1. NBC Highlights 'Life-Long Republican' Caucusing for Obama, But...
On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, Andrea Mitchell showcased "a lifelong Republican, who twice voted for George Bush, now canvassing for Obama" as a "precinct captain" in Iowa. In an interview two months ago, however, Monica Green listed Ronald Reagan as the last Republican President with whom she "identified" and, asked whether she'd vote for Reagan if he were running against Barack Obama today, she equivocated as she implied Reagan was too anti-communist: "You mean if he was running against Obama today? Oh my goodness. That's a good question...His views on communism were probably not the view I would appreciate today. I've got a much more global perspective today, and Obama touches that." Mitchell and NBC producers hardly stumbled upon Green by accident since the official Barack Obama campaign site features a video of Green as one of its "Republicans for Barack." In the NBC story, Mitchell cued up Green to explain how she rationalizes to her kids her party change: "I just keep saying, 'Look at the problems in the world, and look at who you think is going to be able to solve these problems?'"

2. Matthews: Obama Win Sends Message 'Despised' U.S. Ready to Change
On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Chris Matthews seemed to be issuing marching orders to Democratic voters as he declared that only a Barack Obama victory would send the message to the world that a "despised" America was truly ready to "change." In the event of an Obama win, Matthews offered, on Wednesday's Hardball, the following preview of his election night spin: "If I sit here tomorrow night reporting that he has won the Iowa caucuses the world will hear it and the world will be stunned because the United States of America, despised by so many, for lording it over the world these days, for dictating regional solutions by virtue of our military power will be saying, 'No more.' No more of invading countries. No more dictating a war-Americana. No more, 'our way or the highway.' No more Bush doctrine. No more Bush."

3. NBC's Taibbi Sees Obama 'Independent Streak' with Centrists
On Monday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Mike Taibbi oddly suggested that Barack Obama could be considered an "independent" or centrist politician as he included the liberal Senator as one of several politicians with an "independent streak" with whom New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been associated: "Bloomberg was a long-time Democrat, turned Republican Mayor, turned independent, who has kept company with others with an independent streak, from Senators Joe Lieberman and Barack Obama to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger." Such a juxtaposition seems especially out of place in light of National Journal's 2006 vote ratings which found that Obama had a more liberal voting record than all but nine of his Senate colleagues.

4. Meredith Vieira Touts Hillary as 'Natural, Warm' and 'Genuine'
If Hillary Clinton's trying to warm up her image in the last days before the first presidential vote, NBC's Meredith Vieira threw another log on the fire, vouching strongly for her personal warmth on Wednesday's edition of Today. "Her every word and move is caught on tape and while her critics assail Clinton as overly calculating, up close the Senator and former First Lady is natural, confident and warm," reported Vieira as she followed Hillary on the trail in Iowa. After her taped report, Vieira underlined that private-warmth line to co-anchor Matt Lauer: "She's excellent, one-on-one with people. You know she has the image of being very cold and calculating but she's great one-on-one. I actually took my son Ben, who's a freshman in college, and wants to be President. He told her that and they sat and talked for the longest time and it was very genuine. I think she relates a lot to young people."

5. ABC's Cuomo Again Frets About Racist American Voters
For the second time in less than a month, Good Morning America co-host Chris Cuomo asked a Democratic presidential candidate to speculate about the inherent racism of American voters. Talking with John Edwards on Wednesday's edition of the program, the ABC journalist wondered about Thursday's Iowa caucus. He inquired: "When you think people get into the room, do you think race or gender may play an unspoken role in the caucus voting?" Clearly, this is a topic that weighs heavily on Cuomo. On December 20, he spoke to Senator Barack Obama and asked: "What do you think the bigger obstacle is for you in becoming President, the Clinton campaign machine or America's inherent racists, racism?" In fact, GMA has a long history of harping on how bigoted America is. Since November 13, 2006, Good Morning America has featured the question, in some form or another, a total of five times.

6. More Newspapers Highlight MRC's 'Best NQ's of 2007' Award Quotes
Add the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Washington Times to the list of media outlets which highlighted the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2007: The Twentieth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." In my Wednesday rundown, I missed the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's editorial page "Media Monday" listing of the winning and runners-up quotes in our "Quote of the Year" category. And on Wednesday, Washington Times "Inside the Beltway" columnist John McCaslin recited the first and last quotes in the MRC's awards issue since the "judges had a difficult time deciding which of 'The Best Notable Quotables of 2007,' published by the Media Research Center, to highlight because every succeeding press quote was more outrageous and/or humorous than the previous one. So we will simply publish the very first and the very last quotes from the entire list of 70 quotables."

