Most outrageous comments of 2006
How extreme were conservative commentators in their remarks this year? How about calls to nuke the Middle East and an allegation that a "gay ... mafia" used the congressional page program as its own "personal preserve." Right-wing rhetoric documented by Media Matters for America included the nonsensical (including Rush Limbaugh's claim that America's "obesity crisis" is caused by, among other things, our failure to "teach [the poor] how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter"), the offensive (such as right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel's question about "Barack Hussein Obama": is he "a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?"), and the simply bizarre (such as William A. Donohue's claim that some Hollywood stars would "sodomize their own mother in a movie"). Since there were so many outrageous statements, we included a list of honorable mentions along with the top 11, which, if not for Ann Coulter, we might have limited to 10.
The top 11 (in chronological order):
William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights: "Well, look, there are people in Hollywood, not all of them, but there are some people who are nothing more than harlots. They will do anything for the buck. They wouldn't care. If you asked them to sodomize their own mother in a movie, they would do so, and they would do it with a smile on their face." [2/9/06]
Fox News host John Gibson: "Do your duty. Make more babies. That's a lesson drawn out of two interesting stories over the last couple of days. First, a story yesterday that half of the kids in this country under five years old are minorities. By far, the greatest number are Hispanic. You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic. Why is that? Well, Hispanics are having more kids than others. Notably, the ones Hispanics call 'gabachos' -- white people -- are having fewer." [5/11/06]
Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter on The New York Times' decision to report on the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program and a Treasury Department financial transaction tracking program: The Times had done "something that could have gotten them executed, certainly did get [Julius and Ethel] Rosenberg[] executed." [7/12/06]
Coulter responding to Hardball host Chris Matthews' question, "How do you know that [former President] Bill Clinton's gay?": "I don't know if he's gay. But [former Vice President] Al Gore -- total fag." [7/27/06]
Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage: "That's why the department store dummy named Wolf Blitzer, a Jew who was born in Israel, will do the astonishing act of being the type that would stick Jewish children into a gas chamber to stay alive another day. He's probably the most despicable man in the media next to Larry King, who takes a close runner-up by the hair of a nose. The two of them together look like the type that would have pushed Jewish children into the oven to stay alive one more day to entertain the Nazis." [8/7/06]
Coulter on Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), an African-American: "Congresswoman Maxine Waters had parachuted into Connecticut earlier in the week to campaign against [Sen. Joseph I.] Lieberman because he once expressed reservations about affirmative action, without which she would not have a job that didn't involve wearing a paper hat. Waters also considers Joe 'soft' on the issue of the CIA inventing crack cocaine and AIDS to kill all the black people in America." [8/9/06]
Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh, blaming America's "obesity crisis" on "the left," "liberal government," and "food stamps": "Because we are sympathetic, we are compassionate people, we have responded by letting our government literally feed these people to the point of obesity. At least here in America, didn't teach them how to fish, we gave them the fish. Didn't teach them how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter. The real bloat here, as we know, is in -- is in government." [8/29/06]
Coulter on Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI): "They Shot the Wrong Lincoln." [8/30/06]
Conservative pundit and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan: "Look, [Rep. Jim] Kolbe [R-AZ] is gay. He is an out-of-the-closet gay. [Rep. Mark] Foley [R-FL] was gay. The House clerk who was in charge of the pages [Jeff Trandahl] was gay. Foley's administrative assistant, Mr. [Kirk] Fordham, The New York Times tell us, was gay. You hear about a lot of others. What's going on here, Joe [Scarborough, MSNBC host], is basically these, this little mafia in there looked upon the pages, I guess, as their -- sort of their personal preserve. And it stinks to high heaven what was done. And it stinks to high heaven that it was not exposed and these types of people, thrown out by the Republican Party." [10/9/06]
CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN): "OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. ... With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " [11/14/06]
Right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel on Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): So, even if he identifies strongly as a Christian ... is a man who Muslims think is a Muslim, who feels some sort of psychological need to prove himself to his absent Muslim father, and who is now moving in the direction of his father's heritage, a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?" [12/18/06]
Honorable mentions (also in chronological order):
Beck: "Cindy Sheehan. That's a pretty big prostitute there, you know what I mean?" [1/10/06]
Republican strategist Mary Matalin: "I mean, you know, I think these civil rights leaders are nothing more than racists. And they're keeping constituency, they're keeping their neighborhoods and their African-American brothers enslaved, if you will, by continuing to let them think that they're -- or forced to think that they're victims, that the whole system is against them." [2/8/06]
