December 31, 2005, New York Post -- For 18 years,
the Media Research Center has been Madness of King George Award
"It's like [President Bush] stuck a broomstick in [FDR's] wheelchair wheels."
—Newsweek's Jon Meacham, on MSNBC, discussing Bush's criticism of Franklin
Roosevelt's Yalta deal with Stalin on post-WWII Europe 
compiling its list of "notable quotables."
The quotes, from prominent members of the mainstream news media, provide a clear
window into the leftist mindset that pervades most of America's large news
organizations. At year's end, the center (aided by a panel of judges) chooses
the "best" examples. As usual, this year's crop tellingly reveals the media's
perennial contempt for all things conservative. Actually, the winners more or
less explain themselves. (The full set of winners and finalists can be found at
the center's Web site, mrc.org.) Happy New Year!
The Kanye West Award
"The dilatory performance of George Bush during the past week [after Hurricane Katrina] has been outrageous. . . . The churchgoing cultural populism of George Bush has given the United States an administration that worries about the House of Saud and the welfare of oil companies while the poor drown in their attics and their sons and daughters die in foreign deserts."
—Former New York Times editor Howell Raines, writing in the Los Angeles
Times
Captain Dan the Forgery Man Award
"My principal problem was that I stuck by the [Memogate] story, I stuck by our people too long. I'm guilty of that. I believed in the story, and the facts of the story were correct. One supporting pillar of the story, albeit an important one, one supporting pillar was called into question. To this day, no one has proven whether it was purported to be or not. You know, I didn't give up on my people, our people. I didn't, and I won't. . . . The story was accurate."
—Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, interviewed by Marvin Kalb on C-SPAN
Crazy Chris Award for Left-Wing Lunacy
"Are you considering running for Congress, Cindy? . . . I have to tell you, you sound more informed that most U.S. Congresspeople, so maybe you should run."
—MSNBC's Chris Matthews to antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan on Hardball
Barbra Streisand Celebrity Vacuity Award
"I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food. . . . A lot of the people who could help are at war right now fighting another way, and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us. . . . George Bush doesn't care about black people."
— Rapper Kanye West during NBC's Concert for Hurricane Relief
Media Millionaire for Smaller Paychecks Award
"For years we have cut our taxes, cut our taxes and let the infrastructure throughout the country go, and this [Katrina damage] is just the first of a number of other crumbling things that are going to happen to us. . . . I'm not kidding."
— National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg, on Inside Washington
Politics of Meaninglessness Award
"It's been 11 days since two African-American teenagers were killed, electrocuted during a police chase, which prompted all of this."
—CNN anchor Carol Lin on the French riots. The two teens were French
citizens of Tunisian origin, not Americans
What Liberal Media? Award
"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our
time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the
Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in
the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the
bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose
interest is the American people." —Former PBS host Bill Moyers, quoted by the
Associated Press
Oh, That Liberal Media Award
Newsweek's Evan Thomas: "Is this attack [on public broadcasting's budget] going to make NPR a little less liberal?"
NPR's Nina Totenberg: "I don't think we're liberal to begin with, and I think if you would listen, Evan, you would know that."
Thomas: "I do listen to you, and you're not that liberal, but you're a little bit liberal." — Exchange on "Inside Washington"
'Baghdad Bob' Was Right Award
"I think there's going to be a bloodbath on Sunday. . . . All over the place, especially in Baghdad and a few other cities." —Fox News Channel's Steve Harrigan,
just back from Iraq, two days before Iraq's largely peaceful election
Quote of the Year
CBS "Memogate" producer Mary Mapes: "I'm perfectly willing to believe those documents are forgeries if there's proof I haven't seen."
ABC's Brian Ross: "But isn't it the other way around? Don't you have to prove they're authentic?"
Mapes: "Well, I think that's what critics of the story would say. . . . I think they have not been proved to be false yet."
Ross: "Have they proved to be authentic, though? Isn't that really what journalists do?"
Mapes: "No, I don't think that's the standard."
—Exchange on Good Morning America
Decisions 08's Jackass of the Year here