NBC Highlights 'Life-Long Republican'
Caucusing for Obama, But...

     On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, Andrea Mitchell showcased "a lifelong Republican, who twice voted for George Bush, now canvassing for Obama" as a "precinct captain" in Iowa. In an interview two months ago, however, Monica Green listed Ronald Reagan as the last Republican President with whom she "identified" and, asked whether she'd vote for Reagan if he were running against Barack Obama today, she equivocated as she implied Reagan was too anti-communist: "You mean if he was running against Obama today? Oh my goodness. That's a good question...His views on communism were probably not the view I would appreciate today. I've got a much more global perspective today, and Obama touches that."

     Mitchell and NBC producers hardly stumbled upon Green by accident since the official Barack Obama campaign site features a video of Green as one of its "Republicans for Barack." See: my.barackobama.com
    
     In the NBC story, Mitchell cued up Green to explain how she rationalizes to her kids her party change: "In the beginning, they would call me and say, 'Who are you? You raised us to be Republicans. I don't understand.' And I just keep saying, 'Look at the problems in the world, and look at who you think is going to be able to solve these problems?'"

     [This item, by Brent Baker, was posted late Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide this transcript of the relevant portion of Mitchell's story, from Des Moines, on the January 2 NBC Nightly News:

     ANDREA MITCHELL: Barack Obama is counting on independents, according to NBC's Lee Cowan.
     LEE COWAN: The Obama campaign says they are energized not only by the size of the crowds, but also their enthusiasm. And they point out that if there are so many people who say that they're first-time caucus goers that are turning out at midnight rallies and early in the morning in this bitter cold, that's a pretty good indication of their commitment.
     MITCHELL: All the candidates are relying on ground troops, precinct captains like Monica Green, a lifelong Republican, who twice voted for George Bush, now canvassing for Obama.
     WOMAN, RESPONDING TO OBAMA CAPTAIN MONICA GREEN: We haven't fully decided. I think my husband will probably be John Edwards, and I am split, either Edwards or Obama.
     MITCHELL, TO GREEN: What do your kids say to you?
     MONICA GREEN, IOWA PRECINCT CAPTAIN: In the beginning, they would call me and say, "Who are you? You raised us to be Republicans. I don't understand." And I just keep saying, "Look at the problems in the world, and look at who you think is going to be able to solve these problems?"

     From an interview in early November with Campaigns & Elections magazine:

C&E: Who were some Republicans with whom you have identified?

Green: "I thought Reagan was a strong president...I was totally in support of Reagan. He's probably the last one."

C&E: If the 1980 Reagan were running today, would you vote for him?

Green: "You mean if he was running against Obama today? Oh my goodness. That's a good question...His views on Communism were probably not the view I would appreciate today. I've got a much more global perspective today, and Obama touches that."

     The link to the Campaign & Elections posting no longer works, but it's posted on the "Seattle for Barack Obama" blog: seattleforbarackobama.blogspot.com

     It's also highlighted on the "Think on These Things Research" blog, which touts: "Commentary, and News on the 2008 Presidential Election with a Pro-Obama Slant." See: thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com

Matthews: Obama Win Sends Message 'Despised'
U.S. Ready to Change

     On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Chris Matthews seemed to be issuing marching orders to Democratic voters as he declared that only a Barack Obama victory would send the message to the world that a "despised" America was truly ready to "change." In the event of an Obama win, Matthews offered, on Wednesday's Hardball, the following preview of his election night spin: "If I sit here tomorrow night reporting that he has won the Iowa caucuses the world will hear it and the world will be stunned because the United States of America, despised by so many, for lording it over the world these days, for dictating regional solutions by virtue of our military power will be saying, 'No more.' No more of invading countries. No more dictating a war-Americana. No more, 'our way or the highway.' No more Bush doctrine. No more Bush."

