“Brave” Obama Stands “Like God” Above All of Us

“We’re understanding what Obama is. He is the great teacher. He is this guy that stands above everybody. There’s some condescension in it, but he stands above everybody and says, ‘Now, listen. You people have to stop blaming each other unreasonably. You have to get along here and I am going to show you the way.’ It is a pretty brave role in many ways.”
— Newsweek’s Evan Thomas on Inside Washington, June 7. [Audio/video (0:29): Windows Media | MP3 audio]



“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. He’s going to bring all different sides together. It’s very different.”
— Thomas to host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, June 5. [Audio/video (0:37): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Linking Limbaugh with Holocaust Museum Killer

Host Chris Matthews: “Joan Walsh, this is a political action today by a far right extremist. I just wonder, what’s in the water, what’s in the air as we speak?”
Salon’s Joan Walsh: “Well, I wonder too, especially in the wake of the murder of Dr. George Tiller who performed abortions....I want to be very careful here Chris. The only people responsible are the people who pulled the triggers....However, I don’t think you can deny that there is a rising climate of right-wing hate, a lot of it directed at Obama....There is a very disturbing and disturbed element of political discourse. And I would throw in Rush Limbaugh. Not blaming him, but when you say that our President is more dangerous than al-Qaeda, you’ve gone off into crazy nut job land. You are off the charts crazy. And you are whipping people up.”
— Discussing the shooting hours earlier at Washington, D.C.’s Holocaust Museum on MSNBC’s Hardball, June 10. [Audio/video (1:58): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Journalists Swept Away By Professor Obama’s Amazing Lecture

CNN political analyst David Gergen: “Anderson, there was no way he could quite reach the summit with this speech. He couldn’t please everyone....But, overall, it was the most powerful and the most persuasive speech any American President has ever made to the Muslim populations around the world....”
Anchor Anderson Cooper: “Wait a minute. The most powerful...and most persuasive ever, you say, to the Muslim world?”
Gergen: “Ever by, yes, by any American President to the Muslim populations around the world.”
— CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, June 4.

“Powerful, far-ranging speech this morning that President Obama has delivered in Cairo....He was not only presidential, he was also professorial. He was very much a teacher this morning. He was giving Americans and Muslims a history lesson.”
— Co-host Harry Smith on CBS’s The Early Show, June 4.

“This is going to be a speech that is going to be talked about for a long time....It has been very comprehensive. And very thoughtful and historic.”
— ABC’s Chris Cuomo on Good Morning America, June 4.

Helping Ignorant Americans “Understand” Terrorism

“Many people in America believe that the reason there is terrorism is because extremists hate the way Americans live. It’s never connected to the Palestinian/Israeli situation. They believe it’s cultural. But, perhaps, if they understood the link to the Palestinian/Israeli situation, they might understand terrorism differently.”
— ABC’s Chris Cuomo to Gamal Mubarak, son of the Egyptian president, in an interview shown on Good Morning America, June 4.

Israelis Are the New Nazis?

“What can the Israelis learn from your visit to [the Nazi concentration camp] Buchenwald? And what should they be thinking about their treatment of Palestinians?”
— Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw interviewing President Obama on Today, June 5.

Eleanor Flabbergasted by Criticism of Obama

Moderator John McLaughlin: “He’s gone pretty far, has he not, in apologizing....Is he badmouthing us?”
Publisher Mort Zuckerman: “You’re darn right he is....No other country in history, I think, has expended as much treasure and blood to try and preserve democracy and freedom in the world.”...
Radio host Monica Crowley: “It is not an appropriate exercise of American presidential leadership. I am sick and tired of this man running down his country when he’s on foreign soil.”...
Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift: “He is saying things that the rest of the world says about us all the time....Until I came on this set, I heard nothing but rave reviews for this speech. I feel like I’m in a total parallel reality.”
— Talking about Obama’s speech to Muslims on the McLaughlin Group, June 6.

Listen to Palin, Gingrich, or “Stick Needles in Your Eyes”?