Pat Robertson, host of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club: "But it does seem that with the current makeup of the court, they still don't have as many judges as would be needed to overturn Roe [v. Wade]. They need one more, and I dare say before the end of this year there will be another vacancy on the court." [3/7/06]
Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of the daily Christian radio show The Albert Mohler Program: "Well, I would have to say as a Christian that I believe any belief system, any world view, whether it's Zen Buddhism or Hinduism or dialectical materialism for that matter, Marxism, that keeps persons captive and keeps them from coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, yes, is a demonstration of satanic power." [3/17/06]
Nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz on Rep. Cynthia McKinney's (D-GA) hairstyle: "She looks like a ghetto slut. ... It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. ... She looks like Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence. ... She looks like a shih tzu!" [3/31/06]
Boortz on McKinney's hairstyle (again): "I saw Cynthia McKinney's hairdo yesterday -- saw it on TV. I don't blame that cop for stopping her. It looked like a welfare drag queen was trying to sneak into the Longworth House Office Building. That hairdo is ghetto trash. I don't blame them for stopping her." [3/31/06]
Limbaugh discussing a videotape released by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the then-leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq: "[I]t sounds just like the DNC [Democratic National Committee] is writing his scripts now." (4/26/06)
Beck: "Blowing up Iran. I say we nuke the bastards. In fact, it doesn't have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me." [5/11/06]
Jonathan Hoenig, managing member of Capitalistpig Asset Management LLC, on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto: "I think when it comes to Iran, the problem is we haven't been forceful enough. I mean if you -- frankly, if you want to see the Dow go up, let's get the bombers in the air and neutralize this Iranian threat." [6/5/06]
Fox host Geraldo Rivera: "I've known [Sen.] John Kerry [D-MA] for over 35 years. Unlike me, he is a combat veteran, so he gets some props. But in the last 35 years, I've seen a hell of a lot more combat than John Kerry. And for a smart man like that in a political ploy to set a date certain only aids and abets the enemy, and the Democrats are at their own self-destructive behavior once again." [6/22/06]
Savage: "I don't know why we don't use a bunker-buster bomb when he comes to the U.N. and just take [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] out with everyone in there." [7/21/06]
Boortz: "I want you to think for think for a moment of how incompetent and stupid and worthless, how -- that's right, I used those words -- how incompetent, how ignorant, how worthless is an adult that can't earn more than the minimum wage? You have to really, really, really be a pretty pathetic human being to not be able to earn more than the human wage. Uh -- human, the minimum wage." [8/3/06]
Syndicated columnist and Fox News host Cal Thomas on businessman Ned Lamont's victory in Connecticut's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate: "It completes the capture of the Democratic Party by its Taliban wing. ... [T]hey have now morphed into Taliban Democrats because they are willing to 'kill' one of their own, if he does not conform to the narrow and rigid agenda of the party's kook fringe." [8/10/06]
Fox News host Sean Hannity, two months before the November midterm elections: "This is the moment to say that there are things in life worth fighting and dying for and one of 'em is making sure [Rep.] Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] doesn't become the [House] speaker." [8/29/06]
Beck: "The Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians. That's what I thought at 5 o'clock this morning, and I thought, 'Oh, geez, what -- what is this?' If they take over -- the barbarians storm the gate and take over the Middle East (this is what I'm thinking at 5 o'clock in the morning) -- we're going to have to nuke the whole place." [9/12/06]
Savage: "My fear is that if the Democrats win [in the November midterm elections], and I'm afraid that they might, you're going to see America melt down faster that you could ever imagine. It will happen overnight, and it could lead to the breakup of the United States of America, the way the Soviet Union broke up." [10/13/06]
Republican pollster Frank Luntz on Nancy Pelosi's appearance: "I always use the line for Nancy Pelosi, 'You get one shot at a facelift. If it doesn't work the first time, let it go.' " [10/31/06]
Limbaugh on the Middle East: "Fine, just blow the place up." [11/27/06]
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly (on his radio show): "Do I care if the Sunnis and Shiites kill each other in Iraq? No. I don't care. Let's get our people out of there. Let them kill each other. Maybe they'll all kill each other, and then we can have a decent country in Iraq." [12/5/06]
New York Post columnist Ralph Peters on Iraq Study Group co-chairman James Baker: "The difference is that [Pontius] Pilate just wanted to wash his hands of an annoyance, while Baker would wash his hands in the blood of our troops." [12/7/06]
Conservative syndicated radio host Michael Medved on the animated movie Happy Feet: The film contains "a whole subtext, as there so often is, about homosexuality." [12/11/06]
Fox captions
Additionally, although these are not examples of specific conservative commentators making outrageous comments, we would be remiss if we did not mention that Fox News made a regular practice of attacking Democrats or repeating Republican talking points in on-screen text during its coverage of political issues. Some examples:
"All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?" [2/23/06]
"Attacking Capitalism: Have Dems Declared War on America?" [2/18/06]
"Dems Helping the Enemy?" [5/22/06]
"A Lamont Win, Bad News for Democracy in Mideast?"
