Notable Quotables: Claiming Decades of 'Very Negative' Hillary Coverage?

May 2nd, 2016 9:00 AM

Posted below: the May 2 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This issue: Hillary Clinton has had to endure a decades long “negative relationship” with the media. 

Meanwhile, Barack Obama was acclaimed as “Mt. Rushmore great.” Over on HBO, Bill Maher called the U.S. military a “mass murder machine.” The complete issue, with 24 quotes is posted below.
 

 
 

MSNBC Sees Decades of “Very Negative” Hillary Coverage...

MSNBC national correspondent Joy Reid: “She has run, essentially, for the last 20 years against — with the media in her face, right? She has run against the wind, against the tide of coverage....”
Chris Matthews: “You think the media is biased against Hillary Clinton?”
Reid: “I think the media has a very negative relationship with Hillary Clinton and has done for 30-plus years.”
— Exchange during MSNBC’s live coverage of the April 19 New York primary.


...Even as Times Touts Hillary in New York: “Love Rekindled”

“She danced the merengue in Washington Heights. She slammed down a mean game of dominoes in East Harlem. And in the East Village the day before the New York primary, Hillary Clinton broke her long-held rule of not eating in front of the news media by digging into an ice cream concoction named the Victory....She wiggled her shoulders and threw up her arms when she bested a trio of men playing dominoes at the complex’s recreation center. ‘You play good! Oh, my God,’ one of the men exclaimed. ‘I’m taking dominoes to the White House!’ a swaggering Mrs. Clinton replied.”
— Amy Chozick in April 20 New York Times article “Democratic Primary Triumph Is a Story of Love Rekindled.”


ABC Salutes Hillary’s Long Career, “Fighting for Others”

“We went into the GMA vault and found your first appearance here on Good Morning America in 1988....You were speaking out about your lawyer and talking about equality and such....For as long as we can remember, seeing you in the spotlight, and you have been fighting for others.”    
— Co-host Robin Roberts to Clinton at a town hall event on ABC’s Good Morning America, April 21.


Pressure for Bernie to Fall in Line: “You Guys Are Helping the Republicans”

“Hillary Clinton is most likely to be about 90 percent of the way there on delegates after tonight. You and I talked on Sunday, and I asked you if you would do for her what she did for President Obama back in 2008 — after she lost, she campaigned hard for him....Are you prepared to give her your unconditional support...?”
— Co-host George Stephanopoulos to Bernie Sanders on ABC’s Good Morning America, April 26.

“Do you need to have a change in tone? The Clinton campaign is furious over what they call false character attacks from your campaign leading up to New York....You guys are basically helping Republicans here.”
— Co-host Kate Bolduan to Sanders campaign aide Tad Devine on CNN’s At This Hour, April 20.


Anchors Upbraid Trump for Daring to Doubt Hillary’s Greatness

“You are getting a lot of buzz, also, about those comments you made about Hillary Clinton last night. ‘If Hillary were a man I don’t think she’d get five percent of the vote.’ What exactly did you mean by that? It struck a lot of your critics as sexist.”
— ABC’s George Stephanopoulos to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Good Morning America, April 27.

“Do you understand why people find that to be kind of a demeaning comment?” 
— Co-host Savannah Guthrie asking Trump about the same comment, NBC’s Today, April 28.


Scoffing at Hillary’s E-Mail Scandal: It’s a “Stupid Issue”

“What irritates people about Hillary Clinton, which is basically she was trying to have it both ways — and trying to have it both ways not on a stupid issue about e-mails, but on an important policy issue....”    
— CBS Face the Nation host John Dickerson on Slate’s “Political Gabfest” podcast, April 22. 


Barack Obama, a “Mt. Rushmore Great” President

“Wait. One of the Greatest?...Like 20-Dollar Bill great? Like Mount Rushmore great? Yep. (We just won’t build Mount Rushmores anymore.) In so many ways, Obama was better than we imagined, better than the body politic deserved, and far, far better than his enemies will ever concede....We’ll look back at history, hopefully when we’re zooming down the Barack Obama Hyperloop Transport System, and think: That man was rare. And we were damn lucky to have him.”
GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson in an April 14 online article “Why Obama Will Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents of All Time: Already missing our soon-to-be-former POTUS.”


Ted Cruz’s Media Fan Club

“How did you guys find such an unlikable opponent as Ted Cruz?...These people that Trump is able to find as his opponents, his bête noires, are all less popular and less impressive than he is.”
— Host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, April 20.

“I don’t think [Carly] Fiorina is a good pick [as Ted Cruz’s running mate], but she does balance the ticket by being able to smile like a human.”
— April 27 tweet by Business Insider editor and New York Times contributor Josh Barro.

“Makes me sad for Lucifer.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch TV critic Gail Pennington in an April 28 tweet, reacting to former House Speaker John Boehner’s comment that Cruz is “Lucifer in the flesh.”


