“Liberals shine in media,” a column by Mike Rosen in the December 30, 2005 Rocky Mountain News. Originally posted here.

It's time for the 18th annual Media Research Center's awards for the most biased, manipulative or downright goofy quotes from liberals in the "mainstream" media. I'm honored to serve, once again, on MRC's distinguished panel of conservatively biased judges. Here are some of the highlights from among the winners and runners-up of Best Notable Quotables of 2005:

Quote of the Year

Reporter Brian Ross: "Mary Mapes was the woman behind the scenes, the producer who researched, wrote and put together Dan Rather's 60 Minutes report on President Bush's National Guard service, a report which Rather and CBS would later apologize for airing . . ."
Ross to Mapes: "Do you still think that story was true?"
Ex-CBS producer Mary Mapes: "The story? Absolutely."
Ross: "This seems remarkable to me that you would sit there now and say you still find that story to be up to your standards."
Mapes: "I'm perfectly willing to believe those documents are forgeries if there's proof that I haven't seen."
Ross: "But isn't it the other way around? Don't you have to prove they're authentic?"
Mapes: "Well, I think that's what critics of the story would say. I know more now than I did then and I think, I think they have not been proved to be false, yet."
Ross: "Have they proved to be authentic though? Isn't that really what journalists do?"
Mapes: "No, I don't think that's the standard."
-- on ABC's Good Morning America, Nov. 9


Damn Those Conservatives Award

"The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is one more liar."
-- Hearst Newspapers White House columnist Helen Thomas, as quoted in the Under the Dome column in The Hill newspaper, July 28


Crazy Chris Award for Chris Matthews' Left-Wing Lunacy

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan: "We're not going to cure terrorism and spread peace and goodwill in the Middle East by killing innocent people or -- I'm not even saying our bullets and bombs killing them. The occupation that - they don't have food, they don't have clean water, they don't have electricity. They don't have medicine, they don't have doctors. We need to get our military presence out of there, and that's what's gonna start building goodwill . . . I see Iraq as a base for spreading imperialism . . ."
Host Chris Matthews: "Are you considering running for Congress, Cindy?"
Sheehan: "No, not this time . . ."
Matthews: "OK. Well, I have to tell you, you sound more informed than most U.S. congresspeople, so maybe you should run."
-- exchange on MSNBC's Hardball, Aug. 15


God Save This Court from Extremists Award

"An Advocate for the Right."
-- headline over a New York Times "news analysis" of Judge John Roberts' judicial philosophy, July 28

"Balanced Jurist at Home in the Middle."
-- headline over a New York Times story on Clinton Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg, June 27, 1993


Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis

"It's been 11 days since two African-American teenagers were killed, electrocuted during a police chase, which prompted all of this."
-- anchor Carol Lin after a Nov. 6 CNN Sunday Night story about the riots in France; the two teenagers were not Americans, but French citizens of Tunisian heritage


Good Morning Morons Award

Co-host Matt Lauer: "Pain at the pump. Gas prices are going sky high. I paid $2.94 a gallon over the weekend to fill up the car."
Co-host Katie Couric: "It's ridiculous. I had to take out a loan to fill up my minivan. It's crazy."
-- exchange at the top of NBC's Today, Aug. 15; Couric makes about $15 million a year


Oh, That Liberal Media Award

Newsweek's Evan Thomas: "Is this attack on [public broadcasting's budget] going to make NPR a little less liberal?"
NPR legal correspondent Nina Totenberg: "I don't think we're liberal to begin with, and I think if you would listen, Evan, you would know that."
Thomas: "I do listen to you and you're not that liberal, but you're a little bit liberal."
Totenberg: "No, I don't think so. I don't think that's a fair criticism, I really don't -- any more than, any more than you would say that Newsweek is liberal."
Thomas: "I think Newsweek is a little liberal."
-- exchange on the June 28 Inside Washington

If your stomach is strong enough to handle the complete awards list, you can get it on-line at www.mediaresearch.org.

Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA.