If I had the lack of class and perspective that much of the
establishment media has, I would call them all hateful, moronic,
bigoted, murderous Stalinists.
Since I’m not, maybe I’ll just leave the “hateful” and
“moronic” in place.
Such reflections come as smoke pours from my ears after
considering this year’s ballot for the Media Research Center’s
invaluable, annual “Notable Quotable” awards for the year’s worst
reporting. The MRC asks about 40 conservative media folks each year
to judge the contest, providing choices in 17 different categories
such as the “Tea Party Terrorists Award” (for, yes, equating the
Tea Party with terrorists) and the Obamagasm Award (for gushing, in
chill-up-leg fashion, about how heroic the current Occupy the Oval
Office leader is). We each rank the three worst examples of bias
(or, worse, sheer hate directed at conservatives) in each category,
and then also vote for the (worst) Quote of the Year.
To show just how low the lickspittle Lilliputians of the
establishment media are, consider that none of the following
examples even made it into my votes for “worst three” examples in
any of those 17 categories. If these are the also-rans, just think
how bad the others are.
1) Salon’s Joan Walsh: “These
people, the Tea Partiers and their friends and their enablers and
their corporate friends like Dick Armey, they have created this
shrieking on the right…. They’re paying the lowest taxes in 50
years — more than 50 years, more than my lifetime — and they are
still complaining. And some of them aren’t complaining. There are
some good business people who know this game of chicken, in
particular, is deadly and it’s wrong and it’s hostage-taking. And
you shouldn’t negotiate with hostage-takers.
Host Chris Matthews: “I agree with you. I agree
with you. I agree. It’s terrorism.” — MSNBC’s
Hardball, July 5.
2) “I have a confession to make. I can describe the legal
arguments and the judicial conclusions, but on a fundamental level,
I just don’t get the attack on the federal law…. I don’t understand
the moral compass of the owner of the fancy car I saw the other day
that sported the bumper sticker: ‘Repeal ObamaCare.’” —
Longtime New York Times Supreme Court reporter
Linda Greenhouse in a column for the Times’ “Opinionator”
blog, Sept. 21.
3) “So when does SEAL Unite 6, or whatever it’s called,
drop in on George Bush? Bush was responsible for a lot more death,
innocent death, than bin Laden. Wasn’t he, or am I wrong here?”
— Left-wing radio host and former CNN producer Mike Malloy
on The Mike Malloy Show, May 2.
4) “The interesting question is: what is it about this
President that has stripped away the veneer of respect that
normally accompanies the office of the President? Why do
Republicans think this President is unpresidential —
unpresidential, and shouldn’t dare request this kind of thing? It
strikes me that it could be the economic times, it could be that he
won so big in 2008, or it could be, let’s face it, the color of his
skin.” — MSNBC political analyst and ex-Newsweek
reporter Richard Wolffe talking about the brief contretemps over
scheduling Obama’s speech to Congress, The Last Word,
August 31.
5) “Hardball is absolutely non-partisan.”
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews in an interview with
local Washington, D.C. host Carol Joynt, as quoted by The
Politico’s Patrick Gavin in a Dec. 9, 2010
article.
And, while these last two aren’t mainstream media, it’s
beyond contempt that the mainstream media gives a forum to such
people… In MRC’s category called “The Barbra Streisand Political IQ
Award” for Celebrity Vapidity, consider these:
1) “America’s full of such hatred in terms of politics,
and the politics of hate is so rampant. And now, the only kind of
minority that can really be dealt with in that way is the gay
population…. I think that the Tea Party have some very, very —
some quite sensible notions, actually, when — on paper. But also
that kind of seems to be an umbrella thing that just covers up a
lot of real homophobia and racism.” — Actor Alan Cumming,
who stars on CBS’ The Good Wife, on CNN’s Piers Morgan
Tonight, Sept. 22.
2) “The Scale of Right Wing sociopolitical sabotage
necessitates a Nuremberg-scale trial for all the corporate agents
and treasonous capitalisto-fascist architects of our democracy’s
current and most pressing misery. From the blatant Republican
policy doublespeak emanating from think-tank sponsored word doctors
to the outright obstruction and lies expectorated by Republican
congressional representatives and senators, the very concept of
governance can only be considered once the culprits are removed.
Driven to the real madness by unadulterated greed they have
embraced an ideology, the success of which hinges upon the very
ruin of this nation.” — Actor Steven Weber (from the 1990s
sitcom Wings) writing at the Huffington Post, October
24.
And now, as a special treat, I will let you, the readers,
help me select the Quote of the Year. I have particular criteria
for my QoY. For one thing, except in rare instances I rule out
entries in which the author/speaker self-identified it as opinion
journalism rather than straight news reporting. The opinions may be
more outrageous, but the journalistic sin is usually not as bad
(unless the opinion is just so disgustingly hateful, or so
cloyingly hero-worshipping of a leftist, that it shouldn’t be aired
at all). (Actually, I am breaking my rule here for an Obamagasm
entry, the first one below, because it’s so over-the-top. But if
you, the reader, consider this criterion important, you may
consider not voting for it for that reason.) For a second
consideration, if the ludicrous statement actually has a
demonstrable error of fact (in addition to obscene opinions), it
gets bonus points in my mind for worst of the year. Third, I never
use “celebrity vapidity” statements as my QoY, no matter how bad,
because they aren’t even claiming to be journalists. That said,
here are the three quotes to which I’ve narrowed down my choice
this year. I’ll explain this how you can help me vote at the
end:
1) “Can we just enjoy Obama for a moment? Before the
policy choices have to be weighed and the hard decisions have to be
made, can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we
might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the
early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any
other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years
from now, we’re going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll
in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating
president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph
to triumph…. ‘I am large, I contain multitudes,’ Walt Whitman
wrote, and Obama lives that lyrical prophecy…. Barack Obama is
developing into what Hegel called a ‘world-historical soul,’ an
embodiment of the spirit of the times. He is what we hope we can
be.” — Esquire’s Stephen Marche in a column for
the magazine’s August 11 issue, “How Can We Not Love Obama? Because
Like It or Not, He Is All of Us.”
2) “The House began debating a spending bill today that
cuts $833 million from the WIC nutrition program, which provides
healthy food to low-income women and children…. Now what was it
that Jesus said? ‘Give me your poor and needy, and I’ll tell them
to pound sand.’ That’s at least the Republican vision of Jesus.” —
Anchor Cenk Uygur during the 6 pmET hour of MSNBC News
Live, June 14.
3) “I get out of all of these things that many of these
candidates would rather take legislation to build a time machine
and go back in time to where we had, you know, no women voting,
slavery was cool. I mean, it’s just kind of ridiculous.” —
Daytime anchor Thomas Roberts on MSNBC Live, Sept. 23,
talking about the previous night’s GOP debate.
There. Those are my three finalists — although plenty of
others were close. Anyway, here’s how you can vote. Please, for
once, do NOT provide general comments to this column. Instead, if
you all will be nice and do this, just enter a one-word comment as
your vote: Either “Marche,” “Uygur,” or “Roberts,” for the author
of one of those three quotes. If I get at least 50 votes in the
comment section, and one of the entries wins by at least 5
percentage points while getting at least 40 percent of the overall
votes, I’ll put it on my ballot as the Quote of the Year.
(Otherwise, I’ll just pick from among those three myself.) How’s
that sound?
Meanwhile, the question presents itself: How do these some
of these spewmongers even consider themselves journalists? For that
matter, how do they even consider themselves to be decent human
beings?
