MRC's Notable Quotables: Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

Now online: the October 20 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, with the first confirmed cases of Ebola in America, CNN's Van Jones urges Democrats to exploit the issue: "We've got to get our base going....This Ebola thing is the best argument you can make for the kind of government that we believe in."

But when Republicans criticize the Obama administration's response, journalists sneer. "This is the politics of fear. It's irresponsible," chastised MSNBC's Craig Melvin. Highlights are posted after the jump; the entire issue is posted online, with 21 quotes (five with video) at www.MRC.org.

Democrats Should Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste...

“Well, we’ve got to get our base going. The other thing, too, is that we can’t let the Republicans get away with some of the stuff they’re doing this week, just trying to bash Obama. Hey, you know, government is always your enemy until you need a friend. This Ebola thing is the best argument you can make for the kind of government that we believe in.”
— CNN Crossfire co-host Van Jones on ABC’s This Week, October 5.

...But It’s “Irresponsible” When Republicans Mention Ebola

“Republican Senate candidates from Georgia’s David Perdue, who called the Ebola response ‘government incompetence at the highest levels,’ to South Dakota’s Mike Rounds, who said it’s ‘the latest example of how White House inaction is putting all of us at risk,’ to Iowa’s Joni Ernst calling for travel restrictions or a total travel ban.... Now, Mark, this is the politics of fear. It’s irresponsible. But, will it work?”
— Fill-in anchor Craig Melvin to NBC News senior political editor Mark Murray on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, October 16.

GOP Candidate Peddling “Nightmarish Ball of Fear”

“He [Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown] shouldn’t be in the race. She [Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen] should be clobbering him. It’s only a race because he’s kind of the test bed for fear-mongering among Republican candidates....Now he’s on both ISIS and Ebola, and he’s rolling it up into one sort of nightmarish ball of fear that he’s trying to sell to New Hampshirites.”
— The Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman on The Tony Kornheiser Show, a Washington, D.C.-area sports radio show, October 15.

Media Rush to Defend Obama from Panetta’s Tell-All

“There are those who say, you know, he appointed you to two of the highest positions that this country has to offer, just wait until he’s out of office before criticizing.”
— Host Charlie Rose to Panetta on PBS’s Charlie Rose, October 7.

“I loved your last question because some people would say, what about loyalty to the President? The question that you raised. Interesting time for that book to come out now.”
— Co-host Gayle King to Rose on CBS This Morning, October 8, after watching a clip of his interview of Panetta.

“Seriously, this is just unbecoming of a supposed, quote, ‘wise man.’ I can’t imagine — I personally cannot imagine me undercutting a Commander-in-Chief that I worked for as Secretary of Defense with a tell-all book in a time of war. I can’t imagine it. It shows a lack of discretion, I think, at least. But unfortunately, more likely, it shows a lack of character.”
— Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, October 9.

 

Obama = “One of the Most Successful Presidents in History”

“Despite bitter opposition, despite having come close to self-inflicted disaster, Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history....I don’t care about the fact that Obama hasn’t lived up to the golden dreams of 2008, and I care even less about his approval rating. I do care that he has, when all is said and done, achieved a lot. That is, as Joe Biden didn’t quite say, a big deal.”
— New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writing the cover story for the October 23 edition of Rolling Stone, “In Defense of Obama.”

Slamming Clarence Thomas’s “18th Century” Views

“It has been an eventful nine terms for the Court and its chief. Samuel A. Alito Jr., Justice O’Connor’s eventual replacement, is well to her right and has provided Chief Justice Roberts with a reliable if narrow majority for the court’s steady regression on race and its deregulatory hijacking of the First Amendment....In contrast to Justice Scalia’s ‘my way or the highway’ and Justice Clarence Thomas’s full-steam-back-to-the-18th-century, Chief Justice Roberts is adept at modulating both his tone and his ambitions to fit the situation at hand.”
— Longtime New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse writing at nytimes.com, October 1.

Bill Clinton’s Hands Are “Like the Paintbrushes of Picasso”

Co-host Mark Halperin: “The wagging finger.”
Co-host John Heilemann: “That’s a great way to start it....The hands, they’re like the paintbrushes of Picasso. He just uses them as an artistic expression mode....The thing about Clinton is, everybody thinks he’s a great improviser, and he is a great improviser, but he also hones these speeches....He’s like a great editor in addition to being a great spontaneous orator.”
— On Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect, October 7, watching a clip of Clinton campaigning in Arkansas.

“The Greatest Threat to Civilization”

Co-host Joe Scarborough: “What’s a greater threat to civilization, Christian extremism, Jewish extremism or Muslim extremism?
NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin: “To civilization?...I would not say any of those. I would not say radical Islam is the greatest threat to civilization today.”
Scarborough: “What is?”
New York Times political reporter Nicholas Confessore: “Global warming.”
— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, October 6.

Let’s Give “Handsome” Obama “All the Power He Needs”

“I am one of your biggest fans, if not the biggest, and have been since the inception of your campaign....It would be wonderful if we were able to give this man all of the power that he needs to pass the things that he needs to pass...You’re so handsome that I can’t speak properly.”
— Actress Gwyneth Paltrow introducing President Obama at an Oct. 9 DNC fundraiser held at her L. A. home.

To read the entire October 20 edition of Notable Quotables, please visit www.MRC.org.