After reports that the new Iranian president was one of the terrorists who stormed the American embassy in 1979, triggering a 444-day long hostage crisis, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams wondered anyone would care. “What would it all matter if proven true,” he asked correspondent Andrea Mitchell on June 30. “Someone brought up today the first several U.S. Presidents were certainly revolutionaries and might have been called terrorists at the time by the British Crown.” For that bit of a historical inanity, Williams “won” top prize in our Slam Uncle Sam Award.
For a complete rundown of this year’s winners, as well as audio and video clips of the broadcast quotes, see The Best Notable Quotables of 2005.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)