Christiane Amanpour
On Sunday August 1, longtime CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will take over as host of ABC's This Week, replacing ex-Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos. Amanpour, who is married to Jamie Rubin, Assistant Secretary of State for public affairs during the Clinton administration and an adviser in 2007-08 for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
A look through the MRC's Notable Quotables archive confirms her standard liberal outlook on the world:
She told Hillary Clinton 'a lot of the women that I meet from traveling overseas are very impressed by you and admire your dignity.'
Scolded Mikhail Gorbachev by raising how he's been 'criticized heavily by those who say you opened a pandora's box.'
Argued the press was 'muzzled' and not tough enough on President George W. Bush.
Warned of scary 'totalitarian' Christians.
Quite oddly juxtaposed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's criticism of rioters with his welcoming of Barack Obama.
Plus, she justified awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize: 'He's obviously done something very significant' since the U.S. now has a 'new relationship with the rest of the world.'
Nonetheless, last year she insisted: 'Nobody knows my biases.'
Below are the most biased quotes from Amanpour's reporting, starting in 1999:
Hillary's Dignity, or Dependency?
'A lot of the women that I meet from traveling overseas are very impressed by you and admire your dignity. A lot of the people you meet are people who suffered, people you saw today, and who believe that they identify with you, because they have seen you suffer. And in a speech in Africa last year, you spoke about living for hope and reconciliation, living for forgiveness and reconstruction, and living for a new life — have you been able to apply that to your own circumstances? Have you been able to forgive your husband?'
— CNN's Christine Amanpour to Hillary Clinton in Macedonia after a tour of refugee camps, May 14, 1999.
Gorby Blamed for Berlin Wall Fall
Christiane Amanpour: 'Indeed, ten years later, many are saying the unbridled capitalism that followed communism has unleashed misery on citizens who had all their social needs taken care of, especially in the former Soviet Union.'
To Mikhail Gorbachev: 'Mr. President, you are regarded by many people in this world as a hero for causing the end of tyranny and the collapse of communism. But you are also criticized heavily by those who say you opened a Pandora's box. And they say look at the strife now, look at the economic chaos, look at the Mafia structure, look at the corruption. They say that you opened and started a plan that you did not know how to finish.'
— CNN's The World Today, November 8, 1999. [Audio/video (0:51): Windows Media | MP3 audio]
Elian, Learn Ballet on the Farm!
'Like these young dancers, Carlos [Acosta] benefited from Cuba's communist system because it not only recognizes physical talent, it nurtures it, whether it's baseball, boxing, or ballet.'
— CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Christiane Amanpour on a star of London's Royal Ballet, May 21, 2000.
Reporters Too Pro-Bush
'I think the press was muzzled, and I think the press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say, but certainly television and, perhaps, to a certain extent, my station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in fact, put a climate of fear and self-censorship, in my view, in terms of the kind of broadcast work we did....The entire body politic...did not ask enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction. I mean, it looks like this was disinformation at the highest levels.'
– CNN's Christiane Amanpour on CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown, September 10, 2003.
The Weasels Were Right
'Do you feel vindicated when you look at what Iraq is going through right now?'
— CNN's Christiane Amanpour to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Anderson Cooper 360, Nov. 29, 2005.
Reporters Pay for Iraq 'Disaster'
'The war in Iraq has basically turned out to be a disaster, and journalists have paid for it, paid for the privilege of witnessing and reporting that....By any indicator, Iraq is a black hole....Whether you take the number of journalists killed or wounded, whether you take the number of American soldiers killed or wounded, whether you take the number of Iraqi soldiers killed and wounded, contractors, people working there, it just gets worse and worse.'
— CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Larry King Live, January 30, 2006 discussing the bomb attack that wounded ABC co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt. [Audio/video (0:28): Windows Media | MP3 audio]
Scary 'Totalitarian' Christians
'On [Christian youth activist Ron Luce's Honor Academy] campus, students must follow a strict set of rules: No secular music or television. No R-rated movies. No alcohol. No drugs. No dating. [To Luce] When I, you know, read that women have to wear skirts of a certain length and guys aren't allowed to, you know, go on the Internet unsupervised, I mean, I think, you know, totalitarian regimes.'
