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A bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, 
quotes in the liberal media.

Katie Outed As Abortion Activist

Katie Couric: "So you write about choice meaning what?"
Whoopi Goldberg: "Well because, you know, when you get out there and you march, because we've marched together."
Couric, giggling: "Nooo. I'm not allowed to do that."
Goldberg, staring upward: "Oh no, that's right. We have not marched together. It was somebody that looked like you."
-- Exchange on Today during interview about Goldberg's new book, September 29.

Promise Keepers: Far-Right Male Supremacists?

He's the Coach
For the Faithful
Or the Far Right?
-- Washington Post headline over September 28 story on Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney

NBC's Tom Brokaw: "The Promise Keepers and their charismatic leader have drawn plenty of attention over the years -- not all of it positive. In fact, some women's groups feel that Promise Keepers, their warm and fuzzy ideology, is a mask for something more sinister..."
Jim Avila: "...and as their fundamentalist doctrines become better known, donations are dropping and rally attendance falling....Critics say there is more dangerous doctrine in the Promise Keepers agenda that to some looks more right wing than religious. Bill McCartney spoke at anti-abortion rallies, calls homosexuality a sin, and his group has received money and support from Jerry Falwell, the Christian Coalition, and Pat Robertson....As the Promise Keepers face their biggest weekend ever, they're finding that returning to a world where man has the final word will take more than a promise and a prayer."
-- Nightly News, Sept. 30.

Schieffer: Odious Republican Motives Always Suspect

"Republican leaders in the Senate have sent out fundraising letters soliciting donations by saying 'Your support will help us end the reign of terror of the IRS.' So while it's true there are certainly some reforms needed in the IRS, I think because these fundraising letters have been sent out, a lot of people think these hearings are suspect."
-- CBS reporter Bob Schieffer, September 24 This Morning.

"I think one reason that a lot of people in Washington, and I include myself in that group, did not take these hearings all that seriously in the beginning is that the Republicans sent out some fairly odious, in my view, fundraising letters where they said, you know, send us ten dollars and we'll help bring pressure to get rid of the IRS. And I think people, in some cases, saw these hearings as just a part of a Republican fundraising effort. I'm going to also add, after we heard the testimony from these witnesses, in my mind anyway, it gave a lot of credibility to these hearings. But do you think it's not such a good idea in retrospect to be, trying to raise money on the idea of eliminating the IRS?"
-- CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer to Senator Orrin Hatch, September 28.

Al Hunt's Tantrum of the Week

"Charlton Heston, the new Vice President of the National Rifle Association, says the Second Amendment, which he says gives all citizens the right to bear arms, is more important than the First Amendment, freedom of speech and press. You can't, he reasons, have free speech without the ability to fight for it. Bob Novak's views protected by an Uzi. Mr. Heston, you're wrong. The First Amendment protects loony statements like you just made."
-- Wall Street Journal Executive Washington Editor Al Hunt's "Outrage of the Week" on CNN's Capital Gang, September 14.

Dan Rather: I'm All For Objectivity

"I do believe in what's become an archaic word for journalists, objectivity. You know my job is to be accurate, be fair, and in so far as it's humanly possible, to keep my feelings out of every story...I do agree that one test of a reporter is how often he or she is able to keep their emotions out of what they are doing and keep their own biases and agendas out of it."
-- Dan Rather on the CNBC show Tim Russert, September 20.

Campaigning for Campaign Finance "Reform"

Bob Schieffer: "So if it doesn't come up this session, it's not going to really bother you?"
Senator Trent Lott: "No, it will come up eventually."
Schieffer: "So for all the noise these hearings have produced it looks tonight as if nothing will happen, this year anyway, to change any of it."
-- End of September 19 CBS Evening News story.

Peter Jennings: "Give us your best instinct: do you think that before the end of the year there will be some measure of campaign finance reform?"
Cokie Roberts: "My gut says no. But if the hearings heat up some more, which they are promising to do at the same time that the bill comes to the floor, then the answer could be yes. And if the answer is yes and all they do is outlaw this so-called soft money, then they really have accomplished something."
-- ABC's World News Tonight, September 23.

"Over at the Senate today, debate started on campaign finance reform but Trent Lott, the Senate Republican Leader, made it clear from the beginning he doubts anything will come of it. And tonight NBC's Gwen Ifill tells us about a Republican Senator who is a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to campaign finance reform and he's proud of it."
-- Tom Brokaw introducing a profile of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, September 26 NBC Nightly News.

"You now have a witness who says yes, he did buy his way into access the President for his $300,000. We had a witness a couple of days ago who said there was a very direct solicitation for funds in the White House right in the presence of the President. Does all this mean, are these committee members going to tell you this weekend, do you think we're gonna get a bill that will really reform the campaign finance system?"
-- Good Morning America co-host Charlie Gibson to Sam Donaldson, September 19.

"The end game here: whether an independent counsel should be named to investigate further. We'll get reaction from the Democrat and Republican national committees and ask whether all this will finally lead to reform."
-- CNN Late Edition host Frank Sesno, September 21.

Mean-Spirited Margaret

Michael Barone, Reader's Digest: "I'm not as confident as Bill Press that I know the inner workings of the mind of Paula Jones. I don't feel that I do..."
Margaret Carlson, Time: "What mind?"
-- CNBC's Equal Time, September 11.

Getting the Campaign 2000 Bias Started Early

"A champion of the far right, with strong ties to anti-abortion-rights forces, veterans groups, and anti-tax organizations, Smith says he'll spend the next year trying to nurture a national constituency."
-- CNN's Gene Randall on Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) exploring a presidential bid, September 9 Inside Politics.

We Thought Reagan Favored Letting Kids Starve

"Even in desperation, North Korea is still a fiercely totalitarian state. Which means the severely malnourished body of a child barely able to stand poses a question for the rest of the world: Should we come to the aid of a hostile government or remember, as Ronald Reagan said, a hungry child knows no politics?"
-- Diane Sawyer concluding her story from North Korea, September 29 World News Tonight.

L. Brent Bozell III, Publisher
Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
Eric Darbe, Geoffrey Dickens, Gene Eliasen,
Steve Kaminski, Clay Waters; Media Analysts
Kristina Sewell, Research Associate
Carey Evans, Circulation Director
Rebecca Hinnershitz, Intern