MRC's Notable Quotables: Bashing Paul Ryan, 'Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver'

The Media Research Center is out with its latest edition of Notable Quotables, our bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. There's no subtlety in the latest batch of quotes, as liberal journalists greeted newly-minted GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan by screeching about how he will supposedly “slash” the federal budget, slamming him as a “zombie-eyed granny starver” who would “rain misery upon the heads of millions of Americans.” Meanwhile, MSNBC ramped up the hysteria about a potential repeal of ObamaCare, insisting that if Mitt Romney is elected, “a lot of people will die.”

Some of the choicest quotes and videos are after the jump; read the entire issue at MRC.org, or sign up for automatic e-mail delivery every two weeks.

Journalists Falsely Portray Paul Ryan as Budget “Slasher”

“New battle lines have been drawn after Mitt Romney chose conservative Congressman and budget slasher Paul Ryan as his running mate.”
— Co-host Bianna Golodryga on ABC’s Good Morning America, August 12.

“The selection of Ryan, the architect of a politically polarizing budget plan to slash trillions in federal funding, including cuts to Medicare, has set a clear contrast between the two tickets.”
— NBC’s Peter Alexander on Today, August 13.

“He really slashes into social programs, and — I mean, it’s across the board — in order to try to get this budget back into balance.”
— Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer on CBS This Morning, August 13. Under Ryan’s budget, federal spending actually increases, albeit at a slower rate than under Obama, from $3.6 to $4.9 trillion, over the next 10 years.
 

A “Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver,” “Screwing” the Poor

“When he comes out with his budget that basically gives a great break to the richest people in the country, and really screws the people who desperately need Medicare and programs like that? What do you ask him? ‘How can you do this? How can you reward rich people, who already have all these breaks in this country, and hurt the people that have no breaks?’”
— Host Chris Matthews to Rep. Chris van Hollen (D-MD) on Hardball, August 11, just hours after Ryan was selected as the Republican vice presidential nominee. [MP3 audio (0:26)]

“In his decision to make Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin, his running mate, Romney finally surrendered the tattered remnants of his soul not only to the extreme base of his party, but also to extremist economic policies, and to an extremist view of the country he seeks to lead...Paul Ryan is an authentically dangerous zealot. He does not want to reform entitlements. He wants to eliminate them.... He is a smiling, aw-shucks murderer of opportunity, a creator of dystopias in which he never will have to live.”
— Esquire’s Charles Pierce, a former Boston Globe Magazine writer, in an August 11 posting, “Paul Ryan: Murderer of Opportunity, Political Coward, Candidate for Vice President of the United States.”

“I’d been wondering how long it would take Republicans to realize that Paul Ryan is their guy....Who better to rain misery upon the heads of millions of Americans? He’s Scrooge disguised as a Pickwick, an ideologue disguised as a wonk. Not since Ronald Reagan tried to cut the budget by categorizing ketchup and relish as vegetables has the G.O.P. managed to find such an attractive vessel to mask harsh policies with a smiling face....Ryan should stop being so lovable. People who intend to hurt other people should wipe the smile off their faces.”
— New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, August 15.
 

Chris Gets Giddy Over Nasty “Granny Off the Cliff” Ad

“Let me show you the ad that I have to like the most in this campaign. It’s an ad that has a familiar look to it. Let’s take a look at the granny off the cliff ad for a second....Here is a party that believes this stuff: Incentivize the rich, screw the poor, and screw older people who don’t have much to defend themselves with. It is true. It’s not just party rhetoric. It is true.”
— Chris Matthews to Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) on Hardball, August 13, talking about an ad showing a Ryan lookalike pushing an elderly woman off a cliff. [MP3 audio (1:29)]

Typical MSNBC Subtlety: Vote for Romney and “a Lot of People Will Die”

“What the press should be focused on is what are the consequences of repeal of ObamaCare. And the consequences, as Mike [Kinsley] just indicated, are death. Repeal equals death. People will die in the United States if ObamaCare is repealed. That is not an exaggeration. That is not crying fire. It’s a simple fact....They [the Obama campaign] need to move on to a debate about the main issue, which is ObamaCare. And they can bring death into the conversation and say, ‘No, we’re not calling Mitt Romney a murderer. What we are saying is that if he’s elected President, a lot of people will die.’”
— Former Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter, now an MSNBC political analyst, on The Ed Show, August 9.
 

Ryan Could Be “More Trouble than Tom Eagleton”

“This guy could be worse than Quayle, more trouble than Tom Eagleton, because this time, the presidential candidate and his team knew the weakness, saw the trouble they were walking into before they walked into it. And that’s not the best argument for Mr. Romney’s business acumen. This may be the worst merger since AOL bought Time Warner.”
— Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, August 14. In 1972, Eagleton was replaced after 18 days as George McGovern’s running mate for failing to disclose his history with mental illness. [MP3 audio (0:34)]
 

We Need a Moderator Who’ll Spread Liberal Feminist Talking Points

“Romney wants to make abortions illegal, he wants to kill Planned Parenthood, he wants to repeal health care on day one — this election in particular has so many issues that matter not just to women, but to families. It’s critically important that a woman be a moderator, and be able to ask woman questions, family questions.”
— Ex-ABC News anchor and 1992 debate moderator Carole Simpson, as quoted by Politico’s Dylan Byers, August 10.

Excusing Joe Biden’s “He’ll Put Ya’ll in Chains” Attack

Host Chris Matthews: “Obviously it was reference to slavery, historically. But I think of all of the code they have used on the other side about food stamps and welfare and welfare queens and all, it seems to be that’s a negative reference to slavery and to black folk. Whereas Biden, maybe he is trying too hard to get the support of black people, but he’s not using negative slurs in doing it. He is making a historic reference, he may not have been right to do. But it certainly wasn’t malignant like the other stuff we get. That’s my view. What’s yours?”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Cynthia Tucker: “Well, not only was it not malignant, Chris, I’m not even sure it had any, anything to do with race.”
— MSNBC’s Hardball, August 15. [MP3 audio (0:49)]
 

Times Touts Obama’s Criticism of Media’s “False Balance”“While former President George W. Bush and his aides liked to say they ignored the Fourth Estate, Mr. Obama is an avid consumer of political news and commentary. But in his informal role as news media critic in chief, he developed a detailed critique of modern news coverage that he regularly expresses to those around him....In private meetings with columnists, he has talked about the concept of ‘false balance’ — that reporters should not give equal weight to both sides of an argument when one side is factually incorrect. He frequently cites the coverage of health care and the stimulus package as examples, according to aides familiar with the meetings.”
— New York Times correspondent Amy Chozick, August 8.

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