The Best of Notable Quotables; December 15, 1997

Vol. Ten; No. 25

Quote of the Year



"The mood of the Republican congressional leadership is so
ideologically obtuse as to doom even this modest first step down
the path of responsibility. They would rather kill people than
raise taxes."  

--Former Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Scheer in an April 22 column on the Kennedy-Hatch health for children bill. [111 points]


Runners-up:


"Newt Gingrich's problem, I've always thought, he's like Lenin.
They both made a revolution by shooting people   Newt shot
Democrats, Lenin shot everybody   and then they didn't have
enough sense to stop shooting once they won. So, I mean, once you
win, you say, 'Okay, now I've shot all your relatives, but you're
a good guy, let's work together.' Instead, Newt shut down the
government and kept on trying to shoot Democrats."  

--ABC's Sam Donaldson on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, January 8. [96]

"Earlier tonight, we reported the President's apology for
medical experiments that allowed black Americans to die of
syphilis. The President noted how badly this hurt public trust in
government, especially among minorities. The same criticism is
being made today on another score. As CBS News correspondent John
Blackstone reports, it's the fallout from California's
voter-approved ban on state affirmative action programs."  

--Dan Rather introducing May 16 CBS Evening News story on drop in
minority admissions. [66]

"The problem [of pedophiles] has been made only worse by the
passage of Proposition 187. It specifically says that no public
funds can be used to provide social services to anyone who's in
this country illegally. That means that even if social workers
for the city or the state wanted to help the boys of Balboa Park
they couldn't. It would be against the law. Proposition 187 is
now being challenged in court, but its message is clear."  

--John Quinones in March 19 Prime Time Live story on pedophiles preying on Mexican boys in a San Diego park. [50]
                                                               
 

 

Eric Darbe, Geoffrey Dickens, Gene Eliasen, Steve Kaminski,
Clay Waters; Media Analysts

Kristina Sewell, Research Associate; Joe Alfonsi, Web Manager