Trump’s Rise = Another Reason to Deplore Conservatives
“Republicans who are now demanding that he desist are mostly hypocrites. John McCain himself, after all, enabled and legitimized those Trump partisans he now dismisses as ‘crazies’ by putting Sarah Palin on the ticket in 2008....The GOP can blame the media all it wants, but the party has no one to blame but itself for weaponizing Trump.”
— New York magazine’s Frank Rich, July 22.
“Is this a reap-what-you-sow issue here for the Republican Party?...A lot of you did one-on-one meetings courting Donald Trump back in 2011 after he dropped out, during his whole birther craze at the time, and you actively reached out for him. In hindsight, was that a mistake?”
— Moderator Chuck Todd to GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on NBC’s Meet the Press, July 19.
“I do think this is in some ways a problem [of] the Republican Party’s own making. If you turn back to 2012, you remember, with Mitt Romney on stage next to Donald Trump saying that he was honored and delighted to have his endorsement. And a lot of the, sort of, politics around race, and, sort of, race baiting have defined the Republican Party for quite some time.”
— CNN political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson on Inside Politics, July 12.
“I mean, the Republicans are, what, 30 percent of the electorate now, and 15 percent of that 30 percent really apparently warms to the idea of calling Mexican immigrants ‘rapists.’”
— Ex-MSNBC host Ron Reagan, Jr., on MSNBC’s Hardball, July 13.
“It would be unfair, or I think dishonest of us to not be clear that part of what he’s speaking to is a part of the American public that for the last seven years has felt outraged. They talk about taking the White House back. They’ve said, and he retweeted this, they want the White House, capital W-H-I-T-E again. You know, there is a disaffected, highly racialized, highly us-versus-them part of the American electorate that he is firing up....”
— CNN analyst Sally Kohn on CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello, July 21.
Opposing Illegal Immigration Makes Trump Another George Wallace
Clip of Donald Trump: “I don’t blame the Mexicans. I respect Mexico. I don’t blame the Mexican government. I just wish our people were smart. They’re really smart doing that. They’re sending them to us and we’re either putting them in jails, or letting them go free — which is even worse.”...
Bloomberg’s Al Hunt: “This is George Corley Wallace, 40 years later.”
— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, July 13.
Most Reporters “Baffled” Anyone Would Love Trump
“The majority of national politics reporters live in New York and D.C., in urban areas. They tend to skew left. They don’t spend time with Donald Trump fans, and they/we are all very surprised to see blocks and blocks in Phoenix full of people waiting for hours in 100-degree weather to hear this guy. For most national politics reporters, the love of Trump is baffling and that is, itself, a bubble.”
— The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff on FNC’s MediaBuzz, July 12.
It’s “Not Partisan” to Say Republicans More Vile than Democrats
“Lawrence, there’s a vileness gap that is developing between our political parties. That’s not to say that Democrats haven’t engaged in dirty politics over the years. But...you don’t even see Bernie Sanders uttering a critical word about Hillary Clinton, his main opponent. They don’t talk this way in the Democratic Party. That’s not a partisan comment. It’s an examination of the record and the rhetoric.”
— Daily Beast columnist Jonathan Alter on MSNBC’s The Last Word, July 27.
CBS Welcomes Walker With Litany of Liberal Grievances
“It has seemed as though Walker’s time in office has been one fight after another....He aroused huge opposition to limiting the bargaining power of unions, but won the battle....He’s signed tougher voter ID laws, rejected Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and is now pushing for a constitutional amendment to give states the right to ban same-sex marriage....Wisconsin ranked 35th in the nation in private sector job creation in Walker’s first term and his promise of 250,000 new jobs was about 50 percent off....Walker’s own words have occasionally got him into trouble, like the time he compared union protesters to ISIS terrorists. But tonight, he has a very supportive crowd....”
— CBS correspondent Dean Reynolds on the July 13 Evening News.
Don’t Republicans Hate the Poor, the Black and the Brown?
GOP presidential candidate John Kasich: “If you’re poor, if you’re black, if you’re brown, if you’re struggling, we care about you and we’re going to work to make sure you’re included in the American dream. Unity is such a big part now.”
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “You think your party is ready to accept that message?”
— Exchange shown on ABC’s World News Tonight, July 21.
CBS: Hillary’s Scandals “Shouldn’t Have Any Impact” on Hillary
Co-host Vinita Nair: “I want to ask you just about trustworthiness, because that’s obviously been something that has dogged the former Secretary of State. How do you think all of this will affect her, and in particular on that, I guess, criticism?”
Reporter Paula Reid: “This particular issue really shouldn’t have any impact on Clinton. The issue of the e-mails has been out there for a long time. This is not a criminal matter. In fact, it’s far from it. If there are any questions about trust, trustworthiness, it comes from the New York Times or the Department of Justice.”
— CBS This Morning: Saturday, July 25, discussing the classified e-mails on Clinton’s personal server.
Hillary: America’s Grandmother-in-Chief
“I did think she said one thing that I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about. She said, what voters care about is who will be there when they need them. And I think that’s going to be her theme. And that somewhat plays into the grandmother theme. Because, you know, your grandmother is there when you need her.”
