"Intransigent" Republicans vs. "Just Perfect" Obama
"The Republicans have been completely intransigent. They do not believe, almost to a man and woman, in any tax increases at all, despite the fact that you have people like Warren Buffett, one of America's richest men, almost pleading, tax me more....When you watch the President like that, I always feel he's got so many pluses, doesn't he? In a sense, he's personable, he's handsome, he can be funny. You know, abroad he has this great image for America. A lot of things are just perfect about Barack Obama."
— Host Piers Morgan to Obama strategist David Axelrod on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, December 5. [Audio/video (0:46): Windows Media [1] | MP3 audio [2]]
Glorifying Obama's "Searing" and "Poignant" Push for Higher Taxes
"President Obama's 'fair shot' address Tuesday may be remembered as one of his best, a searing and historically poignant account of the greatest challenge of the American experiment: How do we give every citizen, rich or poor, a path to the good life?...Obama's rhetoric was worthy of TR, who declared in his 1910 'Square Deal' address that the 'right to regulate the use of wealth in the public interest is universally admitted.'"
— National Journal editor-in-chief and ex-Associated Press chief political writer Ron Fournier, December 6 [3].
Casting Democrats as Tax-Cutting "Conservatives"
"Ironically, it's the Democrats who are saying, 'Okay, let's extend the [temporary payroll] tax cuts.' So the parties have kind of reversed roles, in an odd way....The Democrats, ironically, are acting much more like the conservative Republicans here. It's kind of an odd alliance, but they're actually saying, 'We want the tax cuts, but we also believe we need to pay for them.' And that's where the surtax on the millionaires comes in."
— CNN's Gloria Borger on Newsroom, December 5.
It's a "Falsehood" that Tax Hikes Hurt Economic Growth?
"The notion that tax cuts or tax increases somehow impact economic growth, we know historically that's simply not the case. President Clinton raised taxes during boom times. President Bush lowered taxes, did not spur great job creation. Isn't that one of the falsehoods that's peddled in Washington?"
— Moderator David Gregory to Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist on NBC's Meet the Press, November 27. [Audio/video (0:26): Windows Media [4] | MP3 audio [5]]
Decrying Republicans' "Reign of Terror"
"I think this is the reign of terror. Anyway, I don't think they [Republicans] like government or leadership or politics — really politics. They don't like democratic government. They don't like having a leader. They like to bring down — these are guys who tear down statues. They don't put them up."
— MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball, December 5. [Audio/video (0:25): Windows Media [6] | MP3 audio [7]]
Andrea Agrees: United States Becoming "One of the Most Unjust Societies"
Former Carter Official Zbigniew Brzezinski: "The United States is becoming rapidly one of the most socially unjust societies in the world....The social disparities between the rich and the poor in the United States are now the most severe in the world...."
Co-host Mika Brzezinski: "Andrea?"
NBC's Andrea Mitchell: "I agree with just about everything that Dr. Brzezinski has said..."
— MSNBC's Morning Joe, December 2.
NBC Recycles 1990s Bias to Slam "Cry Baby" Gingrich
"Twice Gingrich shut down the government....At the time, Gingrich generated this headline ['Cry Baby'], after suggesting that he shut down the government because the President made him sit in the back on Air Force One....He became the first Speaker ever reprimanded by the House for ethics violations, and was fined $300,000 for misusing tax exempt funds.... Some former colleagues also say that based on his speakership, they question whether Gingrich has the temperament and judgment to sit in this chair [in the Oval Office]."
— Correspondent Lisa Myers on the December 6 NBC Nightly News. Gingrich did not [8] 'shut down' the government; it was then-President Bill Clinton who vetoed the spending bills. And the IRS actually exonerated Gingrich on the tax issue in 1999, a vindication [9] omitted from NBC's story.
Brainy Barney vs. the Grotesquery of Newt
"There is nothing I can say about the state of this country's political health as telling as the fact that Barney Frank is leaving and Newt Gingrich is thriving. Barney has brains, wit, and a conscience, and a pretty good sense of proportion....One thing I know about Newt Gingrich: ever since he arrived on the national scene, politics has been nastier, more feral, too often uglier....The scene of him, Newt Gingrich, being nominated by a major political party for the American presidency promises a grotesquery to make even the most hard-nosed of us avert our glance in embarrassment and sadness for our republic."
— Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Hardball, November 29.
Distorting Newt: Gingrich "Targets Children"
"The Newt Gingrich that a lot of folks will remember from his speakership days back in the '90s was back on display making statements about controversial issues that left some of his critics slack-jawed."
— Brian Williams December 1 Nightly News.
"Gingrich: Poor Kids Have No Work Habits; Targets Children in 'Poor Neighborhoods'"
"Gingrich: Child Labor Laws 'Truly Stupid'; Says Poor Kids Should Work as Janitors"
"Gingrich: Put Kids to Work; Or They Could Become 'Drug Dealers'"
— Some of CNN's on-screen headlines during a "Fair Game" segment on Newsroom, December 2.
