Hot Air Rises to the Top

[[H U H ?]] * Looking back at what it calls “the extreme conservative speech we found in the news media in 2005,” Media Matters offers up a selection of outrageous and idiotic quotes that are only funny if you can ignore the fact that they were delivered over the last year by folks who have at least some influence over shaping U.S. public opinion. A few of the most egregious and wince-producing examples:

Former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett: “[Y]ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”

FOX News’ Bill O'Reilly to San Francisco: “[I]f Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. ... You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.”

MSNBC host Tucker Carlson: “Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he’s nice, but you don’t take him seriously. That’s Canada.”

Former GOP presidential candidate-turned-commentator Pat Buchanan: “Our guys” in Iraq “have got every right to have good news put into the media and get to the people of Iraq, even if it’s got to be planted or bought.”

Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson: Same-sex marriage would lead to “marriage between daddies and little girls ... between a man and his donkey.”

READ MORE: “President Bush’s ‘Brownie’ Quote Wins Award,” by Arthur Spiegelman (Reuters).