Radical Protesters Giving Lessons on "Civil Discourse"
Co-host Matt Lauer: "What's the civics lesson in this for our kids as they're watching this on TV?"
Correspondent Natalie Morales: "Well, I think there — as a parent, there's a huge civics lesson, and it teaches, you know, what is important about this. What are — I think you have to ask the questions, 'What are they there for, what are the reasons behind this?' And I think the idea of having that civil discourse is important to teach our kids and it's something in history we've seen...."
— Exchange on NBC's Today, October 21.
vs.
"The Jews commit more white collar crime than any other ethnic group on the earth, and they go unprosecuted because they can buy their way out of it.... Whenever there's a billion dollar fraud, there's a Jew involved."
— Rant by unnamed "Occupy Wall Street" protester captured by MRC-TV's cameras, October 21.
Networks Still Cheering "Occupy" Radicals, "From Every Walk of Life"
"This protest movement is showing strength. It's still growing, changing and spreading..."
— Brian Williams opening the October 14 NBC Nightly News.
Anchor Scott Pelley: "The protesters claim that they represent 99 percent of Americans against the wealthiest one percent. In Los Angeles, Bill Whitaker is finding protesters from nearly every walk of life...."
Correspondent Bill Whitaker: "Some people are unemployed; there are students who can't pay back student loans, people who need health insurance. But what unites them is a frustration, even anger, over an economic system they see as stacked against them...."
— CBS Evening News, October 14.
"Peril" for Republicans If They Ignore Left-Wing Protests?
"There are people in the streets, here in New York,...in other cities around the country and around the world. Does the Republican Party, if they ignore the Occupy Wall Street group, do they do so at their own peril?"
— Co-host Matt Lauer to real estate developer Donald Trump on NBC's Today, October 19. [Audio/video (0:43): Windows Media [1] | MP3 audio [2]]
Amazing — As Protests "Grow," Number of Cities Shrinks
"As the movement enters its fourth week, it continues to pick up strong support from coast to coast. The protests that started on New York's Wall Street is now in more than 250 cities around the country."
— Correspondent Cecilia Vega on ABC's Good Morning America, October 10.
"Almost one month in, the Occupy Wall Street protests are growing in number and intensity, thousands taking to the streets in at least 190 cities nationwide...."
— Reporter Mara Schiavocampo on the October 13 NBC Nightly News.
"Those protests against Wall Street are continuing into the weekend all over the country in 103 cities and in 36 states. We have correspondents tonight at three of those protests...."
— Anchor Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News, October 14.
Obama + Protesters: Two Peas in a Left-Wing Pod
Co-host Lester Holt: "This Occupy Wall Street movement seems to be embracing at least one political message, in that the protesters are calling for the wealthy to pay for more taxes. Should we look for the Obama campaign to embrace that message as it takes the stretch to November?"
Meet the Press host David Gregory: "Well, it certainly is going to dovetail nicely into a big message that the President's selling, which is that the wealthy should pay more...."
— NBC's Today, October 16. [Audio/video (0:48): Windows Media [3] | MP3 audio [4]]
Qadhafi's Demise = "Vindication" for Obama
Host Martin Bashir: "After putting up with months of criticism, the accusation was that he led from behind, he didn't know what he was doing. Isn't this the complete vindication of his strategy?"
Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart: "I would think so."
— MSNBC's Martin Bashir, October 20.
Fill-in anchor George Stephanopoulos: "Jake, the President was careful not to take too much credit in the Rose Garden, but behind the scenes White House officials have to be feeling some sense of vindication."
Correspondent Jake Tapper: "They do. They see this as a vindication for Obama's foreign policy."
— ABC's World News, October 20.
"It is remarkable for a President whose own foreign policy credentials were repeatedly questioned when he was campaigning for the job of Commander-in-Chief....These victories will no doubt burnish his credentials as a world leader, as a President who can fight terrorism."
— White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell on the October 21 CBS Evening News.
Brilliant Obama vs. Goofball Republicans
"This is a leadership moment for the President. And at a time when government can't do a lot about the economy, it's certainly a time when he's accomplishing a lot, the President is, in foreign policy....If you look at this Republican debate, and this series of debates, there has been the betrayal of a lack of understanding in foreign policy in some sections of these debates that is stunning to a lot of people...This is a President who has been tested now repeatedly in that arena, and I think it's something that he'll try to use as a club against Republicans in the debate."