     [This item is adapted from a posting, by Geoffrey Dickens, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     The exposition from Matthews on te January 2 Hardball: "Every few generations America makes up its mind to change things. We decide we're in a rut. We decide to get ourselves to get out of that rut and we take the necessary leap. It's what we did when we were stuck in the Great Depression in 1932 and picked Franklin Roosevelt. It's what we did in 1952 when we were stuck in Korea and picked Dwight Eisenhower. What some of us did in 1980 when we were stuck with double-digit inflation, double-digit interest rates and double-digit hostages stuck in Iran and chose Ronald Reagan. Barack Obama, on the eve of Iowa, is the very name tonight, the very statement, the very being of the word 'change.' If I sit here tomorrow night reporting that he has won the Iowa caucuses the world will hear it and the world will be stunned because the United States of America, despised by so many, for lording it over the world these days, for dictating regional solutions by virtue of our military power will be saying, 'No more.' No more of invading countries. No more dictating a war-Americana. No more, 'our way or the highway.' No more Bush doctrine. No more Bush."

NBC's Taibbi Sees Obama 'Independent
Streak' with Centrists

     On Monday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Mike Taibbi oddly suggested that Barack Obama could be considered an "independent" or centrist politician as he included the liberal Senator as one of several politicians with an "independent streak" with whom New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been associated: "Bloomberg was a long-time Democrat, turned Republican Mayor, turned independent, who has kept company with others with an independent streak, from Senators Joe Lieberman and Barack Obama to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger." Such a juxtaposition seems especially out of place in light of National Journal's 2006 vote ratings which found that Obama had a more liberal voting record than all but nine of his Senate colleagues. See: nationaljournal.com

     Taibbi's report focused on Bloomberg's participation in an upcoming meeting of centrist politicians from both parties and the possibility that such a meeting could lead to an independent candidacy for President by the New York mayor. During his report, Taibbi mentioned two truly moderate Democrats -- former Senators Sam Nunn and David Boren -- and also Senator Joe Lieberman, who has sided with conservatives on the Iraq War: "Bloomberg says he's only going to Oklahoma to meet with others who object to what he calls Washington's hyperpartisanship, a group including former Democratic Senators Sam Nunn and David Boren, and Republican stalwarts Senator Chuck Hagel and former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman."

     [This item, by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, was posted Tuesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, December 31 NBC Nightly News:

     MIKE TAIBBI: The idea of a Bloomberg candidacy is no joke, especially to those who say the two-party system is broken and needs to be replaced.
     DOUG BAILEY, Unity '08 Founder: The two parties barely talk to each other in Washington, much less find common ground for successful and sustainable change.
     TAIBBI: Bloomberg was a long-time Democrat, turned Republican mayor, turned Independent, who has kept company with others with an independent streak, from Senators Joe Lieberman and Barack Obama to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
     MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: We're here not to represent parties. We're here to represent the people.
     TAIBBI: Bloomberg says he's only going to Oklahoma to meet with others who object to what he calls Washington's hyperpartisanship, a group including former Democratic Senators Sam Nunn and David Boren, and Republican stalwarts Senator Chuck Hagel and former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman.

Meredith Vieira Touts Hillary as 'Natural,
Warm' and 'Genuine'

     If Hillary Clinton's trying to warm up her image in the last days before the first presidential vote, NBC's Meredith Vieira threw another log on the fire, vouching strongly for her personal warmth on Wednesday's edition of Today. "Her every word and move is caught on tape and while her critics assail Clinton as overly calculating, up close the Senator and former First Lady is natural, confident and warm," reported Vieira as she followed Hillary on the trail in Iowa.

     After her report, Vieira underlined that private-warmth line to co-anchor Matt Lauer: "She's excellent, one-on-one with people. You know she has the image of being very cold and calculating but she's great one-on-one. I actually took my son Ben, who's a freshman in college, and wants to be President. He told her that and they sat and talked for the longest time and it was very genuine. I think she relates a lot to young people."

     [This item, by the MRC's Tim Graham, was posted Wednesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Vieira has interviewed Hillary several times, and has routinely offered her a sympathetic interview. On this occasion, Vieira asked a couple of skeptical questions about Hillary's foreign-policy experience (more on that in a bit), but there was plenty of soft-focus puffery, like noting how Hillary loves her "Bucky" neck pillow to relax between stops. From there, it was all puff and no tough stuff:

     VIEIRA: Her every word and move is caught on tape and while her critics assail Clinton as overly calculating, up close the Senator and former First Lady is natural, confident and warm.
     VIEIRA TO CLINTON: Who are you, Hillary, at your core? At your very core, who are you and why do you believe that you would be a good president? Why do you even want to be President?
     CLINTON: I want to be President because, at my core, I am an American through and through. And I am so grateful for all of the opportunities and blessings that I've had. I couldn't be sitting here in any other place in the world. I didn't come from a family of power or money. I came from the middle class. And I realize that, you know, I had an opportunity because of my family and my faith and the way that I was raised to use the talents I had to help other people. That's what I've always wanted to do and that's what I want to do as president.

