“Not An Easy Night” for Left-Wing Hacks
“This is not going to be an easy night for many broadcasters who are liberal. This is not going to be an easy night for this broadcaster. To say that I’m shocked and stunned is pretty much an understatement. But I also think that it is a real warning to Americans that money is now infiltrated into our political system like we have never seen before, and the ruling by Citizens United is now a real message to every American.”
— Host Ed Schultz during a live 11pm ET edition of MSNBC’s The Ed Show, June 5, soon after Scott Walker was declared the winner of the Wisconsin recall election.
How Dare Union Members Think for Themselves!
“Twenty-seven percent of union members said, ‘Hey, he’s our guy! He’s taking our voice away in the workplace, but he’s our guy.’ Amazing! And 38 percent of union households voted for Scott Walker. That’s even more amazing. This guy has gone after your wages, he has gone after your pension, he wants to limit your voice in the workplace. And union families in Wisconsin, you voted for him? If this is a smack-up time, so be it. You’ve got to explain to the country and to your union why the hell you did that.”
— Schultz on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, June 6.
Recall Election’s Real Winner = President Obama
“Tonight, the really big winner in the Wisconsin recall election is — President Obama.... I said at the top of the show that President Obama was the big winner tonight because, in the exit polls, we saw today that they were asked, ‘Who would you vote for for President today?’ Fifty-three percent in Wisconsin, 53 percent say ‘President Obama.’ Only 42 percent say ‘Mitt Romney.’ That is, if not the recall outcome, that outcome for President Obama has to be very encouraging.”
— Host Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC’s The Last Word, June 5.
Blaming Walker’s “Demonization of Public Employees”
“The most bitter of these fights began in early February last year, when [Wisconsin Governor Scott] Walker proposed eliminating virtually all collective-bargaining rights for a vast majority of the state’s public-employee unions. Around the time that Walker announced the measure, similar laws were introduced in Michigan, Ohio and Florida, and a nationwide demonization of public employees caught fire....According to recent polling, Wisconsin, once known for progressive policy and upper-Midwestern civility, is now the most politically polarized state in the nation.”
— New York Times Magazine contributor Dan Kaufman in a May 27 piece [1], “Land of Cheese and Rancor — How did Wisconsin get to be the most politically divisive place in America?”
Warning of “Reaction” to “Nastiness” from the GOP’s “Limbaughs”
“For three and a half years, Republicans and Fox News have painted Barack Obama as the devil incarnate.... [But] if there’s a feeling that he is being treated unfairly, there’s a feeling they are trying to get rid of, take Michelle Obama and those nice two cute kids out of the White House and take his job away from him the American people gave him, there are going to be people who will come out there and turn out. We are early in this part of the campaign, but you can count on the nastiness to fire up the base. The nastiness is going to come out. The Limbaughs are just going to let it all hang out, and you will see a response to that. There will be a reaction.”
— Washington Post columnist Colbert King on Inside Washington, May 25.
Media Cheers for Nanny Bloomberg’s “Revolutionary Move”
NBC medical correspondent Nancy Snyderman: “I think it’s a very bold, big move, but I have no problem with it....”
Co-host Matt Lauer: “Donny, do we want local government telling us what we can and can’t consume? Are you comfortable with that?”
Panelist Donny Deutsch: “We complain politicians don’t take stands, aren’t courageous. God bless this guy. To Nancy’s point, this is no different than tobacco. We solve obesity, we solve the health care problem. We’ve got to do something. So of course, every time you make a revolutionary move, there’s going to be some complaints, ‘Are they overstepping the boundaries?’ I applaud him.”
— Discussing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to ban sales of large-sized sodas, NBC’s Today, May 31. [Audio/video (1:01): Windows Media [2] | MP3 audio [3]]
Co-host Gayle King: “Do you think the ban’s a good idea? On the big drinks?”
Chef Jonathan Waxman: “You know what? I think — you know, I’d rather have people do it on their own, but if people need a road sign, why not? You know, I think — you know, I’m kind of happy that someone’s making a stand here, because I think that it’s empty calories. It’s not what we should be eating or drinking in our lives....”
King: “Yes. Listen, I’m all for anything that’s going to make us healthy.”
— CBS This Morning, June 1.
Out of Context?
“In 2008, conservatives gleefully attacked the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Mr. Obama’s home pastor in Chicago, for his provocative remarks in sermons, taken out of context, including his assertion that 9/11 was evidence that ‘America’s chickens are coming home to roost.’ They persuaded many that Mr. Wright was wielding something called ‘liberation theology’ — and that Candidate Obama had to answer for it.”
— New York Times “Beliefs” columnist Mark Oppenheimer, May 27 [4].
