [7]]
"No one will talk about taxes. They are terrified. Somehow the religion, the anti-tax religion has gotten so bad that if you - if anybody says, 'We're just going to have to do this,' I mean, it's as if, you know, you killed a baby or something."
- Stahl a few minutes later on the same show.
Hailing "Irresistible" Pelosi, "Most Productive" Congress
"Nancy Pelosi is considered one of the most effective Speakers in congressional history....The irresistible force who marshaled House Democrats to pass controversial administration policies - including the stimulus package, Wall Street reform, and health care....Pelosi's support for a middle-class tax cut, children's issues, and education, has made her a hero in some quarters."
- CBS's Rita Braver profiling Pelosi for Sunday Morning, October 17.
"The public panned it. Republicans obstructed it. Many Democrats fled from it. Even so, the session of Congress now drawing to a close was the most productive in nearly half a century. Not since the explosive years of the civil rights movement and the hard-fought debut of government-supported health care for the elderly and poor have so many big things - love them or hate them - been done so quickly."
- AP writer Jim Abrams in an October 18 dispatch, "A productive Congress gets no respect from voters [8]."
"No Question" Tea Party Republicans Are Wacky Extremists
Co-host Maggie Rodriguez: "Speaking strictly of policy, there is no question these Tea Party Republicans are outside the Republican mainstream, many of them lack political experience, but yet they are the energy that may just drive the Republicans back into power, especially in the House, and you may find yourself in a tricky position. You might find yourself feeling indebted to these candidates while trying to keep them in line. How would you balance that?"
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor: "Maggie, I differ with you to say that the people affiliated with the Tea Party across this country are outside the mainstream."
Rodriguez: "Really?"
- CBS's The Early Show, October 22.
Brian Harangues Governor to Spend Other People's Money
NBC's Brian Williams: "[New Jersey Governor Chris Christie] took a big hit for saying no to New Jersey's share of a new tunnel beneath the Hudson River, a huge public works project designed to ease congestion. His decision exploded on the op-ed page of the New York Times which called it 'a blow to national hopes of a recovery.' It's where we started our conversation with the Governor today....[to Christie] Couldn't you find the money? Isn't there a way if you really wanted it, if you really wanted it for long-term investment?...The Times goes on, 'Here's how you should think about the decision to kill the tunnel: It's a terrible thing in itself, but, beyond that, it's a perfect symbol of how America has lost its way.' You're being tied to the nation losing its way by dint of this decision."
Governor Chris Christie: "Yeah, by the New York Times. I'll take a deep bow for that, Brian."
- Williams repeatedly quoting liberal columnist Paul Krugman [9] to Christie on the NBC Nightly News, October 21.
A "Disturbing" Glimpse of Bush's 9/11 Bullhorn
"'Breaking New Ground: Presenting the George W. Bush Presidential Center,' an exhibit set to open this weekend on the campus of Southern Methodist University, prominently features the handgun taken from Saddam Hussein and the loudspeaker used to address rescue workers at the World Trade Center in September 2001. The choice of mementos, emphasizing some of the more controversial foreign policy aspects of the Bush presidency, has reinvigorated opposition to the center's presence at the university. 'It's the approach they've taken all along; it fits their worldview,' said the Rev. William K. McElvaney, a professor emeritus of preaching and worship at the university. 'It's a tragedy for S.M.U. to hitch its star to this.'...The new opening exhibit, some Methodist leaders said, provides a disturbing first glimpse into the presidential center's priorities."
- New York Times reporter Michael Brick, October 21 article [10].
Liberal Comic = "Only Trusted Branch of Government"
"The truth of the matter is that [Comedy Central's Daily Show host] Jon Stewart, at this point, is the only trusted branch of government. You know, I mean, in the end, Stewart and Colbert, really are like the Huntley and Brinkley of today, in the sense that people really, really trust them."
- TheDailyBeast.com editor Tina Brown on ABC's Good Morning America, October 27. [Audio/video (0:22): Windows Media [11] | MP3 audio [12]]
Fact Checking Anchor Needs Her Own Fact Checker
Anchor Norah O'Donnell: "Sarah Palin is throwing out punches ahead of the midterm elections. During a speech to the conservative Liberty and Freedom Foundation in San Jose last night, the former Alaskan governor took a shot at some comments made by First Lady Michelle Obama."
Sarah Palin: "You know, when I hear people say, or had said during the campaign, that they had never been proud of America until, until that time, I think, 'Haven't they met anybody in uniform yet?'"
O'Donnell: "Of course, Mrs. Obama never said that. She never said that she had not been proud of her country."
- 12pm ET hour of MSNBC News Live, October 15.
"For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."
- Michelle Obama talking to a crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 18, 2008.
NPR: Heart of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?
"I call NPR National Pentagon Radio. They're no more left wing than Fox News as far as I'm concerned. Look at the commentators they have on there, right? They're all right-wing commentators. I couldn't get in the door of NPR. I'm sure you don't appear on their shows either, right? They lean so far right. The idea that they're part of the liberal media, as if they were. Look, except for MSNBC, these guys control all the media as far as I'm concerned."
- Left-wing radio host and former CNN and MSNBC co-host Bill Press on Ed Schultz's radio show, October 22. [MP3 audio [13] (0:29)]
Another Liberal Offering Civility Lessons
Co-host Joy Behar: "You know what I'd like to see her do? I'd like to see her [Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle] do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch! Come to New York and do it."
Co-host Sherri Shepherd: "We're praying for you. We're praying for you."
Co-host Elisabeth Hasselback: "Even Joy is praying for her."
Behar: "I am not praying for her. I'm telling you right now. She's going to Hell....She's going to Hell, this bitch."
- ABC's The View, October 26, talking about Angle's ad against illegal immigration.
Both Tea Party and Dick Cheney = Hitler
Host Joy Behar: "Was it hard to play Dick Cheney?...Because I know that you're not a fan of Cheney....Where did you find it in yourself to go down and find that satanic spot that we all know so well?"
Actor Richard Dreyfuss: "Are you leading me somewhere? First of all, every actor likes the play bad guys.... To play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."
- Exchange on HLN's Joy Behar Show, October 18.
"Hitler, by the way, never got more than 33 percent of the vote ever in Germany....He wasn't a majority guy, but he was charismatic, and they were having bad economic times - just like we are now. People were out of work, they needed jobs, and a guy came along and rallied the troops. My fear is that the Tea Party gets a charismatic leader, because all they're selling is fear and anger and that's all Hitler sold - 'I'm angry and I'm frightened and you should hate that guy over there.'"
- Actor/director/liberal activist Rob Reiner on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, October 22. [Audio/video (1:18): Windows Media [14] | MP3 audio [15]]
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