"Have the Democrats Forgotten the Lessons of 9/11?"
"Is the Democratic Party Soft on Terror?" [8/8/06]
"The #1 President on Mideast Matters: George W Bush?" [8/14/06]
"Is the Liberal Media Helping to Fuel Terror?" [8/16/06]
and this is just a small sampling......
These clowns are what is considered the media now-a-days by todays average Joe conservative?
It's a good thing we liberal progressive Americans love our country enough to open our minds to more than these freaks!
However, I feel that these goons are only catering to the 26% of our fellow citizens that still believe that GWB is a 'good' president and that God will protect them while making sure that while their home is being repo'd and their job is being sent to India, they can feel all warm inside knowing that the gays can't get married.
Funny thing religion........its seems to be the number one motivation in killing more of our fellow human beings than any other issue I can think of.......
God must be so proud of his creation
iceberg.
These Conservative gasbags breed like cockroaches.
There's going to be plenty of material in 2007 for Media Matters!!
(or at least one of them) seems to be that if she thinks up something that she sees as clever, she just cannot NOT say it. She's obviously just too pleased with herself. Like "They shot the wrong Lincoln." That's just so wrong, on so many levels, but she couldn't censor herself. It's just beyond her if she thinks she might get a laugh, or have some moron think "How clever!" What an idiot!
That's it. Coulter considers herself so clever that she must say everything she thinks. We all think inappropriate thoughts, but we have an interior editor who nixes their articulation. Coulter probably doesn't have Tourettes, but she's been rewarded by those who think similar things, but have too much discipline and decency to say them.
i think its so interesting that Cal Thomas accuses Dems of "killing their own" by supporting a different candidate (isnt that the basis of democracy?), while Ann Coulter actually *DOES* advocate killing one of their own candidates, & thats just fine & dandy!
The wacky right sure know how to say the dumbest things. The choices were really good. I would have added the Savage piece where he talked about the "homosexual mafia" and "gay Hollywood", but these were really good. Looking back, Thank God the Democrats won. These nuts are has beens and no one takes them seriously anymore.
I think the Cons may be a little demoralized when they read Media Matters' rap up for 2006.
Because they know 2007 is going to bring more--maybe a lot more--of the same........Day after day, after day, after day of exposing these clowns, laughing at these clowns, dumping on these clowns. It just doesn't stop.
Just keep talking fellas. Your picure will be displayed prominently. It's not gonna get any easier for these nutballs!
"I think the Cons may be a little demoralized when they read Media Matters' rap up for 2006."
I don't think very many "Cons" will actually read Media Matters' rap up for 2006, so you may be a little disappointed.
won't understand it.
Most of them can't read and have their wingnut preacher tell them what to think (or, the little talking fox) - and the ones who can read choose to only read the bible as everything else is a sin.
The best thing is, they are anti-intellectual (intellectualism requires reading) to the core but drive a car, use cell phones and use electricity. I am sure they beleive that all those gay "intellectuals" (e.g., engineers, scientists) that come up with these tools just woke up one day thinking (thinking!), "thank you lord for giving me the idea to invent such a complex thing as a cell phone from scratch, without making use of any of my intellect and education".
So Geraldo is now a conservative commentator? That's ridiculous. Saying that Geraldo is a conservative is like saying that Sean Hannity is a liberal. What a joke. Geraldo is a self described liberal. The fact that Media Matters included Geraldo in this pretty much discredited their whole presentation.
Geraldo is not exactly political: more accurately, whatever pays the most is his point of view. Hence, self-identification aside, the outfit he works for pays him to produce conservative talking points, so he does.
Of course, he's a conservative commentator.
Media Matters has documented dozens of blatant right-wing spins and lies by Geraldo.
Is Truth Detector starting to hear the voices?
