Three days before Governor Deval Patrick named an interim replacement for the late Ted Kennedy, CNBC's John Harwood predicted the Senate seat would remain vacant until a January 2010 special election. Asked if Massachusetts would pass a special law allowing the governor to appoint a temporary replacement, Harwood shook his head: "I don’t think so. Doesn’t look like it."
Hours after Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, NBC anchor Brian Williams related an e-mail he received: "In lieu of flowers, pass health care reform."
In an August 15, 2005 appearance on Hardball, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan went on at length about how the U.S. was using Iraq "as a base for spreading imperialism." An impressed Chris Matthews suggested: "You sound more informed than most U.S. Congresspeople, so maybe you should run."
When anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was protesting President Bush's war policies by camping out near his Texas ranch, NBC reporter Carl Quintanilla wondered if Sheehan "may be evolving as an icon in the war's turning point," like "Walter Cronkite did on the Evening News in 1968."
On MSNBC's Hardball on August 11, host Chris Matthews rejected the idea that conservatives were upset at the liberal direction Barack Obama is taking America. "I think some of the people are upset because we have a black President."
NBC's Andrea Mitchell celebrated how Bill Clinton and Al Gore, once "a Boomer buddy team" had both become "international superstars."
Appearing on CNN's Situation Room on July 27, 2009, HBO's Bill Maher slammed the United States as "a stupid country" that gets "dumber and dumber every day," to which CNN's Wolf Blitzer riposted: "This country did elect Barack Obama as President."
Back on May 7, 2003, NBC's Katie Couric fell for a Washington Post parody of Floriday Senator Bob Graham's diary-keeping habits. Reading from the absurd Style-section joke item, she credulously asked Graham: "What, what do you do this for?!"
In an interview shown on the July 23 Early Show, CBS's Harry Smith mocked the notion of journalists asking President Obama tough questions: "People in the mainstream media have been accused of being afraid to speak truth to power....I've got some truth to power for you right now....Your dog looks like he's out of control."
When CNBC anchor Mark Haines challenged liberal Representative Barney Frank about his plans to have the government police private sector pay, Frank pulled out his earpiece and terminated the interview.