Category: Media Watch

* “The Israeli lobby is regarded as right up there with the National Rifle Association as a crowd that rewards its friends and punishes its enemies, with this exception: Far more congressmen and senators are willing to stand up to the NRA than to defy AIPAC.”–Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.

* “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as cooperation with good.”–Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

* “Depending on what room you’re in here, sometimes it’s easier coming out gay to Republicans than it is coming out Republican to gays.”–Kevin L. James, a gay Republican running for mayor of Los Angeles.

* “President George W. Bush’s steep tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 and his multitrillion-dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan emptied the piggy bank while exacerbating the great divide. His party’s newfound commitment to fiscal discipline–in the form of insisting on low taxes for the rich while slashing services for the poor–is the height of hypocrisy.”–Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

* “Karl Rove is trying to rebrand himself so people will forget all the losses in 2012. But he sounds like big-daddy government: ‘I know what’s best, you need to listen to us and do what we say.’ It is the antithesis of what the GOP stands for. Primary voters want to pick their candidates.”–Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots.

* “It’s like Yugoslavia, and Tito just died.”–Physician and former hospital executive Kent Bottles on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on business models.

* “I like Tim personally. But he was better at putting out the fire than preventing the next one.”–Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on former Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner.

* “In the end, the strongest economic argument for an aggressive response to climate change is not the much trumpeted windfall of green jobs. It’s the fact that the economy won’t function very well in a world full of droughts, hurricanes and heat waves.”–David Leonhardt, New York Times.

* “Sally Jewell would be the first woman chosen to join Mr. Obama’s second-term cabinet, which is dominated by white males. But she also represents a different kind of diversity inside the Beltway: someone who can tell you which way the wind is blowing without having to fake it.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times, on President Obama’s nomination of Jewell as Interior Secretary.

* “Let’s give parents the ammunition they need to tell their kids that texting while driving isn’t only wrong and isn’t only dangerous but is illegal. … The Florida Legislature can help, because it’s at the state level where the greatest good can be done.”–Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation.

* “The reader has always been the most critical element. The idea is that quality journalism produces a quality reader who attracts quality advertising. That hasn’t changed.”–Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times.

* “In making changes to the voting sequence, we adhered to time-honored and completely legitimate standards for the creation of historical drama, which is what Lincoln is. I hope nobody is shocked to learn that I also made up dialogue and imagined encounters and invented characters.”–Lincoln screenwriter  Tony Kushner.

* “Marco Rubio’s going to do whatever’s good for Marco Rubio.”–Raul Martinez, Democratic former mayor of Hialeah.

* “Charlie Crist may have a chance at beating the incumbent unless Scott is successful in buying votes this time with taxpayer money. He bought them last time using his own money.”–GOP fundraiser and adviser C.C. Dockery.

* “The real justice out of all of this will come when we see the party out of the money laundering business and Swiss bank account business for legislative leaders.”–Allen Cox, former GOP state party vice chairman, on Jim Greer’s guilty plea to grand theft and money laundering.

* “Brazil is one of our priority markets. We see a lot of opportunity there.”–Wade Elliot, senior marketing director for the Tampa Port Authority.

* “I sensed when we briefly reminisced about our work together … that I was saying good-bye.”–Bishop Robert Lynch, who leads the diocese of St. Petersburg, on his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican last May.

* “It is so cool to be ‘carny-in-chief,'”–Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam at the Florida State Fair.

* “This week (Wednesday) we have back-to-back groundbreakings at two large developments, the Classic Federal Courthouse and the Crescent Bayshore Condominiums. These projects are indicative of the interest and excitement surrounding our urban core.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

You can assume that those of us in the newspaper business are free speech junkies. We know our Thomas Paine and our Pentagon Papers and why “unpopular” speech must be protected and how vigilant we must be to avoid the slippery slope of a censorious society. But having said all that, there is still something viscerally assaulting to hear the bilious likes of Bubba the Love Sponge Clem declare: “The First Amendment prevailed today.”

