Demonic

  11. “Time Swoons Over the Sexy President,” Notable Quotables, Media Research Center, November 23, 1992, available at http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/1992/nq19921123.asp.

  12. Judith Warner, “Sometimes a President Is Just a President,” New York Times, Opinionator blog, February 5, 2009.

  13. Media Research Center, The Best Notable Quotables of 2008 (quoting Cowan’s article for “The Peacock,” an NBC advertising supplement included in the March 23–29 edition of the American Profile magazine newspaper insert), available at http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2008/welcome.asp.

  14. Senator Barack Obama discusses country’s economic problems, upcoming election, etc., Today Show, NBC, October 20, 2008.

  15. “Campaign 2008 Review: Barack Obama’s Media Groupies,” Media Research Center, November 3, 2008.

  16. Joe Klein, “Why Barack Obama Could Be the Next President,” Time, October 2, 2006.

  17. Notable Quotables, Media Research Center, November 3, 2008 (quoting MSNBC’s Chris Matthews talking about Democratic candidate Barack Obama and his wife on the Tonight Show, NBC, January 16, 2008).

  18. “Campaign 2008 Review: Barack Obama’s Media Groupies” (quoting ABC’s David Wright report on the January 28, 2008, World News program).

  19. Good Morning America, ABC, November 24. 2008.

  20. Nancy Gibbs, “How Obama Rewrote the Book,” Time, November 5, 2008.

  21. “Time Swoons Over the Sexy President.”

  22. Joe Klein, “On the Road Again,” Newsweek, August 17, 1992.

  23. Phil McCombs, “The President’s Beachhead: A Vacationing Clinton Finds Waves of Support in Ritzy California Enclave,” Washington Post, March 30, 1994.

  24. Terry Moran, “The Next Big Thing; Senator Barack Obama’s Star Power,” Nightline, ABC, November 6, 2006.

  25. “Large Crowd Gathers to Hear Obama Speak in Germany,” NBC Nightly News, July 24, 2008.

  26. Jennifer Senior, “The Benjamin Button Election,” New York, November 8, 2010.

  27. Jon Meacham, “Rocking the Vote, in the 1820s and Now,” New York Times, October 21, 2010.

  28. The “I Pledge” video, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrdmZwdW-c.

  29. Michael Whack, “The ‘BAM’ … The Obama Handshake!,” Organizing for America Community Blogs, January 12, 2008, available at http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/michaelwhack/CVBJ, cited in Jason Mattera, Obama Zombie: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation (Threshold Editions, 2010), xvi.

  30. Ameena Schelling, “Reserved Passion: Kagan ’81,” The Daily Princetonian, May 3, 2010.

  31. Brent Bozell, “Smearing Republican Women,” Newsbusters.org, June 15, 2010.

  32. Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, “Rocking the Planet,” Washington Post, December 12, 2007.

  33. Tim Graham, “Margaret’s Flagrant Foul,” National Review Online, November 25, 2000.

  34. Martha Sherrill, “Hillary Clinton’s Inner Politics,” Washington Post, May 6, 1993.

  35. The Best Notable Quotables of 1999, Media Research Center (quoting Time’s Lance Morrow in a July 12 “Viewpoint” piece).

  36. Bill Peterson, “The Word According to Human Events; Reagan: ‘I’m Still Reading You Guys, But I’m Enjoying It Less,’ ” Washington Post, March 14, 1982.

  37. Michael Calderone, White House spokesman, praises MSNBC hosts after Obama’s Fox swipe, Yahoo News, September 28, 2010 (quoting White House spokesman Bill Burton, who was quoting the president), available at http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100928/cm_yblog_upshot/white-house-spox-praises-msnbc-hosts-after-fox-swipe.

  38. Ira R. Allen, “Poll Says Reagan No Longer Most Admired Conservative,” United Press International, September 22, 1981.

  39. Dan Murphy, “New Poll Finds Obama Has Already Rebuilt America’s Global Brand,” Christian Science Monitor, October 6, 2009.

  40. “Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama Sit on Top of World Leaders Barometer,” Business Wire, April 27, 2010.

  41. “Obama Is World’s Sexiest Politician,” Daily Record, January 2, 2009.

  42. Jeffrey M. Jones, “Clinton Edges Out Palin as Most Admired Woman; Obama Easily Wins Most Admired Man Title,” Gallup Poll News Service, December 30, 2009.

  43. “Pitt Tops ‘Celeb Dads Most Women Want to See in Their Undies’ List,” Hindustan Times, June 16, 2009.

  44. Michael Leahy and Juliet Eilperin, “Obama and Oil Drilling: How Politics Spilled into Policy,” Washington Post, October 12, 2010.