     Following the taped piece:

     VIEIRA: You know she actually got very emotional, her eyes started to tear up when she was talking about that and she said, which I didn't remember, you may know this, but as a little kid she wrote NASA. She wanted to be an astronaut.
     LAUER: Yeah, right.
     VIEIRA: And they wrote back and said, "We don't take girls." And there were schools she couldn't go to and jobs she couldn't get as a woman. So she appreciates the historic quality of what's happening right now.
     LAUER: And it's interesting to actually get out and watch these candidates-
     VIEIRA: Oh yeah.
     LAUER: -on the campaign trail. Because when we interview them here it's a little different than seeing them in a crowd of people with their stump speech. And by this time they said that speech 1000 times. But it is interesting to the dynamic in a room.
     VIEIRA: And she's excellent, one-on-one with people. You know she has the image of being very cold and calculating but she's great one-on-one. I actually took my son Ben, who's a freshman in college, and wants to be president. He told her that and they sat and talked for the longest time and it was very genuine. I think she relates a lot to young people. She has a daughter, you know, who's young so I think she really connects to young people. And the weather, I think is gonna be a big factor for tomorrow.
     LAUER: Well we'll see.
     VIEIRA: And for more on that interview you can go to our Web site as well.

     Vieira started the taped interview (routinely clipped and edited to keep it snappy) by questioning Hillary's "dwindling" poll numbers, which Hillary said should be disregarded:

     VIEIRA: But is being the First Lady the kind of experience voters are looking for?
     CLINTON: I think my experiences over those eight years, both in the rough and tumble of the political process here at home and in the diplomatic endeavors around the world, give me a unique set of experiences that I'm going to take with me to the White House.
     VIEIRA: Fair enough and yet the New York Times ran an article, I'm sure you saw this, critical of your experience during those eight years and questioning it and they write, "That during those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the President's daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti, and Rwanda." They say you were really a sounding board and not somebody really deeply involved in policy.
     CLINTON: Well I think that is a misreading of what went on in those years. I don't think it would have been appropriate to attend a formal National Security Council meeting. I have said that when I'm president my husband won't do that. I was intimately involved in preparing for a lot of the trips that I took. I was the first high profile American to go into Bosnia, after the Dayton peace accords. Nearly everywhere I went I was briefed both by the CIA, by the Department of Defense, by State Department, by National Security Council members. You know the idea that you aren't involved because you don't attend a meeting and knowing, as I do, that there weren't too many of those formal meetings, really doesn't understand the way decisions were made. And-
     VIEIRA: But when you mention something like Bosnia, that, that people are responding, "Yeah but she went to Bosnia, for example, with Sinbad. With a performer. That, that was-
     CLINTON: That's right. That's right.
     VIEIRA: -that was about, that wasn't really establishing any kind of foreign policy.
     CLINTON: Oh, you know, again I put my experience up against anybody. I believe that we, we want change and experience. It's a false choice to say you get one or the other.
     VIEIRA: And that is the heart of Clinton's message, that her promise of change is backed up by a proven track record of results.
     CLINTON: I'm saying that I am a proven and tested leader.

     The New York Times article by reporter Patrick Healy on December 26 wasn't necessarily "critical" of Hillary's experience, although it did suggest she was hardly a shadow Secretary of State. But the first paragraph -- the one before the passage Vieira was using -- tried to play nice: "As first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton jaw-boned the authoritarian president of Uzbekistan to leave his car and shake hands with people. She argued with the Czech prime minister about democracy. She cajoled Roman Catholic and Protestant women to talk to one another in Northern Ireland. She traveled to 79 countries in total, little of it leisure; one meeting with mutilated Rwandan refugees so unsettled her that she threw up afterward."

     Healy noted "Her rivals scoff at the idea that her background gives her any special qualifications for the presidency. Senator Barack Obama has especially questioned 'what experiences she's claiming' as first lady, noting that the job is not the same as being a cabinet member, much less president."