Bob’s Reagan-Bashing Book: “Accurate,” But “Not Entirely True”
“I wrote a book once about Ronald Reagan. It came out the month that George Bush was inaugurated. The book, I think, everything in the book is accurate, but it is not entirely true, because we didn’t know at that time that the Soviet Union was going to fall in. I don’t give Reagan credit, total credit, for that but certainly his policies had a part in it. I think you really run a risk when you start trying to judge a presidency too soon.”
— Host Bob Schieffer on the May 27 edition of Face the Nation, recalling his 1989 anti-Reagan tome, The Acting President: Ronald Reagan and the Supporting Players Who Helped Him Create the Illusion That Held America Spellbound.
At Obama Fundraiser, CBS Boss Admits to Media “Partisanship”
“L.A.’s gay community turned out in force to celebrate the man who has been dubbed the nation’s ‘first gay president.’... Obama, [CBS President Les] Moonves said, ‘has shown great leadership’ on the issue of gay marriage. Though he heads a news division, Moonves said, ‘ultimately journalism has changed … partisanship is very much a part of journalism now.’ He hastened to add that despite his presence, ‘I run a news division. I’ve given no money to any candidate.’”
— Moonves as quoted in a June 7 Los Angeles Times story [5] by Robin Abcarian and Kathleen Hennessey about the Obama campaign fundraiser held the previous night.
Thou Shall Not Mock the “Dignified and Greatest” Joe Biden
Ex-Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley: “Earlier on the shows on MSNBC, one of your anchors actually said how can Mitt Romney stand next to a guy [Donald Trump] who could embarrass him at any moment? And I’m thinking to myself, well, Barack Obama could be embarrassed at any moment by a guy he made Vice President....It’s just silly.”
Anchor Thomas Roberts: “Hogan, are you really going to throw Joe Biden under the bus and compare him — are you really going to compare Joe Biden, one of this country’s most dignified and greatest political leaders that can cross the bridge, getting to both sides of the aisle, and compare him to a Donald Trump? Do you really want to say that?”
— MSNBC News Live, May 29. [Audio/video (1:44): Windows Media [6] | MP3 audio [7]]
MSNBC Host “Uncomfortable” Calling War Dead “Heroes”
“I think it is very difficult to talk about the war dead and the fallen without invoking valor, without invoking the words ‘heroes.’... I feel comfortable — ah, uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war, and I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism: hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I’m wrong about that.”
— Host Chris Hayes talking about “The Meaning of Memorial Day” on MSNBC’s Up With Chris Hayes, May 27.
Radio Lefty Embarrassed by the Star Spangled Banner
“I mean when you think about it, it’s ‘bombs bursting in air,’ ‘rocket’s red glare,’ it’s all kinds of — you know a lot of national anthems are that way, too — all kinds of military jargon, and the land — there’s only one phrase ‘the land of the free,’ which is kind of nice, and ‘the home of the brave?’ I don’t know....Are we [Americans] the only ones who are brave on the planet? I mean all the brave people live here. I mean it’s just stupid, I think. I’m embarrassed, I’m embarrassed every time I hear it.”
— Former CNN and MSNBC host Bill Press on his Full Court Press nationally-syndicated radio show, June 5.
Anchor Oozes Over “Rayburn-esque” Pelosi
“TARP, the stimulus, health reform, Wall Street reform, student loan reform, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the new GI bill.... I don’t just mean to flatter you, but [this] is [the] kind of list of legislation we associate with people whom we name large buildings after in Washington....Your Speakership was Sam Rayburn-esque.”
— MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a luncheon on Capitol Hill, June 6, as reported by the Washington Examiner [8] the next morning.
Dreaming About an Obama Dynasty?
“There have been rumors — if the President is not reelected [dramatic ‘God forbid!’ face], or that in the future, that you might consider running for political office....Would you ever?...You would be a very popular candidate.”
— ABC’s Barbara Walters to First Lady Michelle Obama on The View, May 29.
It’s a “Sham” to Claim CBS “Chock Full of Liberals”
“I know that it’s widely believed that CBS, NBC, ABC chock full of liberals. Not true. What it’s chock full of is people who wanted to give honest news, straightforward news, and voted both ways in many elections. I’m not saying that nobody in the newsroom was liberal any more than I would say nobody was conservative. Frequently what happened people who were described as conservatives want to say, ‘I worked at CBS News, and you know, almost everybody there was liberal.’ What they really mean is not everybody there agreed with them all the time. This is a sham. It’s a camouflage...”
— Ex-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, May 30. [Audio/video (1:31): Windows Media [9] | MP3 audio [10]]
Mocking “Crazy Catholic” Rick Santorum
“You know, I’m Catholic — well, Hollywood Catholic. You know, we’re looking for a God-type. But Rick Santorum is a crazy Catholic. Even Mel Gibson’s father thinks he’s nuts. Every time he won a primary, a puff of white smoke would go up. It’s just insane.”
— Comedian Martin Short on NBC’s Tonight Show, June 4.
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