Presentation
The Obamagasm Award
Keith Olbermann tells the audience to “Shut the Hell Up!” as Brent Bozell opens the program, then Neal Boortz presents The Obamagasm Award, won by Evan Thomas, and accepted in jest by Erick Erickson.
Full Program Video
Runners-Up
Terry Moran
“I like to say that, in some ways, Barack Obama is the first President since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office. I mean, from visionary leader of a giant movement, now he’s got an executive position that he has to perform in, in a way.”
— ABC Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran to Media Bistro’s Steve Krakauer in a February 20, 2009 “Morning Media Menu” audio podcast.
Chris Matthews
Clip of Barack Obama from 2008: “My family gave me love. They gave me an education. And most of all, they gave me hope. Hope, hope that in America, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it, and fight for it, and work for it.”
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: “You know I get the same thrill up my leg, all over me, every time I hear those words. I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, that’s me. He’s talking about my country and nobody does it better. Can President Obama stir us again and help his party keep power this November?”
— Setting up a segment on MSNBC’s Hardball, September 7, 2010.
Winner
Evan Thomas
“Reagan [at the 1984 D-Day commemoration] was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, ‘We are above that now. We’re not just parochial, we’re not just chauvinistic, we’re not just provincial. We stand for something.’ I mean, in a way, Obama’s standing above the country, above — above the world. He’s sort of God.”
— Newsweek’s Evan Thomas to host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, June 5, 2009.