     Healy touted a speech as Hillary's signal foreign-policy achievement: "The foreign policy achievement most often credited to Mrs. Clinton came in 1995, with her speech to the United Nations conference on women in Beijing, where she declared that 'human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights.' She also tangled with Chinese officials, she said, and refused to bow to pressure to soften her remarks."

     For the New York Times article: www.nytimes.com

ABC's Cuomo Again Frets About Racist
American Voters

     For the second time in less than a month, Good Morning America co-host Chris Cuomo asked a Democratic presidential candidate to speculate about the inherent racism of American voters. Talking with John Edwards on Wednesday's edition of the program, the ABC journalist wondered about Thursday's Iowa caucus. He inquired: "When you think people get into the room, do you think race or gender may play an unspoken role in the caucus voting?"

     Clearly, this is a topic that weighs heavily on Cuomo. On December 20, he spoke to Senator Barack Obama and asked: "What do you think the bigger obstacle is for you in becoming President, the Clinton campaign machine or America's inherent racists, racism?" In fact, GMA has a long history of harping on how bigoted America is. Since November 13, 2006, Good Morning America has featured the question, in some form or another, a total of five times. See the December 21, 2007 CyberAlert for more on Cuomo's most recent outburst: www.mrc.org

     [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Wednesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     On November 13 of '06, co-host Diane Sawyer asked Obama if America is "secretly...more racist or more sexist?" She repeated the question a day later, this time to liberal New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. See the November 14 and 15, 2006 editions of CyberAlert for Sawyer's back-to-back comments: www.mrc.org

     And: www.mrc.org

     On February 16, 2007, the ABC anchor introduced a report on the same subject by darkly speculating on "what Americans really feel inside." Check the February 16, 2007 NewsBusters for her more recent comment: newsbusters.org

     Following a similar track, on May 13, 2007, This Week host George Stephanopoulos speculated that racists who wouldn't vote for Obama, wouldn't vote for any Democrat. See May 14, 2007 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

     Wednesday's interview with Edwards also contained a particularly fawning moment when Cuomo repeated Edwards talking points. He began a question by saying, "As you mentioned, the last 36 hours, you've been on what you're calling a blitz for the middle class." The Democrat responded by agreeing that indeed he was on a "36 hour marathon for the middle class, as we're calling it..."

     A transcript of the segment, which aired at 7:04am on January 2:

     DIANE SAWYER: Let's go back to Chris Cuomo now. He is out in Iowa. And as we said, we're going to talk to two of the candidates. Chris.
     CHRIS CUOMO: Good morning, Diane. You know, on the Democratic side, there's been a lot of talk about Hillary Clinton and how she'll do here as the front-runner. But, really, this state doesn't matter more to anyone than it does to John Edwards. He finished very well here in a strong second four years ago. He's put a lot of his money and his time in. In fact, he was leading here in Iowa through much of the summer. So, what will happen tomorrow is very important to him. He joined us this morning from Centerville at a pancake breakfast. Good morning, senator. Thank you for joining us. Let's get right to it. The polls are so close. Some say we may not even know a winner after tomorrow night's caucusing. Let me ask you though: When you think people get into the room, do you think race or gender may play an unspoken role in the caucus voting?
     JOHN EDWARDS: I do not. I think these caucus goers in Iowa are good people. I think they're fair-minded. I think they'll look at each of the candidates in a fair way and decide who they think should be the next president of the United States and I think one of the reasons we have so much energy and momentum right now in our campaign is they're responding to this message of change, of standing up to corporate greed and fighting for the middle class, which is what my campaign's about.
     CUOMO: A big issue for you here in Iowa has been the Iraq war. Your position has gone through a little bit of an evolution. You first voted for the war, then said that was a mistake. But now you're saying, making a little news here that we should withdraw even the troops doing the training as soon as possible. Now, a lot of people will see that as destabilizing the situation in Iraq. Are you overplaying the hand politically here and maybe jeopardizing security there?
     EDWARDS: This has nothing to do with politics, Chris. This is what we need to do to be responsible for our own troops, to be responsible for what's happening in Iraq. The threshold question in Iraq is what are we going to do to shift the responsibility to Sunni and Shia leadership to reach a political solution? There's no military solution in Iraq. And to do that, we have to end the American occupation in Iraq. And what means for me is getting all combat troops out of Iraq in the first year of my presidency, ending all combat missions in Iraq and no permanent military bases in Iraq.
     CUOMO: Now, senator, four years ago, you ran a strong second here in Iowa. A lot of people believe you are putting a lot of eggs in this basket. If you don't win or finish a strong second, are you done? Will you even have the money to go forward?
     EDWARDS: Oh, we have plenty of money. Money's not the issue. This election's not going to be decided on money. This is not going to be an auction. It's going to be an election. And, in fact, Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, have spent way more money in Iowa than I have. But what's happening is we're in a very close contest because this message of standing up for the promise of America, for our children, making sure that we stand up for American jobs, and ending this corporate greed that's doing so much damage -- all those things are issues that resonate with Iowa caucus goers.
     CUOMO: Now, you say that money's not the issue, but actually it has been made the issue. Recently, your wife got involved with comments made allegedly by Senator Obama's wife about not supporting Edwards because of the federal matching fund issue. You won't have the money to go forward. Are you surprised that the Obama campaign may be playing the money card against you?
     EDWARDS: Well, Chris, to be honest with you, we're in the waning days of the campaign. Both of the other major candidates have been spending a lot of time talking about me. I think the reason for it is really pretty straight forward. They can see this movement and explosion that's happening in my campaign right here, and I think they're trying to blunt it. I think it's pretty simple. It's politics. It's the way things work. But I'm going to stay above that. I'm not running for president because of them. I'm running for president because of what I want to do for the country and that's exactly what I want to focus on in these last 36 hours before the caucuses.
     CUOMO: As you mentioned, the last 36 hours, you've been on what you're calling a blitz for the middle class. You had your wife along with you. A lot of us care about how she's doing. How is Elizabeth holding up in this type of campaign pace?
     EDWARD: She's doing terrific. I mean, she's right here with me. We're in the middle of a 36 hour marathon for the middle class, as we're calling it, and we're hitting place after place after place in Iowa. Elizabeth's with me. My daughter Cate's with me. And we're working. We're working the same way we're going to work when I'm president of the United States, Chris.
     CUOMO: Senator, thank you for joining us this morning, good luck in the caucus.
     EDWARDS: Thanks, Chris, appreciate it.

