The June 13 edition of MRC’s Notable Quotables has now been posted over at www.MRC.org, showcasing the most outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes from the liberal media over the past two weeks. This edition features: CNN’s Piers Morgan snootily slamming the Tea Party as “not the brightest” and perhaps similar to the mobs Hitler and Mussolini employed in the 1930s; MSNBC’s Martin Bashir seriously arguing that Sarah Palin is a criminal because of the American flag painted on the side of her tour bus; and news reporters fretting over Weinergate, worried that President Obama might lose a “very important" left-wing critic now that a “rising star” of the Left has become tainted by scandal.
The entire package (including four videos) is posted at www.MRC.org (click here for the nicely-formatted three-page PDF); here are some of the highlights:
CNN Host: Tea Partiers Not Bright, Like Hitler’s Mobs?
Host Piers Morgan: “Where is the similar mob to Mussolini’s and Hitler’s in the modern democratic era?...The Tea Party?”
Ann Coulter: “No. No, no, no.”
Morgan: “The nearest thing to it in America?”
— CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, June 7.
Piers Morgan: “Are you wild about them?...The Tea Party?”...
Ann Coulter: “Oh, yeah, I love them.”
Morgan: “See, I don’t really get that....I don’t get that because you’re a smart cookie.”
Coulter: “So are the Tea Partiers!”
Morgan: “What do people think about you? You’re intelligent. You live a provocative life.”
Coulter: “I believe you’re insulting the Tea Partiers.”
Morgan: “Well, they’re not among the brightest of spellers, are they?”
— Exchange a few moments later on the same program.
Palin’s Painted Flag a “Breach of Federal Law”
“The whole thing [Sarah Palin’s bus tour] could be in breach of a federal law, because the United States Flag Code establishes important rules for the use and display of the Stars and Stripes, the flag of the United States. Under standards of respect and etiquette, it’s made clear that the flag of the United States should never be used for any advertising purpose whatsoever. Yet that’s precisely what Sarah Palin is doing. She’s using the flag of the United States for her own financial purposes. She drapes herself in the Stars and Stripes and makes millions of dollars in the process. This has got nothing to do with the presidency and everything to do with filling her pockets.”
— MSNBC’s Martin Bashir on his 3pm ET Martin Bashir, May 31.
Fretting Obama Will Lose a Vital Critic from the Left
Anchor Scott Pelley: “Help us understand why Congressman Weiner matters.”
Correspondent Nancy Cordes: “Well, Scott, he holds kind of a unique position in the Democratic caucus. You know, the President has a lot of critics on the right but Weiner is one of his most outspoken critics on the left wherever liberals feel that the President is straying too far from their principles in the pursuit of compromise. It’s unclear how well he’s really going to be able to perform that role now, a role that even the President has said is very important.”
— CBS Evening News, June 6.
First Reaction to Weiner’s X-Rated Tweet: Let’s Smear a Conservative
“In his defense, I think we do need to point out that the person behind this is Andrew Breitbart, who has made a practice of targeting Democrats — Shirley Sherrod most notoriously of all. And his stories tend to fall apart on close inspection.”
— CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Anderson Cooper 360, May 31.
“Look, Breitbart is a proven liar, okay? He doctored the Shirley Sherrod tapes. He’s done this over and over again. Why would anybody take this fool seriously?”
— 6pm ET anchor Cenk Uygur on MSNBC News Live, June 1.
Obviously, “Somebody Is Out to Get” Anthony Weiner
Co-host Joy Behar: “But, Barbara, couldn’t he be fully clothed almost and then they photocopy it and put it like that?”
Co-host Barbara Walters: “Somebody has to go to a lot of effort to get you in trouble.”
Behar: “Well, somebody is out to get him, apparently, ‘cause they don’t like his politics.”
— Exchange on ABC’s The View, June 2.
“Weinergate” Just Another Opportunity to Smear Clarence Thomas
“Know who’s probably loving #Weinergate? Clarence Thomas. In fact, given his porn affinity, I’m surprised Weiner hasn’t blamed the Justice.”
— Politico reporter Ken Vogel in a June 1 Twitter posting about the Weiner scandal.
Pro-Growth Policies = “Oligarchy” of the “Very Wealthy”
“Well, he’s serious in that he’s pandering to the segment of the Republican Party, the very wealthy, by basically letting them off the hook for any responsibility. They’re interested in buying back a government. And so he is out there trying to see to it that he is the one where they shower all their wealth on, so he can turn around then and lead the government and be the person who heads their oligarchy.”
— Former CNN correspondent Bob Franken on MSNBC News Live, June 8, talking about Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty’s proposal to cut tax rates to spur economic growth.
Grew Up Worshipping at the Altar of the Gray Lady
“Ms. Abramson said that as a born-and-raised New Yorker, she considered being named editor of the Times to be like ‘ascending to Valhalla.’ ‘In my house growing up, the Times substituted for religion,’ she said. ‘If the Times said it, it was the absolute truth.’”
— From a June 2 NYTimes.com story by managing editor Jeremy Peters, quoting newly-named New York Times editor Jill Abramson. In the paper’s June 3 print edition, the second half of the quote was removed from Peters’ front-page story.
