Compiled by Rich Noyes
It was a bloodthirsty assault on freedom. Nineteen terrorists seized four commercial jetliners on September 11, crashing three of them into the U.S. Department of Defense's Pentagon building and the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The loss of innocent life numbers more than 6,000.
In the face of this unprecedented calamity, our national news media generally responded with professionalism and patriotism, a fact which should make all Americans proud. Yet some reporters and columnists reacted with ideological blinders, while a few blamed America itself for the terrorists' murderous attacks. This special edition of Notable Quotables presents a sampling of the good, the bad and the ugly of the media's coverage of the first days of America's New War.
THE GOOD
No Apologies For Patriotism
“I am willing to give the government, the President and the military the benefit of any doubt here in the beginning. I'm going to fulfill my role as a journalist, and that is ask the questions, when necessary ask the tough questions….I'm going to do my job as a journalist, but at the same time I will give them the benefit of the doubt, whenever possible in this kind of crisis, emergency situation. Not because I am concerned about any backlash — I'm not — but because I want to be a patriotic American without apology.”
— Dan Rather on CNN's Reliable Sources, September 22.
“I couldn't feel stronger, David, that this is a time for us, and I'm not preaching about it, George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions, and, you know, it's just one American, wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where. And he'll make the call.”
— Rather on CBS's Late Show, September 17.
“These Colors Do Not Run”
“To keep our economy strong, and truly to eradicate the new terrorist threat, as our leaders have promised us this week, will take not only anger, but sustained dedication. Do we have it? Let us hope for our sake and the world's that we truly do. And let me add one encouraging personal observation. Yesterday, in the streets of mid-town Manhattan, as well as all over our nation, stores were selling out of American flags. And one street vendor's sign said it all: 'These colors,' it read, 'do not run.'”
— Louis Rukeyser at the start of PBS's Wall Street Week, September 14.
Enemies of America, Beware
“As the bodies are counted, into the thousands and thousands, hatred will not, I think, be a difficult emotion to summon. Is the medicine too strong? Call it, rather, a wholesome and intelligent enmity — the sort that impels even such a prosperous, messily tolerant organism as America to act. Anyone who does not loathe the people who did these things, and the people who cheer them on, is too philosophical for decent company….The worst times, as we see, separate the civilized of the world from the uncivilized. This is the moment of clarity. Let the civilized toughen up, and let the uncivilized take their chances in the game they started.”
— Lance Morrow on the back page of the special Time published after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“I swear to God, in their very success — I mean this — they [the terrorists] have sown the seeds of their own destruction. We are p—ed off as a nation.”
— Geraldo Rivera on CNBC's Rivera Live, September 24.
One Nation, Under God
“The United States had a spirit before it had a name — one of faith and freedom, of ambition tempered by piety. We once were a nation of neighbors and friends, we are again today. We once were a nation of hardship-tested dreamers — we are again today. We once were a nation under God — we are again today. Our enemies attacked one nation, they will encounter another, for they underestimated us. Today in our grief and in our rage, our determination and hope, we've summoned what's best and noblest in us. We are again Americans.”
— Tony Snow at the end of Fox News Sunday, September 16.
The Spirit of America
“I have spent this week wiping my eyes and grinding my teeth and wondering why. I've drawn strength from a story about a man I knew, Father Mychal Judge. The chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, a Franciscan, he raced to the World Trade Center after the explosion to comfort the injured. While administering the last rites to a dying rescue worker, he, himself, was killed by flying debris. New York's bravest physically carried Father Mike away….Together, firemen, priests, and brothers wept and sang the prayer of St. Francis, 'May the Lord bless and keep you and show his face to you and have mercy on you.' That is the way of New York. That is the spirit of America.”
— NBC's Tim Russert, Meet the Press, September 16.
Jane Clayson: “I can't get over the spirit of the firefighter that you just spoke with. You know the outpouring in this city for the firefighters, for people like him, just generally for the victims, it's been incredible. In fact, the outpouring of blood alone, they have three times the amount of blood that they need in this city now….You pass by fire houses throughout this city and there are candles and flowers and notes attached and people there praying, it's just an incredible sight throughout this city.”
Bryant Gumbel: “It's one of the great pluses that has come out of an awful lot of ugliness.”
— Exchange on CBS's The Early Show, September 18.
“Bandages of Patriotism”
“Suddenly, they're everywhere: large and small; cloth and paper; store-bought and handmade; half-staff and flying high; red, white and blue. They're being flown, waved, displayed, worn, driven, carried, as if to say as loudly and clearly as possible, 'Don't tread on me, I'm an American.' Almost as soon as the twin towers came down, the flags went up. They began to grow in every crevice of America. Someone said the sight of them is like countless bandages of patriotism covering a nation's wounds. The Stars and Stripes are the fabric of America when the nation needs a familiar and reassuring symbol, a quick fix of national pride….Soon bullets and missiles will fly, but first the flag, red, white and blue.”
— Tom Brokaw on the September 17 NBC Nightly News.
Grateful for Expert “Retreads”
“No President makes decisions alone. They rely on trusted advisors, sometimes a tiny handful….Some in the inner-circle are longtime familiar faces like Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, men who also served President Bush's father in Desert Storm; and Donald Rumsfeld on his second tour as Defense Secretary, a former White House Chief of Staff, known as a capable Washington insider. During the presidential campaign political opponents called them 'The Retreads'….Today the critics have evaporated and 'The Retreads' are now the experts — capable and getting high marks from both Republicans and Democrats for their resumes and experience.”
— NBC's Jamie Gangel on the September 17 Today.
Bush's Moment in History
“A powerful speech, powerfully delivered to a nation now at war….No President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, has delivered anything approaching a speech such as this and there may be those who observe that no President in the history of our country has ever delivered a speech such as this.”
— CBS's Dan Rather following President Bush's address to Congress, September 20.
“It was an excellent speech and a necessary one. We are a country on the verge of war, hovering near a recession, in a capital that was targeted for attack, and I think the President laid out very, very clearly what's ahead of us. I was quite taken by him saying that the country is on a mission and found our moment. He clearly is a Commander-in-Chief on a mission and knows this is his moment in history.”
— NBC's Tim Russert following the President's speech on September 20.
Wishing For Reagan's Military
Dan Rather: “The U.S. military is not nearly at the strength today it was when we embarked on the Gulf War.”
David Martin: “That's true. When we embarked on the Gulf War, the U.S. military was enjoying all the benefits of Reagan buildup during the 1980s. The U.S. military today is 40 percent smaller than the force that went to war in the Gulf War and, as a couple of people have pointed out, the globe is not 40 percent smaller and there are not 40 percent fewer bad guys out there. This is a smaller, stripped down version of the military that fought in
Desert Storm.”
— CBS News after the President's speech on September 20.
Return to CatholicExchange's Media & Culture Channel Friday for THE BAD.
(This feature courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
