It was a challenging task, but an esteemed panel led by MRC President David Bozell and MRC’s Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker, which included NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham, MRC Director of Media Analysis Geoffrey Dickens and NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck, boiled down all the biased outbursts from lefty hack hosts, anchors, reporters and pundits in 2025 and declared a winner.
This year the winner is Matthew Dowd!
The ex-MSNBC contributor won for his despicable take in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Dowd speculated that the shooter might have been a Kirk “supporter shooting off their gun in celebration” and went on to disparage the TPUSA founder as a “divisive” figure who pushed “hate speech.” Dowd - who was fired - also seemed to blame Kirk: “hateful words….lead to hateful actions.”
Without further ado, here is the winner (followed by the top runners-up):
WINNER
“We don’t know the full details of this. We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration or — so, we have no idea about this. But following up on what was just said, he’s [Charlie Kirk] been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this who has constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups and I always go back to hateful thoughts, lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that’s the environment we’re in that, that people just — you can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place and that’s the unfortunate environment we’re in.”
— Contributor Matthew Dowd on MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports, September 10.
The following is a montage of all the nominees:
FIRST RUNNER-UP
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
— Host Jimmy Kimmel on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September 15.
SECOND RUNNER-UP
“When South Africa got over apartheid, did they just go back to their Afrikaner racist constitution….No! They threw the whole thing out and started again….and they came up with a new constitution. It’s one of the reasons why the South African constitution is generally thought of as one of the best constitutions in the world and ours continues to be a piece of crap.”
— The Nation justice correspondent Elie Mystal on the syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club, April 3.
THIRD RUNNER-UP
“It’s very clear that if it [CBS canceling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert] is political, this is the dismantling of our democracy. This is the dismantling of our Constitution….If the comedians are being attacked, then that means our Constitution is being dismantled.”
— Co-host Sunny Hostin on ABC’s The View, July 22.
