MORE "GAG ME WITH A SPOON" MOMENTS COURTESY OF THE MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER

1. ABC's Martha Raddatz Extols 'Combative, Charming, Disarming' Hillary Clinton
ABC's Martha Raddatz on Thursday swooned over Hillary Clinton's Senate testimony on Benghazi, lauding the outgoing Secretary of State as "combative, charming, disarming and clearly ready for a fight." The Good Morning America correspondent seemed to enjoy the day as theater, hyping, "It was truly a riveting day on Capitol Hill...with Secretary Clinton as some have never seen her before." Raddatz allowed that Clinton didn't convince "some Republicans," but returned to a style discussion. She continued, "But this was certainly a memorable way to close out her tenure." Focusing on the emotion of the Senate appearance, the journalist empathized that "when Clinton spoke of her four fallen colleagues, the pain, the memories were still raw."


2. NBC Applauds Clinton's 'Vigorous Defense' Against 'Hostile Interrogation' By GOP
At the top of Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie hyped Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's performance during congressional testimony on Wednesday: "Vigorous defense. A fired up Hillary Clinton takes on her critics during her testimony about the terror attacks in Benghazi." Introducing a later report, Guthrie described it as "an emotional and at times heated appearance before Congress."  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell decried "the hostile interrogation that Republican committee members gave Clinton over Benghazi." The headline on screen throughout the segment declared: "'It's Personal'; Clinton Gets Emotional During Benghazi Hearings."


3. CNN's O'Brien Accuses Senator Johnson of 'Playing Politics' in Daring to Question Hillary
Starting Point anchor Soledad O'Brien deflected scrutiny away from Clinton in her Thursday interview with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). O'Brien focused instead on remarks Johnson made on Clinton after Wednesday's Senate hearing. When Johnson accused the Obama administration of "playing election politics" after the Benghazi attacks, O'Brien fired back, "And someone could argue, Senator, that you're playing politics too," before quoting him from a BuzzFeed interview saying Clinton used her emotions to sidestep answering his question. Johnson soon returned to the Benghazi issue, but O'Brien forced him back to his BuzzFeed comments: "Let's go back to the question though." The rest of the interview went the same way; O'Brien hammering Johnson for accusing Clinton of faking her emotions, and Johnson wanting to hit the Obama administration for not coming out fully on Benghazi.


4. Piers Morgan Accuses GOP of 'Misogyny,' 'Political Grandstanding' at Clinton Hearing
After Republicans grilled Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the Benghazi attacks on Wednesday, CNN's Piers Morgan Morgan unloaded on their criticism as "political grandstanding" showing "a whisper of misogyny." He huffed that "I've been listening to the Republicans getting on their high horse about this for a long time. Now I've thought a lot of today's criticism was political grandstanding in many ways." Of course, Morgan himself has done plenty of grandstanding on gun control from his "high horse."


5. 'Today' Show Crew Fawns Over 'Strong Leader' Hillary Showing 'True Emotion'
At the top of the 9 a.m. et hour on Thursday's NBC Today, the morning show cast devoted a four-minute panel discussion to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton getting emotional during her congressional testimony on Wednesday. News reader Natalie Morales gushed: "She was speaking passionately about, you know, that heat of the moment. And also, you know, I think she just loved those people [who died in Benghazi]. So that was true emotion."  Co-host Savannah Guthrie observed: "I don't know if there's as much a stigma anymore from public figures crying from time-to-time. I mean, this is not somebody who is crying all the time. We've seen her well up in the past. I think this is probably the most emotional we've ever seen her." Morales proclaimed: "Right, she's a strong leader."
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