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| Slam Uncle Sam Award | |
 "Our government had turned its energy
and attention away from upholding the rule of law and toward creating law-free
zones at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Haditha, and other places around the
world. And let’s not forget the sustained assault on women’s reproductive
freedom and the hijacking of public policy by religious fundamentalism."— New York Times legal reporter Linda Greenhouse in a June 9 speech at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute. [61 points]
Runners-up: |
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"Some people who hated Americans set out to kill a lot of us and they
succeeded [on 9/11]. Americans are puzzled over why so many people in the
world hate us....We’re trying to protect ourselves with more weapons. We have
to do it, I guess, but it might be better if we figured out how to behave as a
nation in a way that wouldn’t make so many people in the world want to kill
us." — CBS’s Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, September 10. [44] |
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"I’d like to put this personally, if I can. You’re a grandfather. I’m a
father. When we look at those girls and we think that the country we’re about
to pass to them is a country where the Vice President can’t say whether or not
we have secret prisons around the world, whether water-boarding and mock
executions is consistent with our values, and a country where the government
is surveilling Americans without the warrant of a court — is that the country
we want to pass on to them?" — Co-anchor Terry Moran to Vice President Dick Cheney in an interview shown on ABC’s Nightline, December 19, 2005. [22] |
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| Damn Those Conservatives Award | |
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"It [Dean’s book, Conservatives
Without Conscience] deals with psychological principles that are
frightening and that may have faced other nations at other times in — Germany
and Italy in the ’30s coming to mind in particular. How does it apply now? And
to what degree should it scare us?...This whole edifice requires an enemy —
communism, al-Qaeda, Democrats, me, whoever — for the Two-Minute Hate....Are
you actually saying here they [conservative Republicans] would set up,
encourage, terrorism from other countries to set them up as a bogeyman to have
again that group to hate here, that group to more importantly be afraid of
here?...This all seems to require not merely venality or immorality, but a
kind of amorality where morals don’t enter into it at all....You’ve been at
one of the central moments of history in the 20th century. What kind of danger
— are we facing a legitimate threat to the concept of democracy in this
country?" — MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann to ex-Nixon White House lawyer John Dean, who claimed in his book that modern conservatives are moving the Republican Party toward "authoritarianism," July 10 Countdown. [73 points]
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"Leave it to the right wing to cross the preposterous line just when you think
it reached that point long ago. The Media Research Center, an outfit dedicated
to proving that every story in the newspapers or on TV is slanted left, every
year hands out its DisHonors Award....For this gang to come along with its
award is laughable. You could fill a Bible with the mistakes they make in
their accusations against the press. They can dish it out but can’t take it." — Former Boston Globe reporter John Mashek in an April 6 posting on the U.S. News & World Report Web site. [56] |
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"I don’t think what happened in West Virginia is totally divorced from the K
Street project. It was all about deregulation. Tom DeLay fervently and
sincerely believes that every regulation — the regulations that have removed
99 percent of lead from the air, the regulations that have saved the Great
Lakes — they are a burden and an onerous intrusion upon American business, and
I think that what you’ve seen is Tom DeLay’s America in action." — Columnist and PBS NewsHour panelist Mark Shields, referring to the deaths of 12 West Virginia coal miners, on Inside Washington, January 6. Investigators believe the mine explosion was caused by lightning. [55] |
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| Terrorists Have Rights Too Award for Condemning "Domestic Spying" | |
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NSA bombshell: A new report that the
government is secretly tracking your phone calls, seeking information on every
call made in the U.S. The war on terror vs. your privacy." — ABC’s Diane Sawyer opening the May 11 Good Morning America. Later, ABC’s on-screen graphic warned: "Big Brother: Why is NSA Tracking Your Calls?" [71 points]
Runners-up: |
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"There are laws on the books against what the administration is doing, and
it’s about time somebody said it out loud. This federal district judge ruled
today President Bush is breaking the law by spying on people in this country
without a warrant....It means President Bush violated his oath of office,
among other things, when he swore to uphold the Constitution of the United
States. It means he’s been lying to us about the program since it started,
when he’s been telling us there’s nothing illegal about what he’s doing. A
court has ruled it is illegal....I hope it means the arrogant inner circle at
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may finally have to start answering to the people who
own that address — that would be us — about how they conduct our country’s
affairs." — CNN’s Jack Cafferty on the August 17 Situation Room, after a Carter-appointed judge ruled that the surveillance of suspected terrorists was unconstitutional. [70] |
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"[The leak] is a victory for the American people....Remember the great
American saying, ‘Disobedience to tyranny is obedience to God.’ In this case,
it was something that clearly, I think, most Americans would agree is not what
we want to do, secret prisons....Exposing something like that does not hurt
us. It helps us." — ABC’s Sam Donaldson on This Week, April 23, discussing the firing of a CIA employee for leaking. [48] |
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| Drowning Polar Bear Award for Promoting Gore’s Inconvenient "Truth" | |
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Katie Couric: "In this movie,
at different turns you’re funny, vulnerable, disarming, self-effacing, and
someone said after watching it, quote, ‘If only he was like this before, maybe
things would’ve turned out differently in 2000.’" Al Gore: "Well, I benefit from low expectations...." Couric: "What do you see happening in say 15 to 20 years or even 50 years if nothing changes?" Gore: "...Sea-level increases of 20 feet or more worldwide. Of course, Florida and Louisiana and Texas are particularly vulnerable. The San Francisco Bay area, Manila. And we have seen the impact of a couple hundred thousand refugees from an environmental crisis. [Footage of Hurricane Katrina] Imagine 100 million or 200 million." Couric: "Even Manhattan would be in deep water, right?" Gore: "Yes, in fact the World Trade Center Memorial site would be underwater....Unfortunately, Mother Nature is weighing in very powerfully and very loudly." — NBC’s Today, May 24. [109 points] Runners-up: |
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"No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it
probably looks a lot like Earth....Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is
upon us....Something has gone grievously wrong. That something is global
warming....It’s undeniable that the White House’s environmental record — from
the abandonment of Kyoto to the President’s broken campaign pledge to control
carbon output to the relaxation of emission standards — has been dismal." — Time’s Jeffrey Kluger in the magazine’s April 3 global warming cover story: "Be Worried. Be Very Worried." [62] |
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"Since his still-controversial loss to George Bush in the 2000 election,
[former Vice President Al] Gore has recast himself as a road warrior for the
environment. Traveling from town to town, country to country with a message of
warning, a message that’s now been made into a movie.... Out of the shadows of
yesterday’s news, Al Gore has suddenly emerged as the comeback kid...." "I’m watching you in this film, you look so comfortable in your own skin. You look like Al Gore in full, as it were.... The box office receipts would indicate that it’s an action movie — you did better per screening than almost anything that’s come out this week." — Co-host Harry Smith introducing his interview with Al Gore and some of his comments to Gore on CBS’s Early Show, May 31. [46] |
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"He’s [Gore is] campaigning to awaken the political leadership to the threat
of global warming, but it’s a campaign that can easily turn into a campaign
for himself if he sees an opening. And he’s following the Nixonian play book,
the Nixonian in a very good way. Just as Richard Nixon was edged out of the
presidency very narrowly in 1960 and then came back after eight years to
win....There’s some regret, even among the media, that Al Gore was mocked and
ridiculed in 2000, and he didn’t deserve it. And we’re ready for a serious
politician." — Newsweek contributing editor Eleanor Clift on the May 27 McLaughlin Group. [29] |
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