Now online: the July 14 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, former ABC News political director Mark Halperin blurts the truth about the media's neglect of the IRS scandal: "With a different administration, one that was a Republican administration, this story would be a national obsession."
But two days later, NBC News political director Chuck Todd suggested it was all a Republican ploy: "Are there any actual real victims?" while a longtime White House correspondent insists the press corps "would be galloping after" the IRS story if there was only "proof of a crime." Highlights are posted after the jump; the entire issue is posted online, with 20 quotes at www.MRC.org.
If GOP Ruled, IRS Scandal “Would Be a National Obsession”
“[The IRS scandal is] a test for the media....[When] any government agency, particularly one as powerful as the IRS, engages in something that even people sympathetic to the administration say looks weird and suspicious, it’s incumbent upon on all of the national media to aggressively ask more questions. The Republicans in Congress are asking questions. I think with a different administration, one that was a Republican administration, this story would be a national obsession.”
— MSNBC and Time magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin, formerly the political director for ABC News, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, June 23.
Mocking IRS’s Targeting of Tea Party: “Are There Any Actual Real Victims?”
“Here is the story many are missing: Why should primarily political organizations get a taxpayer exemption, basically get a handout from the tax code?...So while the IRS is certainly not a good guy here — they have been terrible about being forthcoming — are there any actual real victims?...We know what really is working here for Republicans. Beating up the IRS, good for the base. Good politics there makes for great fundraising e-mails. But let’s remember what the controversy itself is about.”
— NBC News political director and chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd’s “Takeaway” on his daily 9am ET MSNBC show The Daily Rundown, June 25.
If Only Some “Proof,” Journalists Would “Be Galloping After” IRS Story
“All these hearings, all these investigations — where’s the proof of the crime? Howie, this morning, there were 100,000 stories on Google News about the IRS investigation. There’s a welter of coverage... but there’s no proof of a crime. And the coverage reflects that. Every journalist in town would love if there was proof of a scandal, they would be galloping after it. They’re not trying to protect President Obama. That’s over.”
— Sirius-XM Press Pass radio host Julie Mason, a former White House correspondent for the Houston Chronicle, Washington Examiner and Politico.com, on the June 29 edition of FNC’s MediaBuzz.
A Truly “Welcoming” America Would Not Protest Illegals
ABC reporter David Wright: “This week, protesters here [in Murrieta, CA] blocked several busloads of undocumented immigrants. They hoped to do so again today, but the anti-immigrant protesters were outnumbered three to one, and, so far, the buses haven’t come....Today, at a ceremony for new citizens in Washington, D.C., the President made no mention of the anger across the Southwest.”
President Obama: “The basic idea of welcoming immigrants to our shores is central to our way of life. It is in our DNA.”
Wright: “But it sure doesn’t look that way in Murrieta. David Wright, ABC News, Los Angeles.”
— ABC’s World News, July 4.
“When you see the footage of these furious crowds yelling ‘Go home, go home,’ I think it brings — I will say personally, I found it to be a shameful moment to be an American, to see people treated like that, people who are seeking a new day here in America.”
— Host Alex Wagner on MSNBC’s Now with Alex Wagner, July 2.
Now That It’s Obama, MSNBC Decides Impeachment = “Treason”
Fill-in host Michael Eric Dyson: “The President is acutely aware of the dire situation facing the children and their families crossing into the United States, as evidenced by his tireless effort to help them. The President’s push towards positive and crucial change was met with treasonous accusations.”
Clip of Sarah Palin: “The tipping point in this drive towards impeachment for me has been the illegal immigration issue, the crisis created by Obama.”
— MSNBC’s The Ed Show, July 9.
vs.
“Mr. Bush, our presence in Iraq must end, even if it means your resignation, even if it means your impeachment.”
— Then-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann on Countdown, September 4, 2007.
Fawning Over Kerry and His Hollywood “Bromance”
Secretary of State Kerry, laughing: “It’s the angle. It’s not a fair angle.”
— Profiling Kerry on NBC’s Today, June 20.
Ex-Correspondents Agree: Media Have Been Helping Obama
“I think to some degree they [journalists] have been played by propaganda interests who suggest that if these stories are covered they are simply phony scandals and Republican-generated, which they’re not, in my opinion. From a neutral viewpoint, there are many important questions to be asked and implications here. But the propaganda campaign says that if you’re interested in the story you’re a conservative and a right-wing nut. And media should not be swayed by that, but I think to some degree they are.”
— Former CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson on FBN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight, June 19, talking about the lack of coverage of Obama’s various scandals.
“Overall, the mainstream media has been less eager to hold this administration accountable than it was to hold the Bush administration accountable.”
— Former NBC News investigative correspondent Lisa Myers in a soundbite played in a story on NPR’s Morning Edition, July 7.
To read the entire July 14 edition of Notable Quotables, please visit www.MRC.org.