That's ridiculous. You think that anybody to the right of Fidel Castro is a conservative. Fox News has several liberals on their network, and Geraldo is one of them. He's an admitted partisan Democrat.
Care to document that?
I was wrong on that. He's a registered independent. I just thought he was a Democrat since he is liberal on most issues.
[link to archives.cnn.com]
No where does it say in your pathetic URL that he's a "registered indie". Jebus. The right-wing HATES facts and truth.
Geraldo is Republican. Fact. Deal with it. You lied. You lost.
"says he is serious about an independent campaign for mayor"
What part of the word independent do you not understand? Geraldo was going to run for mayor as an independent. That means that he's not a Republican or a Democrat. He's registered as an independent. He's a liberal independent who is FAR from being a conservative or a Republican. You think that anyone to the right of Fidel Castro is a conservative.
your political registration as a voter does not require you to run in that party.
think that anyone to the left of Attila the Hun is a liberal. Also my daddy had a bigger car than your daddy. Also my mommy has a nicer dress than your mommy. Also my sports team beat your sports team. Also...
Jesus *@&^%&* Christ!! Is the concept of intelligent debate so far out of reach that we constantly have to slip back into elementary school put downs and generalizations. I'm just as guilty of it as anyone else, but it's getting to the point that soon the posts around here are literally going to devolve into "nanny-nanny-do-do stick you head in poo-poo."
Rivera is a resident of Locust, NJ. I doubt whether the locals would vote for him to be dog catcher.
You are flat out lying!!! Geraldo admitted on O'Reilly's show that he was a Republican. FACT. He's NOT a Dem, an Indie, or Libertarian....he's an admitted GOP! You are lying. How typical of the right.
He's a Rethugnican and the GOP can keep the SOB!!!!!
Does that really discredit the whole presentation???? Did you even read that after you typed it?
Sorry. I was being a little over dramatic there. That comment was an exaggeration.
Truth Detector.
Re-charge your battery.
Is that why you focus on Geraldo's supposed political leanings as opposed to his negative generalizations?
Keep up the great work in 2007 Mikey!
Don't you mean Weiner boy?
and the winner is..........tommy.
that if they weren't documented, you'd reasonably assume they were made up.
coulter especially slays me: "they killed the wrong lincoln."?
i'm sure that sounded pretty damn hysterical, a half hour after she popped her pill, or drank the kool-aid. except................it would have been darn near impossible, given that A. Lincoln was assassinated on april 14, 1865, just a wee bit before the chafee guy was even born.
i know, i know, it's restating the obvious (hey, everyone needs a hobby! :)), but i am just astonished that even she didn't realize how boneheaded that sounds.
as for beck and limbaugh, they clearly haven't unshackled the dark demons of their chemical addictions. i guess. of course, it could be that they're just plain stupid, and you can't fix stupid.
really though, they do it for the money. and the more outrageous the comment, the better the ratings and free publicity. follow the cash trail.
However, some of these comments are valid.
1. In Dallas, a hospital by the name of Parkland something , I think, if you are Hispanic, they deliver the baby free. At least when I was there in July 2005. When I inquire about it, I didn't get an answer. Obviously, someone in Dallas is thinking about future cheap labor, Republican voters, or who knows.
2. Nuke the Middle East. Aren't you tired of 60 years of wrangling betwewwn Palestians and Israelis. Nobody supports the Palestians with weapons, and money the way America supports Israel. If somebody smuggles weapons to Palestinians, America accuse them of helping terrorist. If somebody complains about arms support of Americans to Israel we claim we are supporting freedom, Democracy...you name it.
All the problems with Iraq, Iran come from Israel and Palestine. Sometimes I think that yes, both countries should be wiped out.
you are saying that the ones we can't kill, kill, kill we should let die, die, die.
Merry X-Mas maniac.
The sense I've always had is that they would eat their young (especially Ann Coulter). The Conservatives of this nation, entitled to their opinions as they are, are simply so full of themselves as if there can be no other way. Arrogance, Hubris, My Way or the Highway...please, I do wish they would just go away or go to Iraq see what poor judgement and failed ideologies has done to the people there. Well, maybe they should just visit Walter Reed Army Hospital and have a chat with some returning veterans who've lost a limb or two.
It is breathtaking to see the scope of virtiol and hate espoused bu the right wing and their mouthpieces.
Why are we surprised that Virgil Goode is finally saying IN PUBLIC what most right-wingers sya in private?
Media Matters, just keep doing your job and we bloggers will keep spreading the word. The list of POLS who are GONE, GONE, GONE is a wonderful testament to the power of a free press and Media Matters!