— Correspondent Christiane Amanpour in her August 23, 2007 profile of "Christian Warriors," the last of CNN's 3-part special on "God's Warriors."
Insulting Rioters = Insulting Obama
'The black people in France are very proud and very hopeful for their future. They also live, many of them, in poor situations. And you know, you've had your own riots here and protests and disturbances in the Banlieue — in the city. At one point, when we were covering those riots, when you were Interior Minister, you called the rioters 'scum.' And I'm wondering whether you feel, today, when you stand next to someone you clearly admire so much, and who has broken so many barriers, that you regret that term or that you wish you hadn't said it?'
— CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour to French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a July 25, 2008 press conference with Barack Obama shown live on CNN. [Audio/video (0:51): Windows Media | MP3 audio]
Amanpour: My Biases Are a Complete Mystery
'I ask people just to look at my body of work. And nobody knows my biases. Do they think I'm against? Do they think I'm for? They don't know my biases. They don't know where I come from in this. I just try very hard to report the facts and to tell the stories as best as I can. I am not part of the current crop of opinion journalists or commentary journalists or feelings journalists. I strongly believe that I have to remain in the realm of fact.'
— CNN's Christiane Amanpour to CBS's Lesley Stahl in a June 23, 2009 'Women on the Web' interview.
Criticism of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize 'Overdone'
'Can I just say, I think it's overdone, this pushing back against his award. He's obviously done something very significant, and that is, after eight years in which the United States was really held in contempt around the world, the United States has now had a new relationship with the rest of the world.'
– Christiane Amanpour, reacting to criticism of President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10, 2009 American Morning on CNN. [Audio/video (0:44): Windows Media | MP3 audio]
Saluting 'Most Powerful and Successful' Pelosi
'You, by all accounts, are one of the most, if not the most, powerful and successful Speakers in the history of the United States. You've passed so much legislation. The President was elected with a significant majority. You had control of both houses of Congress. And yet, now, people are talking about you might lose your majority in the House. The gap seems to be growing wider between what's achieved and what's making an impact with the people. How did this happen?'
— New ABC host Christiane Amanpour to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on This Week, August 1, 2010.
Media Scold America's 'Fear,' 'Rage' and 'Racism'
“We turn now over the debate of the proposed Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero....The controversy has raised profound questions about religious tolerance and prejudice in the United States.”
— Christiane Amanpour on ABC’s This Week, August 22, 2010
'Amazing' Obama vs. 'Bizarre' Tea Party Candidates
“People from all over the world, frankly, say to me, here comes a President with a huge mandate, a huge reservoir of goodwill, huge promises to change, and, with all of that, his popularity is down. People don’t appreciate some of the amazing legislative agenda that he’s accomplished.”
— Host Christiane Amanpour to White House advisor David Axelrod on ABC’s This Week, September 26, 2010.
vs.
“What is Christine O’Donnell’s qualification for actually governing? What is Sharron Angle’s actual qualification for governing? Are you not afraid that they might be a turnoff?...Are you not afraid that their somewhat, one would say, some might say bizarre statements, their sort of fringe quality might actually turn people off?”
— Amanpour to Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell later on the same program.
Is America's Islamophobia Suppressing Muslims' Freedom?
“The plans to build an Islamic center close to Ground Zero have whipped up anti-Muslim sentiment....Not since 9/11 has the country seen such anti-Muslim fervor....[to Feisal Abdul Rauf] In the latest poll that ABC’s conducted, only 37 percent of those who were asked expressed a positive feeling about Islam. Do you think that Muslims, people such as yourself, others here, can actually have a place to practice their religion freely, to live freely as Americans, given that figure?”