Ex-Clinton Spin Doctor vs. Cain's "Honesty" & "Judgment"
Anchor Diane Sawyer: "So, can he [Herman Cain] bounce back one more time, George, or is this it?"
George Stephanopoulos: "No. I think this is it. ...There are just too many questions about his honesty, his judgment, his experience, his organization. Even if he stays in, he's not going to be a factor."
— ABC's World News, November 29. [Audio/video (0:29): Windows Media [10] | MP3 audio [11]]
Acting as If the Media Were Fair to Herman Cain
"Not only did he [Herman Cain] try to block reporters' questions, he lectured them. He even handed out a journalist code of conduct. Now, let's be honest. It's the classic — it really is — it's the classic GOP move to blame the media. And even though the 'lamestream' media defense is getting old, Cain and his representatives stuck to it to the very end....Maybe it's time for politicians who get caught in unflattering situations or who might have a bit of trouble with the truth to take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming the media."
— CNN anchor Don Lemon on the 10pm ET edition of Newsroom, December 4.
Extremist Birchers Now "Base" of Modern GOP
"In 1963, the year that Kennedy died, there was polling that showed 5 percent of Americans supported the extreme right-wing views of the John Birch society. Now we have a major political — major political party, the Republicans, where that's the base. There's a — much more than five percent subscribing to these extreme views and reflecting it in ways like shouting out 'you lie' when Obama speaks before Congress."
— New York magazine columnist Frank Rich on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, November 28.
Blaming Republicans for "Dream Act Suicide"
Anchor Randi Kaye: "A teenager in Texas who dreams of being an engineer felt his status as an illegal immigrant would keep him out of college and deny him a career. His family says the pressure drove him to suicide...."
Correspondent Rafael Romo: "Joaquin Luna was only 18 years old....[His brother, Diyra] Mendoza says the letters his brother left behind reveal his fears about being in the country illegally. He was also frustrated the Dream Act never passed....The Dream Act fell five votes short in the Senate last year. A new push by Democrats in Congress this year didn't go too far, either. Republican lawmakers called the bill blanket amnesty and have strongly opposed it."
— CNN Newsroom, November 30. CNN's on-screen headline declared: "Dream Act Suicide."
Alabama's "Frightening," "Not Fair" Immigration Law
Correspondent Chip Reid: "When 15-year-old Jose Perez says goodbye to his mother and family each morning before heading off to school, he asks himself an agonizing question:"
Jose Perez, illegal immigrant: "Is this the last time I see them? Is this it?..."
Reid: "What has Perez so frightened is the section of Alabama's tough new immigration law that authorizes police to jail without bail anyone suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, and to hand them over to immigration authorities. The Perez family came from Mexico illegally 13 years ago. They work hard and pay taxes, but now live in fear of being separated. [to Jose's mother] You spend a lot of time crying."
Adelina Perez: "Yeah, because it's not fair."
— CBS Evening News, November 23.
The Tea Party and the KKK — See the Resemblance?
"Imagine a political movement created in a moment of terrible anxiety, its origins shrouded in a peculiar combination of manipulation and grass-roots mobilization, its ranks dominated by Christian conservatives and self-proclaimed patriots, its agenda driven by its members' fervent embrace of nationalism, nativism and moral regeneration, with more than a whiff of racism wafting through it. No, not that movement. The one from the 1920s, with the sheets and the flaming crosses and the ludicrous name meant to evoke a heroic past. The Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, they called it. And for a few years it burned across the nation..."
— Start of a November 27 New York Times review [12] by Ohio State University history professor and frequent Book Review contributor Kevin Boyle, looking at two books about the Klan.
Hyping Left-Wing Complaint About "Racially Charged" Limbaugh
Fill-in anchor George Stephanopoulos: "Loaded words: The First Lady booed at a NASCAR event. Now Rush Limbaugh weighs in, hurling a racially-charged word at Michelle Obama....Limbaugh went on his radio program to defend the fans and attacked the First Lady with words that some are calling racially insensitive...."
Correspondent Jake Tapper: "Don't worry, NASCAR fans, Rush Limbaugh is here to defend your honor and make things worse....Much worse."
Clip of Rush Limbaugh from his radio show: "They understand it's a little bit of uppity-ism."
— ABC's World News, November 21, picking up on an anti-Limbaugh blog post by the far-left group Media Matters. [Audio/video (2:12): Windows Media [13] | MP3 audio [14]]
Fawning Over the Obamas Like It's 2008 All Over Again
"What is it about the President and his family that you wish all Americans could see?...Someone once told me the First Family is like a retro, almost 1950s American family, that there's a — kind of a wholesomeness about them. They play board games, they play on the floor of the living room with the dog...."
— NBC anchor Brian Williams interviewing outgoing Obama aide Reggie Love on Rock Center, November 28. [Audio/video (1:13): Windows Media [15] | MP3 audio [16]]
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