More Newspapers Highlight MRC's 'Best
NQ's of 2007' Award Quotes

     Add the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Washington Times to the list of media outlets which highlighted the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2007: The Twentieth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." In my Wednesday rundown, I missed the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's editorial page "Media Monday" listing of the winning and runners-up quotes in our "Quote of the Year" category. And on Wednesday, Washington Times "Inside the Beltway" columnist John McCaslin recited the first and last quotes in the MRC's awards issue since the "judges had a difficult time deciding which of 'The Best Notable Quotables of 2007,' published by the Media Research Center, to highlight because every succeeding press quote was more outrageous and/or humorous than the previous one. So we will simply publish the very first and the very last quotes from the entire list of 70 quotables."

     For the entire awards issue package, with dozens of Flash videos: www.mrc.org

     The December 31 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review set up the quotes: "A panel of 52 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial page editors/writers (including the Trib's Colin McNickle) and media observers voted for the Media Research Center's 'Quote of the Year' from or about the liberal media for 2007." See: www.pittsburghlive.com

     For McCaslin's January 2 "Inside the Beltway" column: www.washingtontimes.com

     The January 2 CyberAlert recounted:

FNC's Fox & Friends on Monday morning discussed some winning quotes in the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2007: The Twentieth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting," with Alisyn Camerota joking that a quote from MSNBC's Chris Matthews oozing praise for Bill Clinton shows that he has a "man crush" on the former President. Monday's New York Post also devoted the entire daily editorial space to highlighting some of the quotes while Friday's Rocky Mountain News in Denver carried a column by Mike Rosen on his favorite quotes from the awards issue and Tuesday's Republican-American in Waterbury, Connecticut dedicated the editorial space to running several of the media's worst bias. And, late in the week before Christmas, Human Events published and posted excerpts as did The Jewish Press.

For the December 31 New York Post editorial, "HOIST BY THEIR OWN PETARD," go to: www.nypost.com

For the December 28 column by Mike Rosen, one of our judges, "Liberal lowlights of 2007," go to: www.rockymountainnews.com

For the January 1 Waterbury Republican-American editorial: www.rep-am.com

For the collection posted December 19 by Human Events (and in the December 24-dated hard copy): www.humanevents.com

And for the quotes Jewish Press Senior Editor Jason Maoz chose to highlight in an article posted December 19: www.jewishpress.com

     For a full rundown of the FNC segment: www.mediaresearch.org

-- Brent Baker