  45. Le Bon, 38.

  46. Jonathan Alter, “The Two Mr. Clintons,” Newsweek, August 24, 1998.

  47. Geraldo Rivera, Rivera Live, NBC, March 8, 1999.

  48. Ginger Thompson, “The Public; Cry of Halt, Unheard, Is Getting Louder,” New York Times, January 25, 1999.

  49. Le Bon, 22.

  50. Matthew Saltmarsh, “Soros to Get a Day in Court over Insider Trading Case,” New York Times, September 16, 2010.

  51. Interview, George Soros, 60 Minutes, CBS, December 20, 1998, available at http://www.sorosmonitor.com/absolutenm/templates/news.aspx?articleid=33&zoneid=1.

  Kroft: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

  Mr. Soros: Yes. Yes.

  Kroft: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

  Mr. Soros: Yes. That’s right. Yes.

  Kroft: I mean, that’s—that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

  Mr. Soros: Not—not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t—you don’t see the connection. But it was—it created no—no problem at all.

  Kroft: No feeling of guilt?

  Mr. Soros: No.

  52. Jack Shafer, “Screw You, Mr. President,” Slate, March 12, 2003 (quoting Thomas’s remarks to John Bogert in a January 19, 2003, article in the Daily Breeze, Torrance, CA).

  53. The Best Notable Quotables of 2006, Media Research Center (quoting Harry Belafonte, at a televised rally with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez), available at http://www.mrc.org/MainSearch/search.html.

  54. Joe Klein, “Blessed Are the Poor—They Don’t Get Tax Cuts,” Time, June 2, 2003.

  55. William Raspberry, “A Reckless Blast That Hits the Target,” Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, June 29, 2004.

  56. “Inside Washington,” WJLA-TV, November 6, 2005.

  57. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Joint Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight and the Subcommittee on Europe (110th Congress, 1st Sess.), April 17, 2007 (testimony of Michael F. Scheuer, former chief, Bin Laden Unit, Central Intelligence Agency).

  58. Joe Hagan, “Dan Rather to Bush: ‘Answer the Questions,’ ” New York Observer, September 20, 2004.

  59. Video at Andrew Breitbart, Feelin’ the Healin’: Young Jeezy, Jay-Z Perform “My President Is Black,” Remix on Inauguration Eve, BigHollywood.com, January 21, 2009, available at http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/01/21/feelin-the-healin-young-jeezy-jay-z-perform-“my-president-is-black”-remix-on-inauguration-eve/; see also Mattera, xvii.

  60. Lynn Sweet, “Dems Seek Strategy Against ‘Birthers,’ ” Chicago Sun-Times, August 5, 2009.

  61. Quest for Camelot, The Hotline, January 14, 2010.

  62. “Jimmy Carter Speaks Out Against Anti-Obama Racism,” NBC Nightly News, September 15, 2009.

  63. Video: “Are We Running Out of Oil?,” The Nation, January 5, 2011, available at http://www.thenation.com/video/157441/are-we-running-out-oil.

  64. The Best Notable Quotables of 1998, Media Research Center, available at http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/1998/best1-3.asp.

  65. Lonnae O’Neal Parker, I’m Every Woman: Remixed Stories of Marriage, Motherhood, and Work (Amistad, 2005), 105.

  66. Inside Washington, NPR, July 8, 1995, available at http://www.mediaresearch.org/notablequotables/disho
nor1999/

  welcomeaward6.asp.

  67. See, e.g., “Empty Promise,” New York Post, June 1, 2008; “A Celebrity Exodus over Bush Win: Now That’s Entertainment,” Chicago Tribune, December 6, 2000.

  68. See, e.g., Matthew L. Wald, “T.W.A. Crash Investigators Ridicule a Missile Theory and Pin Hopes on Research,” New York Times, March 14, 1997; George Johnson, “Pierre, Is That a Masonic Flag on the Moon?,” New York Times, November 24, 1996.

  69. George Rush and Joanna Molloy, “Monica Rules Out Prez Reunion,” Daily News (New York), January 13, 2000.

  70. Todd S. Purdum, “G.O.P. Candidates Taking Streisand Shots,” New York Times, October 17, 2002.

  71. Remarks by President Barack Obama at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) Fundraiser Dinner (as Released by the White House), Federal News Service, October 20, 2009.

  72. Foreign Policy Implications of U.S. Efforts to Address the International Financial Crisis (111th Congress, 1st Sess.) (2009) (Hearing of the Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee), Federal News Service, June 10, 2009.

