The Best of Notable Quotables; December 15, 1997

Media Hero Award

"[I]n person, [Anita] Hill bears only passing resemblance to
her rather stern image from newspapers and television. At 41, she
is slender to the point of willowy. Her features are elegant, and
while she is intense while discussing her political
baptism-by-fire, she can also muster a warm smile and a hearty
laugh   qualities that had little occasion to surface in the
nine hours that changed Hill's world. So, she was asked, does she
sometimes feel like the Joan of Arc of sexual harassment? Sure,
Hill replied, and here came the mirth the Senate never saw: 'I
refuse to die, though.'"  

--Los Angeles Times reporter Elizabeth Mehren, October 1. [75 points]

Runners-up:

"[Mario] Cuomo was a rare combination: an intellectual and a
spellbinding orator. I would have bet that he could have won the
Democratic nomination and been elected to the presidency. He had
electrified the 1984 Democratic convention with his keynote
speech, and I never saw him fail to excite those who shared his
liberal vision of America's future. Despite the pollsters and
political operators' contrary opinions, I remain convinced that
the public was ready for a leader who could restore that vision
after the selfish eighties. I don't believe the public has
rejected liberalism; it simply has not heard a candidate
persuasively advocate its humane and deeply democratic
principles."  

--Walter Cronkite in his book A Reporter's Life. [60]

"Justice William Brennan led the Supreme Court on a quiet
revolution that expanded individual rights and press freedoms to
an extent found nowhere else in the world...Brennan saw his
influence wane as justices appointed by Presidents Reagan and
Bush cut back the court's role as active protector of individual
rights."  

--USA Today reporters Tony Mauro and Mimi Hall, July 25. [50]

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