Notable Quotables: Do the Media Really Hate Hillary Clinton?

March 23rd, 2015 8:55 AM

Now online: the March 23 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, the New York Times laughably claims Hillary's "toughest foe" in 2016 will be the news media, even as CBS anchor Scott Pelley scoffs at the media "hyperventilating" over the ex-Secretary of State's e-mail scandal.

Plus, the media rampage against Republican "traitors" after Senators point out they have a Constitutional role in approving treaties; and journalists have a sour reaction to the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Highlights are posted below; the entire issue is posted online, with 24 quotes at www.MRC.org.

Media Haters vs. Hillary Clinton

“Early in 2016 Race, Clinton’s Toughest Foe Appears to Be the News Media”
— Headline over New York Times reporter Patrick Healy’s March 12 story.

“The media, they hate her the most, okay? More than my party. They hate her. And even the most respected journalists said, you know, ‘Oh, the Clintonian penchant for secrecy is back.’ They have Clinton PTSD from the last Clinton presidency. They are done with her.”
— Co-host Nicolle Wallace, an ex-GOP campaign strategist, on ABC’s The View, March 11.

vs.

“If you were a man, today, would all of this fuss being made be made?”
— Turkish television journalist Kahraman Haliscelik tossing out the first question to Hillary Clinton at her March 10 press conference about her e-mail scandal.


Dismissing Hillary’s E-Mail Scandal: “What Difference Does It Make?”

“Well, it’s one of those stories that gets Washington hyperventilating. Today, Hillary Clinton explained why she used private e-mail to conduct official business as Secretary of State....John, the partisans are going to believe what they want to believe. There’s no chance any minds were changed there today, so what difference does any of this make in Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination?”
— Anchor Scott Pelley’s introduction and later question to CBS News political director John Dickerson on the March 10 CBS Evening News.


But a Wannabe Hillary Voter Feels “Deflated”

“A lot of people that I know, and myself included, are not likely to vote for a conservative Republican come 20 months from now. But, you know, a lot of our readers are in that camp, and they want Hillary Clinton to be the best Hillary Clinton she can be....To see a deflating spectacle, like we saw at the press conference, just one second, it just brings back a lot of bad memories....”
The New Yorker editor David Remnick on ABC’s This Week, March 15.


Rampaging Against Republican “Traitors”

47 Republican U.S. Senators engaged in treachery by sending a letter to the mullahs aimed at cutting the legs out from under America’s commander-in-chief....The participants represented the bulk of the Republicans’ 54-member senatorial majority, vesting their petulant, condescending stunt with the coloration of an institutional foreign policy statement. They are an embarrassment to the Senate and to the nation.”
— From a March 10 New York Daily News editorial, headlined on the tabloid’s front page with: “TRAITORS.”


Iran’s Mullahs = The “Voice of Reason”?

“The whole thing is just nuts. It is just nuts. And, you know, the Iranians sound like a voice of reason in this whole thing by saying, you know, this whole thing is silly.”
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson on MSNBC’s The Last Word, March 11.


Sneering at Senator Cotton: Who’s Next, North Korea?

“Well, Senator, are you planning to contact any other of our adversaries around the country [sic]? For example, do you plan to check with the North Koreans to make sure that they know that any deal has to be approved by the Congress?”
— Bob Schieffer to GOP Senator Tom Cotton on CBS’s Face the Nation, March 15.

Co-host Mika Brzezinski: “I loved Bob Schieffer’s question. That absolutely crystallizes the stupidity and really, like, the toddler-like quality that exists in the Senate.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough: “Toddler? Toddler-like quality?”
Brzezinski: “He’s a toddler. He’s a toddler. Yes, he is.”
Scarborough: “No, no. He’s a United States Senator who-”
Brzezinski: “Who has made himself into a fool.”
— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, March 16.


Media in Distress after Netanyahu Wins Another Term

“After a bruising campaign focused on his failings, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel seemed to emerge from Tuesday’s elections in the best position to form a new government, though he offended many voters and alienated allies in the process....It remained to be seen how his divisive — some said racist — campaign tactics would affect his ability to govern a fractured Israel.”
New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren in a March 18 front-page article.

“Netanyahu’s hard-line rhetoric helps him win re-election, but at a price....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection to a fourth term will likely bring new tension between Israel and the United States....Palestinian leaders said that Netanyahu’s campaign was based on racism and apartheid.”
CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, March 18.


Scolding Israel’s “Racist” Right Wing

“Israeli Arabs, citizens of the country, 1.7 million of them, as this parliamentarian told me, have been incredibly motivated in this election and they want to get out and try to better their lives, but they’re very conscious, as one of them — as this one told me, that they feel that the Likud Party and the right wing do have a sort-of racist policy towards them and it’s very scary for them.”
— CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on The Lead with Jake Tapper, March 17.


Giving Speech to Congress = Act of Betrayal?

“Why should President Obama trust you when you came to Congress to lobby against his negotiations with Iran?”
— NBC’s Andrea Mitchell to Netanyahu in an interview shown on the NBC Nightly News, March 19.


Empathizing with Obama: “Are You a Masochist?”

“Whenever I do an environmental piece, out come the ‘bots,’ out come the ‘eggs,’ you know, on Twitter, because there’s all kinds of negative stuff that they want to cause doubt. That’s everyday for you. How do you do it? How do you handle the controversies, the negativity? Why be President? Are you a masochist?”
— Vice News founder Shane Smith to President Obama in an interview posted March 16.


To read the entire March 23 edition of Notable Quotables, please visit www.MRC.org.