CNN’s Jack Cafferty: “Here’s the question: ‘Would you rather listen to a speech by Sarah Palin or a speech by Newt Gingrich?’ Go to CNN — or would you rather just stick needles in your eyes? [Over loud laughter off-camera from a man other than Cafferty, presumably Blitzer] Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile and you can post a comment on my blog. I forgot about the third option.”
Anchor Wolf Blitzer: “What do you think, Jack? You want to listen to Palin or Gingrich deliver a speech?”
Cafferty: “I’m not interested in listening to either one of them.”
— Exchange on CNN’s The Situation Room, June 9, talking about Palin and Gingrich’s appearance at a Republican fundraiser the previous evening. [Audio/video (0:34): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Sarah Palin “Is Very Much Like Herpes”

Ex-MSNBC anchor Dan Abrams: “Sarah Palin, to me, is like the representative of everything that’s gone wrong [for the Republican Party] lately.”
Comedian Chuck Nice: “Yeah, she’s a maverick!...And I’m going to say this, and please don’t take it the way it sounds. But, Sarah Palin to the GOP, this is what I’ve got to say: She is very much like herpes — she’s not going away. Okay? That’s it.”
— Exchange on NBC’s Today, June 9. [Audio/video (0:35): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Slamming “Hypocrite” Cheney for Daring to Oppose Obama

Anchor David Shuster: “In addition to criticizing Obama policies, Mr. Cheney also defended Bush administration actions, including the war in Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but Cheney said that didn’t matter.”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney: “I think it was a sound decision to make. I think it was an important part of our overall strategy in the global war on terror. I think it saved lives.”
Shuster: “It saved lives?...Your Iraq war inflamed the Muslim world, bred a new generation of terrorists who hate America and cost the lives of over 4,000 U.S. soldiers. When you of all people claim the Obama administration is making America less safe, that’s hypocrisy and it’s wrong.”
— “Hypocrisy Watch” segment during the 4pm ET hour of MSNBC Live, June 2. [Audio/video (0:36): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Sotomayor’s No Liberal — Even If She Says She Is

ABC national correspondent Claire Shipman: “I think it’s also hard when you look at [Supreme Court nominee Sonia] Sotomayor’s record and look at the cases, it’s very hard for people to make the case that she’s a typical, you know, elite liberal judicial philosopher. I mean, really, she’s not....”
Liberal Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Cynthia Tucker: “As Claire just said, her opinions don’t show — she is certainly liberal, she’s called herself ‘liberal’ — but she’s nobody’s knee-jerk radical.”
— ABC’s This Week, June 7. [Audio/video (0:20): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Sotomayor “Must Pay” for Telling “the Truth” about White Male Inferiority

“If you are not white, you have to be careful what you say. You cannot hint that you may actually know more than white people....Sotomayor told the truth in 2001, and now she must pay for it....She must do what nonwhite people have been taught to do in this country: She must watch her mouth.”
— Politico writer Roger Simon, a longtime correspondent for the Baltimore Sun and U.S. News & World Report, in a June 4 column about Sotomayor’s 2001 statement that “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male.”

Time Touts America’s Muppet-in-Chief

“It’s not just his age and mastery of the alphabet that make Obama the first Sesame Street President. The Obama presidency is a wholly American fusion of optimism, enterprise and earnestness — rather like the far-fetched proposal of 40 years ago to create a TV show that would prove that educational television need not be an oxymoron....Sesame Street’s genius lies in finding gentle ways to talk about hard things — death, divorce, danger — in terms that children understand and accept. The polls can tell a President what the American people want to hear, but after so many years of sandbox politics and childish games, there comes a time to grow up....Professor Obama has at least talked to us like we’re adults.”
— Time’s Nancy Gibbs writing in the magazine’s June 15 edition.

NBC Anchor’s Slam on Bush Too Much Even for Obama

NBC anchor Brian Williams: “You’re about to give a speech to the Muslim world, really, the tent pole of this big trip you’re embarking on. It’s been said it’s a speech that your predecessor perhaps could not have given constitutionally, given who he is, and could not have given because the attack came on his watch. Other than your personal style, what has changed to enable you to give this address?”
President Barack Obama: “Well, you know, I’m not sure that it’s true that President Bush couldn’t have given a speech in the Muslim world.”
— NBC Nightly News, June 2.