  73. Bill O’Reilly, “Talking Points Memo and Top Story,” Fox News, February 26, 2009.

  THREE. CONTRADICTIONS: YOU CAN LEAD A MOB TO WATER, BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE IT THINK

  1. Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (Dover, 2002)(1895), 30–31.

  2. “No Prison for Libby,” American Morning, CNN, July 3, 2007. (Senator Hillary Clinton: “And what we saw today was elevating cronyism over the rule of law.”)

  3. Matthew Saltmarsh, “Soros to Get a Day in Court over Insider Trading Case,” New York Times, September 16, 2010.

  4. “Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own ‘Inconvenient Truth,’ ” Tennessee Center for Policy Research, February 25, 2007, available at http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/tag/al-gore/.

  5. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, October 23, 2006.

  6. “Keeping Emotions Under Control at Jogger Trial,” New York Times, July 2, 1990.

  7. Dennis Duggan, “The Cool, Meticulous Prosecutor,” Newsday (New York), July 3, 1990.

  8. Chapin Wright, “Tawana Brawley Greets 2 Defendants,” Newsday (New York), July 31, 1990.

  9. “Trial Sets Alight a Bonfire of Profanities,” Courier-Mail, August 1, 1990; Richard Bernstein, “The Arts Catch Up with a Society in Disarray,” New York Times, September 2, 1990.

  10. Emily Sachar, “Split Verdicts at 2nd Central Park Trial,” Newsday (New York), December 12, 1990.

  11. “Keeping Emotions Under Control at Jogger Trial.”

  12. John Kifner, “Tension in Brooklyn; Blacks March by Hasidim Through a Corridor of Blue,” New York Times, August 25, 1991.

  13. David Herszenhorn, “Alan Grayson, the Liberals’ Problem Child,” New York Times, October 31, 2009.

  14. “Investigating the President: Ken Starr Fights Back,” Larry King Live, CNN, June 16, 1998.

  15. James Carville on the investigating of the president, Larry King Live, CNN, February 23, 1998.

  16. Pete Yost, “Prosecutors Strike Back at White House,” Associated Press, The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), February 25, 1998.

  17. David Tell, Editorial: “Sid Vicious,” The Weekly Standard, May 11, 1998.

  18. Talk of the Nation: “Where Do We Go Next?,” NPR, May 11, 2009.

  19. “A Conversation with Larry Summers,” The Charlie Rose Show, August 21, 2007.

  20. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, April 4, 2007.

  21. Bill Maher (guest host), “Scandal and Politics,” Larry King Live, CNN, January 13, 2006.

  22. Talk of the Nation: “The Making of a Successful Justice,” NPR, November 3, 2005.

  23. “Flip-Flopping in Politics,” Weekend Edition, Sunday National Public Radio (NPR), August 8, 2004.

  24. Jim Lehrer, “Terrorism on Trial,” The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, May 29, 2001.

  25. “Will Edwards Be Kerry’s Running Mate?,” Capital Gang, CNN, February 28, 2004.

  26. Peter Schweizer, Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Wrecked the Global Economy—and How They Will Do It Again if No One Stops Them (HarperCollins, 2009), 111–18.

  27. Chris Matthews, Hardball, MSNBC, April 16, 2010.

  28. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, March 31, 2010.

  29. Interview with Representative Barney Frank, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, June 25, 2010.

  30. Interview with Elizabeth Warren, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, September 14, 2009.

  31. George Stephanopoulos, “Sunday Headliner: John Edwards,” This Week, ABC, June 15, 2008 (affair first reported by the National Enquirer in October 2007; “Edwards Admits Affair, but Denies Paternity of Child,” August 8, 2008; “Edwards Admits Paternity of Love Child,” August 14, 2009).

  32. Video and transcript at Noel Sheppard, “Bob Schieffer: I Didn’t Ask Holder About Black Panther Case Because I Just Didn’t Know About It,” Newsbusters, July 18, 2010, available at http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/07/18/bob-schieffer-i-didnt-ask-holder-about-black-panther-case-because-i-just-didnt-know-about-it#ixzz1CZmMlEuV.

  33. Madison Gray, “The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King: Reginald Denny,” Time, 2007, available at http://205.188.238.181/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/

  0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614511,00.html.

  34. Seth Mydans, “Jury Acquits 2 on Most Charges in Beatings in Los Angeles Riots,” New York Times, October 19, 1993.

  35. See, e.g., Jay Nordlinger, “Shrill Waters,” National Review, January 25, 1999.

  36. Greg Miller and Josh Meyer, “Interrogation Memos Opened,” Chicago Tribune, April 17, 2009.

  37. Stephen Holden, “At Human Rights Film Festival, Horror and Hope,” New York Times, June 8, 2006.

  38. A. O. Scott, “Taking a Long, Bumpy Ride to Systematic Brutality,” New York Times, January 18, 2008.

  39. Editorial: “Justice 5, Brutality 4,” New York Times, June 13, 2008.

  40. “Trucker Beaten in Riot Is Hospitalized Again,” Associated Press, New York Times, June 18, 1992.

