It's time for the 19th 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 lowlights from
among the winners and runners-up of Best Notable Quotables of 2006:
• QUOTE OF THE YEAR
"It wasn't supposed to be this way. You weren't supposed to be graduating
into an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren't
supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for
fundamental human rights, whether it's the rights of immigrants to start a
new life, or the rights of gays to marry, or the rights of women to choose.
You weren't supposed to be graduating into a world where oil still drove
policy and environmentalists have to fight relentlessly for every gain. You
weren't. But you are. And for that, I'm sorry."
From "New York Times" Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s May 21 graduation
address at the State University of New York at New Paltz, shown on C-SPAN
May 27
This would be liberal guilt run amuck if it weren't make-believe guilt,
in this case. Sulzberger, personally, has nothing to apologize for. For
years, he's done his darndest to turn the Times into a shameless propaganda
platform for the liberal agenda.
• POLITICS OF MEANINGLESSNESS AWARD FOR THE SILLIEST ANALYSIS
Katie Couric: "A passionate student of history, Condi Rice believes
turmoil often precedes periods of peace and stability. And she rejects the
notion that the U.S. is a bully, imposing its values on the world."
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: "What's wrong with assistance so
that people can have their full and complete right to the very liberties and
freedoms that we enjoy?"
Couric: "To quote my daughter, 'Who made us the boss of them?' "
CBS' "60 Minutes," Sept. 24
• GOOD MORNING MORONS AWARD
Meredith Vieira: "Everybody's calling you 'the Genie.' And they want
you to grant some wishes. If you had a genie, what wish would you want
granted? . . . Where do you think (Osama bin Laden) is? Everybody's
wondering where the heck he is, where do you think he is?"
Former President Bill Clinton: "I think he's probably in, I have no
intelligence, OK? I think he's probably . . ."
Vieira, interrupting: "You have plenty of intelligence."
Clinton: "No, I mean government intelligence."
Vieira: "I know, I'm kidding."
NBC's "Today," Sept. 21
• TIN FOIL HAT AWARD FOR CRAZY CONSPIRACY THEORIES
ABC's Steve Osunsami, speaking about Hurricane Katrina: "In many
black neighborhoods, they actually believe that white residents sent the
barge that destroyed the levee and flooded communities."
Unidentified black man in HBO's film When the Levees Broke by
Spike Lee: "They had a bomb. They bombed that sucker."
Osunsami: "To this day, the conspiracy theories are so widely held,
director Spike Lee put them on film."
Spike Lee: "As an African-American in this country, I don't put
anything past the government."
ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson," Aug. 29
• BRING BACK THE IRON CURTAIN AWARD
Diane Sawyer: "It is a world away from the unruly individualism of
any American school. . . . Ask them about their country, and they can't say
enough."
North Korean girl: "We are the happiest children in the world."
Sawyer to class: "What do you know about America?"
Sawyer voice-over: "We show them an American magazine. They tell us
they know nothing about American movies, American movie stars . . . and
then, it becomes clear that they have seen some movies from a strange
place."
Sawyer to class: "You know The Sound of Music?"
Voices: "Yes."
Sawyer, singing with class: "Do, a deer, a female deer. Re, a drop of
golden sun . . ."
Charles Gibson: "A fascinating glimpse of North Korea."
ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson," Oct. 19
• MADNESS OF KING GEORGE AWARD FOR BUSH BASHING
"We now face what our ancestors faced at other times of exaggerated
crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering: A government more dangerous to our
liberty than is the enemy it claims to protect us from. . . . We have never
before codified the poisoning of habeas corpus, that wellspring of
protection from which all essential liberties flow. You, sir, have now
befouled that spring. You, sir, have now given us chaos and called it order.
You, sir, have now imposed subjugation and called it freedom. . . . These
things you have done, Mr. Bush - they would constitute the beginning of the
end of America."
Keith Olbermann in a "Special Comment" on the setting up of military
trials for terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, MSNBC's "Countdown,"
Oct. 18.
Mr. Olbermann, you, sir, are hyperventilating.
• If your stomach is strong enough to handle the complete awards list,
you can get it online at www.mediaresearch.org.
Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA. He can
be reached by e-mail at mikerosen@850koa.com.