* There’s a lot not to like–and not to even get–when it comes to the Manti Te’o-virtual girlfriend affair. Namely, the hoax, the hoaxer, the hoaxee and the end game. But it’s beyond bafflingly bizarre once media ambulance chasers move in. Then it’s just old-school exploitation.

First, Katie Couric got the get. Not coincidentally, she shares a publicist with Te’o. Then it was Dr. Phil McGraw who landed the hoaxer, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, accompanied by his parents. It was highly promoted and teased, including shots of the teary-eyed Tuiasosopo and outtakes about homosexuality. Insensitive, even by network psycho-babble sub-standards.

* Didn’t George Will used to be a voice of relative reason and even wit within the conservative punditry? A welcome respite from the usual classless attacks dogs that dominate the talk-radio and cable-TV scene. No longer. Where there’s a Will, there’s a won’t. He’s no longer William F. Buckley in a bow tie. More like a bespectacled Sean Hannity engaged in ad hominem attacks on President Obama or cheap, “moral-grandstanding” shots at those lobbying for stricter gun laws.

I saw Zero Dark Thirty the other day. It’s not a passive experience. I’ll let others debate the issues of composite characters and the role of the euphemistically labeled “enhanced interrogation techniques.” But some things, we’re graphically reminded, are more acceptable in hypothetical scenarios.

Zero Dark Thirty offers us an alternate moral prism for the occasion. Like picking up your 3-D glasses before Life of Pi. We’re reminded (initially via 9/11 audio) that there is evil in the world. It’s no quantum leap to acknowledge that you don’t successfully confront and conquer it by playing the American exceptionalism card.

You don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. You need snipers. You need kill-or-be-killed mentalities. You need bad-cop interrogators.

But you don’t empathize with these Americans. In fact, you don’t particularly like them, however necessary their calling, however effective their work.

They operate in high-intensity, amoral, zero-sum contexts. The more their humanity encroaches, the less effective they will be. There are no moral victories. We’re used to respecting and liking the people who fight for America. But we’d prefer not to know who the snipers are and who comprises an assassination team.

Once we know, we respect what they do because it has to be done–and done well. But we don’t particularly like what we respect.

* “We do need a new architecture for this new world: more Frank Gehry than formal Greek.”–Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

* “I haven’t forgotten about Benghazi. Hillary Clinton got away with murder in my view.”–Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

* “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.”–Steven J. Law, president of American Crossroads, a Republican “super PAC.”

* “We were anxious to get back into the battle. Post-election we have new battle lines being drawn with the president. He kicks it off with these nominations, and it made sense for us.”–Nick Ryan, founder of the American Future Fund PAC, which has taken on a leading role in opposing Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel.

* “Critics on the right complain about political correctness–excessive sensitivity to perceived racism, sexism and other bigotries–but the most powerful form of political correctness in America is patriotism that reels in national idolatry. Ambitious politicians take care not to run afoul of it.”–Randall Kennedy, professor of law, Harvard Law School.

* “We (political) moderates generally suffer from too much righteousness, too little populist grit and too many compound sentences.”–Joe Klein, Time magazine.

* “A quarter ago, you’d say the housing market had stabilized. Now you can say the housing market is starting to grow.”–JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist for TD Ameritrade.

* “Immigrants, both legal and illegal, do not drain the federal budget. It’s true that states and localities have to spend money to educate them when they are children, but, over the course of their lives, they pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “It’s an important filmmaker who trusts the audience to participate.”–Actress Jessica Chastain, who stars in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty.

* “I think it’s stupid.”–Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco on the site of next year’s Super Bowl: East Rutherford, N.J.

* “With his poll numbers, no other politician would even consider running for re-election. He’s doing this because his political life is hanging by a thread. This is more politics than it is policy.”–Rep.  Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, on the motivation behind Gov. Rick Scott’s plan for teacher pay raises.

* “The stars are aligned to have a really good adult conversation about higher education this year in Florida.”–Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford.