  41. “5th Man Held in Los Angeles in Beating of a Truck Driver,” New York Times, June 20, 1992.

  42. “60 Arrested in Disturbance at Site of Los Angeles Riots,” New York Times, December 15, 1992.

  43. Bob Herbert, “That Weird Day,” New York Times, July 21, 1993.

  44. Bob Herbert, “Madness and Shame,” New York Times, July 22, 2008.

  45. Jon Ward, “Obama Releases Memos Detailing Interrogations,” Washington Times, April 17, 2009.

  46. “Has L.A. Healed Since the Riots?,” Daily News (Los Angeles), April 27, 1997.

  47. Stephen Phillips, “Gloves Off for ‘Thinking Man’s Michael Moore,’ ” New York Times Higher Education Supplement, August 13, 2004.

  48. Liane Hansen, National Public Radio Weekend Edition, November 14, 2004.

  49. Wayne Parry, “NJ Muslims, Libertarians Glad to See Ashcroft Go,” Associated Press, November 10, 2004.

  50. Jeff Jacoby, “We Owe Ashcroft Thanks,” Boston Globe, November 18, 2004.

  51. Ibid.

  52. Ibid.

  53. “50 Years of Covering War, Looking for Peace and Honoring Law,” New York Times, December 16, 2001.

  54. Le Bon, 10–11.

  55. Ibid., 30–31.

  56. Ibid., 30–31.

  FOUR. CRACKPOT CONSPIRACY THEORIES—OR, AS LIBERALS CALL THEM, “THEORIES”

  1. Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (Dover, 2002) (1895), 15.

  2. The Ed Show, MSNBC, January 10, 2011.

  3. John McCormack, “We Report, We Get Pushed,” The Weekly Standard, January 12, 2010, video available at http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/video-someone-coakley-campaign-pushes-me-metal-railing.

  4. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, October 26, 2010.

  5. Le Bon, 22.

  6. “Writer’s Room Is Searched,” New York Times, November 27, 1997.

  7. Alex Koppelman, “Did
Anyone Really Yell ‘Kill Him’?: The Secret Service Says Allegations That Attendees at Two of Sarah Palin’s Rallies Called for the Death of Barack Obama Are Unfounded,” Salon.com, October 16, 2008.

  8. Le Bon, 15.

  9. Robert M. Andrews, “Federal Officials Discount Plastic Handgun Threat,” Associated Press, March 4, 1986; Robert M. Andrews, “Legislators Plead for Ban on Plastic Handguns,” Associated Press, May 15, 1986.

  10. Ike Flores, “All-Plastic Weapon May Transform Industry; Critics Fear Undetectability,” Associated Press, May 26, 1987.

  11. Andrews.

  12. Bud Newman, “Reagan Not Ready to Back Plastic Handgun Ban,” United Press International, May 20, 1987.

  13. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, August 3, 2007.

  14. “NTSB: Design Flaw Led to Minnesota Bridge Collapse,” CNN, November 14, 2008, available at http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-14/us/bridge.collapse_1_gusset-plates-bridge-collapse-bridge-designs?_s=PM:US.

  15. Joe Klein, “Nevermind,” Time, December 17, 2007.

  16. Bill Press, “World War III on Hold,” Contra Costa Times (California), December 31, 2007.

  17. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, December 5, 2007.

  18. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, December 6, 2007.

  19. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, December 5, 2007.

  20. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, December 6, 2007.

  21. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, December 7, 2007.

  22. Nazila Fathi, “Iranian Leader Calls Report of U.S. Confession ‘Mistake,’ ” New York Times, December 6, 2007.

  23. Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, December 5, 2007.

  24. Valerie Lincy and Gary Milhollin, “In Iran We Trust?,” New York Times, December 6, 2007.

  25. Alberto Hurtado, “Sullivan Thinks Southerners Are Murdering Ignoramuses,” Southern Appeal, September 26, 2009, available at http://www.southernappeal.org/index.php/archives/12675.

  26. Lachlan Markay, “Contrary to Leftist Accusations, Census Worker’s Death Ruled Suicide,” Newsbusters, November 24, 2009, available at http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2009/11/24/contrary-leftist-accusations-census-workers-death-ruled-suicide#ixzz13LMizxOp.