Republicans Only Voting for Trump “Because He’s a White Guy”

“Look, people are only voting for Donald Trump, most of his supporters are only voting for him because he’s a white guy. And frankly, if he were a woman or if he were, I don’t know, let’s pick — Latino, Muslim, any of the groups that he’s stoked hatred amongst his supporters — if he were any of those, I don’t think he would be getting support either.”
— CNN political commentator Sally Kohn on Erin Burnett OutFront, April 28.


Morning Show Hosts Hit GOP Candidates with Typical Liberal Agenda

Audience member Todd Calongne: “I’m a lifelong Republican, and I have been married to my husband for two years now. My question is, I’ve noticed a lot of religious freedom laws and somewhat institutionalized discrimination laws happening around the country. What would you as president do to protect me and my husband from that institutionalized discrimination?”...
Co-host Robin Roberts: “But when you talk about freedom, he referred to his husband, a lot of people would say doesn’t everyone have the freedom to be treated equally. Don’t we all have the freedom to be equal?”
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz: “Of course we do....”
— From ABC’s Good Morning America town hall event for Cruz, April 18.

“The Republican platform, every four years, has a provision that states that the right of the unborn child shall not be infringed. And it makes no exceptions for rape, for incest, for the life of the mother. Would you want to change the Republican platform to include the exceptions that you have?....Do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy?”
— Co-host Savannah Guthrie to Donald Trump during NBC Today’s town hall, April 21. 


The Media Are Straight Arrows — It’s the Audience That’s Biased

“I think that we are straight in terms of how we present the news, and it’s unbiased. I think there’s a much bigger problem, and that is the people who are watching and reading us who are not looking for the best obtainable version of the truth, who are not interested in unbiased reporting; rather, who are looking for information to reinforce what they already believe, their political beliefs, their religious beliefs, their ideological beliefs. It’s key to the success of Fox News that no longer do we have a culture interested in the best obtainable version of the truth that we once had in this country. So I think the problem is less the media than it is really a combination of media and our citizenry.”
— Former Washington Post and Time magazine reporter Carl Bernstein on CNN’s Reliable Sources, April 24. 


Chuck Todd: Does Fearful GOP Have a Death Wish?

“The Republican Party has 31 governorships, the most senators since 2005 and the most members of the House since the Hoover presidency. So why does it seem as though the party has a death wish when it comes to trying to win the White House?” 
— NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, April 17.

Host Chuck Todd: “Why do you think fear has been working, at least in the Republican Party?” 
Actor George Clooney: “Because fear has always worked, in one way or another. In elections fear has always been a great, one of the great tools of any election. But the reality is we are not the descendants of fearful people. We’re not. So we’re not going to ban Muslims from this country. That’s never gonna happen. And we’re not gonna go back to torture.” 
— Exchange on NBC’s Meet the Press, April 17.


John Kasich Is as Conservative as Ronald Reagan? 

“John Kasich is as conservative as Ronald Reagan. He’s as conservative as Ronald Reagan. That this year conservatives want somebody more conservative than Ronald Reagan and that’s where Ted Cruz is.”
— ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd on This Week, April 17.


To Save the Planet, Let’s Put Climate Change “Deniers” in Mental Institutions

“There can be no successful climate agreement and no future for our planet without greater protection of the world’s forests, everyone in the room understands this....And so much of what’s coming on now is something that we have to treat as if it’s a mental illness. I believe that climate change denial is a form of mental illness.”
— Actor Alec Baldwin at the UN climate conference in an April 21 video distributed by Agence France-Press.


America’s Military = World’s Greatest “Mass Murder Machine”

“And, of course, our military is not shrinking. We have the most ridiculous rock-with-your-cock-out mass murder machine the world has ever seen.”
— Host Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time, April 22.


The Wacky World of Larry Wilmore: Bernie Is Jesus, Ted Cruz Is a Dildo...

“You used to be a carpenter. Is that right?...And you’re Jewish?...And the Pope loves you, right?...Millions of people come to hear you speak your sermons on mounts. Are you Jesus?”
— Comedy Central’s Nightly Show host Larry Wilmore to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, April 13.

“Brace yourselves: Ted Cruz hates dildos....In 2004, Ted Cruz fought to preserve a law that banned the sale of dildos in Texas....It’s just such a shame to see dildos persecuted and marginalized by one of their own....I’d expect more from one of our most prominent human dildos, and I just think dildo-Americans should be standing up for other dildos....I guess back in 2004, Cruz was just another self-hating dildo.”
— Wilmore on the next night’s show.


...And Obama & Clinton’s Democratic Party Isn’t Really Progressive  

Host Larry Wilmore: “The Democratic Party is not a progressive party. The last time the Democratic Party was a progressive party was when LBJ was president.”
Actress/left-wing activist Susan Sarandon: “Try FDR.”
Wilmore: “Well, no. LBJ was a progressive president right?”
Sarandon: “I’m saying I think he was kind of pushed into it. I mean, he wrote a lot of fabulous legislation.”
— Exchange on Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show, April 20.

Tell the Truth 2016