* “It is an embarrassment of riches. Florida is at the top of the heap of destination marketing.”–Visit Florida CEO Will Seccombe.

* “Guess what? Jurors let O.J. Simpson go.”–Todd “MJ” Schnitt.

* “I’m not advocating that teachers should walk around the school grounds with guns, because that’s against the law. But an educated society is an empowered society.”–Lenny Bogdanos, president of Clearwater-based International Executive Protection, which is offering free concealed-carry permit training to schoolteachers.

* “I’ve known him for a long time. I know he will be successful… I really like him. I like his heart. I like who he is.”–Former USF football coach Jim Leavitt on Willie Taggart, USF’s new football coach.

* “Whether you like the Rays or not, whether you like sports or not, when you have an economic engine in the $300 million-a-year range, I believe it’s incumbent upon elected officials to do everything we can to ensure that engine remains.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.

* “I just wasn’t used to the losing. I thought I could go anywhere and win. I took a little bit of a beating there, no question.”–Lou Piniella on his 2003-05 tenure (200-285) with the Rays.

Defamation or definition? It’s been nice seeing Florida out of the news for voting lines, gun issues, python hunts, pill mills and the country’s most unpopular governor. Alas, all it took was a shock-jock trial that gives carnival side show a bad name.

Just curious. Now that the Channel 8 @ Seven newscast has been up and running for a couple months in that 7 p.m. slot, does that mean that what we see is what we will continue to get? It still has the look of a less-than-hip, shakedown cruise–and what’s with the leggy shots of anchor Jennifer Leigh? That’s not how Gayle Sierens or Stacie Schaible earned their studio stripes.

* “It is time for the British people to have their say.”–British Prime Minister David Cameron in pledging to hold a referendum within five years on Great Britain’s continued membership in the European Union.

* “Today I can’t help but recognize that the world itself then (Vietnam era) was in many ways simpler, divided as it was along bi-polar, Cold War antagonisms. Today’s world is more complicated than anything we have experienced.”–Sen. John Kerry, secretary of state nominee.

* “Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. But everyone is entitled to a chance.”–Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

* “Women now make up almost 15 percent of the U.S. military and their willingness to serve made the switch to an all-volunteer Army possible.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.

* “I’m more than familiar with all the literature about presidential overreach in second terms. We are very cautious about that. On the other hand, I didn’t get re-elected just to bask in re-election.”–President Barack Obama.

* “You have to be willing to be a strong executive-power president in your second term; otherwise, you become a lame duck.”–Historian Douglas Brinkley.

* “We’re expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this Administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party.”–Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio).

* “We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults. We had a number of Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. I’m here to say we’ve had enough of that.”–Bobby Jindal, Republican governor of Louisiana.

* “How could equality be a founding principle of a nation, six of whose 13 original states had legalized slavery, and five of whose first seven presidents owned slaves all their lives?”–Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.

* “Lincoln’s presidency is a big, well-lit classroom for business leaders seeking to build successful, enduring organizations. … Listening, always being present and authenticity are essential leadership qualities whether one is leading a country in wartime or a company during a period of transformation.”–Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks.

* “Those of us who work in the arts know that depiction is not endorsement.”–Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow.

* “The bishops hope the Boy Scouts will continue to work under the Judeo-Christian principles upon which they were founded and under which they have served youth well.”–Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

* “Our revenues are up. We have a projected surplus now. If we’re going to have a great education system, we’ve got to take care of our teachers. They’re doing the right things.”–Gov. Rick Scott explaining his plan for $2,500 across-the-board pay raises for all full-time public school teachers.

* “There’s a blurry line between politics and policy.”–Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

* “Tell him to send the money, but no one is fooled by this. He’s just restoring money that was already stolen from teachers. He can campaign all he wants.”–Karen Aronowitz, president of the United Teachers of Dade.

* “I think the consensus is I’m not well-regarded in Tampa Bay. You know what? I’m not the mayor of Tampa Bay. I don’t have a fiduciary duty to Tampa Bay.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.