— NBC's David Gregory on Today, October 23.
CNN Host Complains: There's Not Enough Praise for Obama
"The media wallowed for months, I would say, in criticism of the administration's Libya policy. Why don't they stop now and give some credit to the President when a brutal regime is toppled and the policy has been successful?"
— Host Howard Kurtz on CNN's Reliable Sources, October 23.
Chris vs. Republicans: "Horny for Executions," Enjoy "Causing Cruel Pain"
"This incredible portrayal by the Republicans of themselves — first of all, they looked hot and horny for executions out in that Reagan Library debate. Then they talk about letting the guy on the gurney die because he doesn't have health insurance. Then they mock the gay soldier. And then you've got Bachmann out there saying, 'If you don't have health insurance, fine, you can go to the poorhouse.' And now this guy [Mitt Romney] saying, 'Hip, hip, hooray for foreclosures!' This party has become a cartoon of Ebenezer Scrooge, or worse."
— MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball, October 24.
"They want more people to fry. They love executions. They want people that don't have insurance to die on the gurney, in the hospital bed. They want that to happen....This attitude of causing cruel pain on people and getting cheers for it, what's that about, Howard?"
— Matthews to the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman on Hardball the next night.
Touting Obama's "Eminently Sensible" Plan to Spend More
"It makes all of the sense in the world — build the crumbling infrastructure, put people back to work — and yet it's such a hard sell. Make the case for why the Senate, why Congress should do this business on infrastructure.... How is this going to become a reality, this eminently sensible idea of getting people to work in infrastructure?"
— Host Christiane Amanpour interviewing AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue on ABC's This Week, October 23.
New York Times Enthuses Over Ultra-Left Radio Show
"The newscast distinguishes itself by documenting social movements, struggles for justice and the effects of American foreign policy, along with the rest of the day's developments.... While many media outlets were faulted for playing down antiwar protests after the attacks, Democracy Now! covered such events extensively. Some fans as well as critics describe Democracy Now! as progressive, but [host Amy] Goodman rejects that label and prefers to call it a global newscast that has 'people speaking for themselves.'"
— From New York Times reporter Brian Stelter's October 24 profile [5] of the left-wing, publicly-subsidized radio program, which appeared under the headline: "A Grass-Roots Newscast Gives a Voice to Struggles."
CNN Host Smears: "You Know Elements of the Tea Party Are Racist"
"I've had a lot of guests on recently getting very hot under the collar about the Tea Party....black Americans, leading black Americans who say the Tea Party is racist. And I know that your fairly humorous response is to say, 'I looked in the mirror and I appear to be a black man, and I'm in the Tea Party,' which I get and you're perfectly entitled to say that. But you all know there are elements of the Tea Party who are racist. It's a trade secret. How do you deal with that as a black man who is now leading the Tea Party charge?"
— Host Piers Morgan to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, October 19.
Expect a Slightly-Less Slobbery Type of Love
"The media can't possibly be as enthusiastic this time around as they were last time around. I think that's a physical impossibility. I mean, if they slobber all over him as much this time as they did last time, the media and the President would have to get a room."
— Former CBS News correspondent Bernie Goldberg, author of A Slobbering Love Affair [6]about the media's 2008 coverage of Obama, on FNC's The O'Reilly Factor, October 24.
More Keen Insights from the Hollywood Brain Trust
"You have what I call the 'Get the N-word out of the White House party,' the Tea Party.... At the end of the day, there's a big bubble coming out of their heads saying, you know, 'Can we just lynch him?'"
— Actor Sean Penn on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, October 14. [Audio/video (0:51): Windows Media [7] | MP3 audio [8]]
"The scale of Right Wing sociopolitical sabotage necessitates a Nuremberg-scale trial for all the corporate agents and treasonous capitalisto-fascist architects of our democracy's current and most pressing misery. From the blatant Republican policy doublespeak emanating from think-tank sponsored word doctors to the outright obstruction and lies expectorated by Republican congressional representatives and senators, the very concept of governance can only be considered once the culprits are removed. Driven to real madness by unadulterated greed they have embraced an ideology, the success of which hinges upon the very ruin of this nation."
— Actor Steven Weber (from the 1990s NBC sitcom Wings) writing at the Huffington Post [9], October 24.
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