NBC Too Sycophantic Even For Liberal Moyers

PBS’s Bill Moyers: “NBC News this week delivered a candygram to the President — two prime time specials called Inside the Obama White House. President Obama couldn’t have asked for a sweeter salute....”
Clip of NBC’s Brian Williams: “People react strongly to this President. We’ve seen people moved to tears after just the briefest encounter with him.”
Moyers: “As for an exclusive revelation about your government from behind the White House’s closed doors, well, hold your breath, here it comes....”
Williams, from special: “There are apples everywhere. Orchards worth of them in bowls throughout the building. They are meant, of course, to promote healthy eating but what we saw more often is this: the West Wing may lead the western world in candy consumption.”
White House staffer, from special: “These are official White House M&Ms.”
Moyers: “Now, I’ve been there, done that and got the tie clip. I can tell you this is the kind of Valentine every White House press secretary yearns to hand the boss. And it’s not all that hard to achieve, because many of our watchdogs are as housebroken as Bo the White House puppy.”
— PBS’s Bill Moyers Journal, June 5.

NBC Suggests Bill O’Reilly Fed Abortionist’s Murder

NBC’s Janet Shamlian: “The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue denounced the killing, but today its founder, Randall Terry, fueled the fire.”
Randall Terry: “He [Dr. George Tiller] was a mass murderer. He sowed death. And then he reaped death in a horrifying way.”
Shamlian: “On the Internet, questions from critics of commentator Bill O’Reilly about his blunt remarks regarding abortion and Dr. Tiller.”
Clip of Bill O’Reilly from Fox News: “In the state of Kansas there is a doctor, George Tiller, who will execute babies for $5,000.”
— NBC Nightly News coverage of the murder of a doctor who performed late-term abortions, June 1.

50,000,000 Babies Aborted Since ’73 —  But Now It “Turns Deadly”?

“The abortion debate turns deadly. A doctor known for performing late-term abortions gunned down at church.”
— ABC’s Diane Sawyer teasing a segment on abortion doctor’s murder, June 1 Good Morning America. National Right to Life calculates 49,551,703 abortions have been performed in the U.S. since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

“Painful” Budget Cuts Because It’s “Virtually Impossible” to Raise Taxes

“His [Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger] proposed cuts would be extremely painful — $5 billion stripped from education, one million low-income children dropped from public health care, half a million families thrown off welfare, and hundreds of state parks closed, and that’s just the beginning. Education and social services continue to end up on the chopping block for one simple reason: In California, it’s a lot easier to make cuts than it is to raise taxes. Thirty years ago, voters passed Proposition 13, which required the approval of two-thirds of the legislature to raise taxes, a virtual impossibility.”
— ABC correspondent Laura Marquez on the June 2 World News with Charles Gibson.

“The Greatest President in History”

Actor Denis Leary: “I do have to say that I think that President Obama is the greatest President in the history of all of our Presidents, and that he can do no wrong in my book. So how’s that for prejudice on the Democratic side?”...
Fill-in host Joy Behar: “What do you think of Obama’s pick of Sotomayor?”
Leary: “Fantastic!”
Behar: “You love her?”
Leary: “Everything you ask me about President Obama I’m just going to say it’s the greatest thing ever. I love the guy!”
— Exchange on CNN’s Larry King Live, May 29. [Audio/video (0:27): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Ronald Reagan: The Cruel “Moses” of “Greedy White Men”

“I grew up in Los Angeles inner city — you never saw drugs or drive-bys or homeless people or anything like that. All the social programs that were cut as a result of Reagan coming into office and greed just became a hobby....I remember watching...him say people in America who are homeless are homeless because they want to be. That seemed to be one of the most — and I was a kid — I knew how cruel that was and I would never, you know, ascribe any level of greatness to somebody who would say, you know, if somebody’s hungry in America it’s because they’re on a diet. Like that, to me, made greedy white men feel good about being greedy white men. He was the kind of the Moses of leading them to feeling good about being greedy white men. So to me he wasn’t a great man.”
— Comedian and former CNN host D. L. Hughley on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, June 5. [Audio/video (1:17): Windows Media | MP3 audio]