* “We are way away from a merger.”–Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority chairwoman Fran Davin commenting on talks between HART and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.

* “I’ve always been a contrarian in terms of challenging what I considered to be the central tenets of whatever it is I’m doing.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe.

* “We’re doing good things, but we are not good yet.”–Lightning coach Guy Boucher.

* The headline on page one of the sports section of a local daily read: “Lance Comes Clean on Doping.” As in the contemptible, arrogant Lance Armstrong publicly acknowledging what he has been lying about over the years. One problem: What’s with the first-name reference?  We’re not talking about Madonna, Beyonce or Sting here. Are there too many letters in “Armstrong” to accommodate the space? Well then reconfigure it. Experience laying out a high school newspaper is all it takes.

Personally, I don’t like the implication that we, as readers, are on such first-name familiarity with the discredited likes of Lance Armstrong. I also prefer “Woods” to “Tiger” and “Hogan,” if not “Bollea,” to “Hulk.” But, no, it’s not as bad as, say, “Dolph Found Dead in Bunker,” but it’s bad enough.

*  He’s baaack. That’s right, the post-governor, post-love-child-with-maid, post-relevant Arnold Schwarzenegger is back with another movie, The Last Stand. Which begs the obvious question: Why is there still a market for this shameless cartoon character’s movies?

* Al Pacino will play the late, died-in-disgrace Joe Paterno in the Brian De Palma-directed movie, Happy Valley. I’m already cringing.

* “We must not lose the support of the United States. What gives Israel bargaining power in the international arena is the support of the United States. Even if the Americans do not take part in the negotiations, they are present at them. If Israel were to stand alone, its enemies would swallow it up.”–Israeli President Shimon Peres.

* “Fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges.”–President Barack Obama.

* “There’s this tendency to freeze Dr. King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where he delivered the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. But King’s concern, his activism, went well beyond this call for integration to build and focus on this issue on economic justice and the issue of international peace.”–Lewis V. Baldwin, author and professor of religious studies at Vanderbilt University.

* “If Bill Clinton found his voice after the Oklahoma City bombing, Barack Obama found his after the Newtown shootings.”–Margaret Carlson, Bloomberg View.

* “In modern history this could be the first congressionally induced recession.”–Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments, conjecturing that if Congress can’t come to an agreement over sequestration, government spending will drop and the economy will contract.

* “President Obama’s frustration with our republic and the way it works doesn’t give him license to ignore the Constitution…As a strong defender of the 2nd Amendment, I will oppose the president’s attempts to undermine Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms.”–Sen. Marco Rubio.

* “Some things are above politics.”–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

* “Patients should demand that their health care provider gets flu shots–and they should ask them.”–Medical ethicist Art Caplan.

* “I’m not the most believable guy in the world right now.”–Lance Armstrong.

* “These Te’o jokes are all very funny, but let’s all try and remember that a person who never existed is dead.”–Seth Myers, Saturday Night Live.

* “Your record of appointments to the judiciary is appalling to us.”–Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, in assailing Gov. Rick Scott for appointing so few (6 out of 91) African-Americans to judgeships.

* “My job is to be an economic developer.”–Paul Anderson, the new CEO of the Tampa Port Authority.

* “It’s very important in today’s economics that stadiums be located as close to a business district as possible–particularly baseball, that can play six or seven games a week.”–Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist.

* “Just to take that amount of law enforcement personnel and assign them to those schools because of what happened in Connecticut–I don’t think it’s prudent. I don’t think it’s necessary. I just don’t think it’s going to accomplish anything other than create a ‘feel-good’ situation.”–Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

* “I think this is a great example of urban design. It’s almost like maybe we’re finally getting there.”–City Council member Mary Mulhern, commenting on council’s unanimous vote to sell about 1 acre of city land to developers planning to build a 36-story apartment tower on the Hillsborough River.

* “These fans have been terrific over the years. I get so angry at people up North, the snobs, who talk about hockey in Florida. This is just as good as any market in hockey.”–Phil Esposito.