Happy 2007! May there be more indictments and IMPEACHMENTS!
SUE COHEN ROCKVILLE MD
Just a comment from an informed person: “gabachos” isn’t a derogative designation of “white people”, but of the french soldiers who invaded Spain in the XIX century. So John Gibson is saying that he is like a frenchman in any form?
..Norah O'Donnell referring to peace protesters as "anti-war extremists" (as reported on this site I believe.)
This, of course, several months ago when the pro-war extremists were considered (especially by the MSM) as "normal" & "teflon patriots."
It was also during this time frame Norah O. interviewed Cindy Sheehan on "Hardball" and showed remakable restraint in not slapping CS for :
(1) Refusing to stoically wear Casey's death as a patriotic badge of honor.
(2) Being an anti-war extremist.
... should be to outlaw Ann Coulter... seriously, she is dumbing this country down... I can't believe people still listen to any of the scumbags who said these things!
Right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel on Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): So, even if he identifies strongly as a Christian ... is a man who Muslims think is a Muslim, who feels some sort of psychological need to prove himself to his absent Muslim father, and who is now moving in the direction of his father's heritage, a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?"
I think it's the worst for it's a stepping stone to internment camps/concentration camps. Such things must be said and believed before barbed wire can be strung and watchtowers raised.
It's a variant of: All Americans are equal, but some are more equal than others.
If anyone has any doubts about the near Nazification of large segments of the American population, reading some of these comments should certainly dispel them.
Some of those exact words could have (and most likely actually did) come out of the mouths of people like Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, and Hermann Göring, that Rush Limbaugh look-alike, albeit several levels of magnitude smarter and more dangerous than Rush the clone.
I believe our country has just dodged a major bullet in the last election (I am non-partisan). But we still must somehow avoid the bunker buster 10,000# bomb in the form of an unstable and non-rational chief executive who still controls of the reins of power. If our people are unable to do so we may well witness the complete and utter dismantling of our nation - just as the German people did in 1945.
Our political leaders of all strips must find the political courage to face the realities of our current national madness and to step forth to remove this cancer from our country. Everyone of us must urge them to do so.
"(I am non-partisan)"
You could've fooled me.
it doesn't take much.
that you were fooled.
"You could've fooled me.' - The truth detector"
There IS a Santa Claus. Fox News just said so.
What a slag heap. I feel like having a long shower after reading through this toxic sludge masquerading as serious journalism. These people have truly done more to destroy America's image in the world than Bush ever could.Its beyond reason,beyond redemption.
Bush is the public face of America to the outside world (not counting the scared eyes of any 18-year old soldier in Iraq), not these "journalists" (what a shame this puts on real journalism). They are fortunately, a domestic phenomenon and not watched or broadcast outside North America
Reading a list like this from these twisted, ferocious chicken hawks is not for the fainthearted.
But we've got to wade into the sewage to try to unclog the drain.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA!!
Tear 'em up in 2007.
The only thing you can say to this drivel is that it's sad we'll have to put up with this nonsense next year....unless they all volunteer to add to the 20,000 plus that Junior Bunny Pants wants to send over to Iraq.
Limbaugh*, Coulter, Beck, Rivera, O'Reilly, Savage make their livings by winning over the ignorant.
Appeal to the lowest common denominator = ratings/$$$.
Some are ignorant themselves (Hannity, Schlussel, Medved) and just speak their minds.
*Rush Limbaugh was an apolitical radio host going nowhere until Bob Pittman told him to do the right wing thing. Pittman was the guy who, years before, had put Morton Downey, Jr. on the map.
No one would know the media is liberal unless the media pundits kept telling you it was liberal.
Why is the "liberal" media so rife with pundits on TV, print, and radio telling everyone the media is liberal and that all of these evil liberals out there all love the terrorists and hate America?
The Lexicon of the Spundits is so narrow and twisted...it debases what can be one of the most mellifluous and melodious vehicles of communication...the English Language.
Please vote and read the commentary if you like:
[link to www.dailykos.com]
is a very good enema. I've come to the conclusion that neocons / Christianists / whatever---are so entirely constipated that they've lost the ability to even think.
You should've been reading www.scrutator.net this whole time. Those people were insane.
another day, another dullard...
You can say whatever you want in America so long as it doesn't challenge the agenda of the ruling class. Don't thing so? Wear a t-shirt that say "Get Out of Iraq" to the mall.