— ABC and NPR political analyst Cokie Roberts on ABC’s This Week, July 12.
“Of Course” Obama Deserves Nobel Prize for Iran Nuke Deal
“We don’t know if the Iran deal is going to work. If it does, it will be the major foreign policy achievement, not only of this presidency, but of this American generation. At which point, people in the not-too-distant future will look back at this presidency, they’ll look back at this President and they’ll say, ‘Of course they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course they did.’”
— Host Rachel Maddow on her eponymous MSNBC show, July 14.
Attempting to Use Charleston Murders to Discredit Voter ID Laws
“You know, one of the issues of [the slain South Carolina state senator] Clementa Pickney was the voting rights laws. That’s been a big controversy with a lot of African Americans, particularly, and with a lot of Republican governors. Do you see the issue differently now? Do you understand what some African Americans believe — [that] these voter ID laws end up being a way to single them out or disenfranchise them?”
— Moderator Chuck Todd to South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on NBC’s Meet the Press, July 12.
“Crazy” Conservatives Still Want to Repeal ObamaCare
“Was there something in that news read that we just had that an aide to Senator Mike Lee was upset because Mitch McConnell, or the leadership of the Republicans in the Senate, would not put another, yet another attempt to repeal ObamaCare on the floor?...What is wrong with these people? I mean, what is going on?...The Supreme Court already ruled on this....I mean, let’s move on! Where’s their alternative?...They’ve never had an alternative. They’re crazy!”
— MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle on Morning Joe, July 28.
Every Tragedy an Excuse to Lobby for More Liberal Laws
“Let’s just give everyone guns, right? It’s in the goddamn constitution.”
“Don’t pray. Push for gun control.”
— Pair of July 23 tweets from BuzzFeed news editor Rachel Zarrell, shortly after news broke of the shooting at a Louisiana movie theater.
“In an interview with the BBC today, President Obama said that one of the things that frustrates him the most is the fact that United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not seem to have sufficient common sense to have gun safety laws even in the face of these repeated mass killings....You know, I agree. I just don’t understand why we can’t seem to resolve that issue, this issue. And we’re just confronted over and over again with these mass shootings. When will our legislators and our politicians get on board and realize that this is an issue that we have to deal with?”
— CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin on CNN Tonight, July 23.
America Is “Lucky” to Have “Great, Extraordinary, Exceptional” Obama
“Generosity toward the high and mighty isn’t among my few virtues. But this needs to be said: Americans are lucky to have Barack Obama as President and we should wake up and appreciate it while we can. President Obama will go down in history as an extraordinary president, probably a great one....Many Presidents fared better in history than in office. But it would be a morale booster and a sign of civic maturity if more Americans appreciated what an exceptional President they have right now. It could be a long wait for the next one.”
— Former CBS News producer Dick Meyer, now Washington Bureau Chief for Scripps News, in a July 16 Decode DC op-ed titled: “Mr. President, on behalf of an ungrateful nation, thank you.”
Scorning Marco Rubio’s Attack on “Immaculate” Obama
“Instead of going and grubbing the money on Wall Street, he [Barack Obama] went out to people and helped his community....He’s done everything right. He’s been immaculate in the presidency. Nobody has accused him of any corruption. His kids are perfect. His wife is perfect. He’s done everything that these right-wing, white conservatives say we’re supposed to be in this country. He’s done everything right. And this sleazy comment, that he has no class....He has plenty of class.”
— Host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, July 22.
“44 years ago you should have been left in a hotel hand towel full of jizz and Astroglide @MarcoRubio. Now THAT, was classless ... Shithead!”
— July 22 tweet by Arsenio Hall attacking Marco Rubio for saying about Donald Trump’s candidacy: “We already have a President now that has no class.”
Worried Obama-Loving News Media May “Demand Too Much”
“The media, the media. You love them, they love you. So, do you — is your frustration sometimes with the media — is the media, myself included, are we focused on the wrong things? Are we demanding too much of you? Are we demanding too much of government? Are we too inflammatory?”
— Outgoing Comedy Central Daily Show host Jon Stewart to President Obama, July 21.
Asking a Tough Question = Screaming “N-Word” at Obama
“#MajorGarrett is a huge asshole. If U wanna ‘strike a nerve’ with POTUS, why not just scream the N word? That shld get his attention.”
— HBO host Bill Maher in a posting to Twitter a few hours after Obama’s July 15 press conference, reacting to the CBS News White House correspondent asking the President if he was “content” that the fate of four American hostages was not addressed in the deal with Iran. [Spelling as in original.]
PUBLISHER: L. Brent Bozell III
EDITORS: Brent H. Baker, Rich Noyes, Tim Graham
DEPUTY RESEARCH DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Dickens
RESEARCH ANALYST: Mike Ciandella
NEWS ANALYSTS: Scott Whitlock, Kyle Drennen, Matthew Balan, Jeffrey Meyer and Curtis Houck
INTERNS: Connor Williams, Spencer Raley