— Host Christiane Amanpour interviewing the imam organizing the Ground Zero mosque on ABC’s This Week, September 12, 2010
Amanpour: Kennedy Assassinations 'Relevant' to Today's 'Political Atmosphere'
“John F. Kennedy was assassinated less than three years after his inauguration, in November 1963. His brother, Bobby, in 1968. Two acts of political violence so traumatic that the country has never fully recovered. It’s an episode eerily relevant today in the wake of the assassination attempt against Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago. [to Jean Kennedy Smith] A congresswoman was targeted. No matter what the reason, how would you describe the atmosphere, the political atmosphere today in the country?”
— ABC’s Christiane Amanpour to JFK’s sister Jean Kennedy Smith in an interview shown on Nightline, January 20, 2011.
Lauding Obama's 'Reaganesque' State of the Union
“Full of sunny optimism, very Reaganesque, on and on about American exceptionalism in many, many instances and full of Kennedyesque encouragement to break a new frontier. That Sputnik moment was remarkable....”
— ABC’s Christiane Amanpour during coverage of the State of the Union, January 25, 2011
Fighting Dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya — and Wisconsin
“This week: people power making history. A revolt in the Midwest and a revolution sweeping across the Middle East....Populist frustration is boiling over this week — as we’ve said, not just in the Middle East, but in the middle of this country as well.”
— ABC’s Christiane Amanpour opening This Week, February 20, 2011
Suggesting Puny Budget Cuts Will 'Stick a Fork in the Recovery'
Host Christiane Amanpour: “Up next, Washington’s answer to the job crisis. Will the deep budget cuts on the table stick a fork in the recovery?...[Republicans are proposing] $61 billion in budget cuts. [Economist] Mark Zandi says 700,000 jobs will be lost.”
Thomson-Reuters editor Chrystia Freeland: “I think he’s right.”
— ABC’s This Week, March 6, 2011.
John Boehner, Hostage to the Far Right Tea Party
“John Boehner, the man in the middle this weekend, caught between a rowdy freshman class of hard-line conservatives and the more moderate congressional Republicans who want to deal. Boehner, of course, wants a deal too....It’s hard to broker compromise in a town where compromise itself has become a dirty word.”
— Host Christiane Amanpour on ABC’s This Week, April 3, 2011
'Conservative' Obama Now Using GOP Language
“Frustrated members of your own party, they are saying, look, why doesn’t the President who has his principles stand up for them, rather than spending so much time wanting to be bipartisan....The President has moved all of the way to the language and the ideals that the Republicans espouse.”
— Christiane Amanpour to Obama advisor David Plouffe on ABC’s This Week, July 31, 2011
Scolding Ryan's 'Reverse Robin Hoodism;' Need 'Courage' to Raise Taxes
“People who have been studying your numbers very carefully have been saying that the numbers don’t add up....[They say] two-thirds of the savings that you want to make in spending cuts come at the expense of programs designed for the poor, for the disadvantaged. And this is reverse Robin Hoodism, if you like — take from the poor, give back to the rich again.”
— ABC’s Christiane Amanpour to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on This Week, May 1, 2011
Tea Party Haters Now Yearn for One of Their Own
“The revolution is being televised — and Tweeted, and Facebooked! The Occupy Wall Street protests are suddenly all that Washington can talk about. Are we witnessing the birth of a new kind of Tea Party?”
— Host Christiane Amanpour on ABC’s This Week, October 9, 2011
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, 2011
Boehner vs. Amanpour’s Incessant Tax Hike Push
Host Christiane Amanpour: “Some 75 percent of Americans agree with an increase in tax on millionaires as a way to pay for these jobs provisions. Do you not feel that by opposing it you’re basically out of step with the American people on this issue?...Are you concerned that these budget cuts are going to hurt the people who can least afford it?...There doesn’t seem to be the sense amongst people here that the sacrifice is being shared because they point to taxes and tax cuts and who it benefits and who it doesn’t.”
House Speaker John Boehner: “Come on! The top one percent pay 38 percent of the income taxes in America. How much more do you want them to pay?”
— ABC’s This Week, November 6, 2011
