The Best of Notable Quotables; December 15, 1997

Vol. Ten; No. 25


Evil Elephant Empire Award (for Bashing Congressional Republicans)



"In fact, the Speaker will forever remain his own caricature  
a Dennis the Menace meets Darth Vader kind of guy. A fellow who,
for instance, wants to give all children in America laptops but
take away their free school lunches."  

--U.S. News & World Report Assistant Managing Editor Gloria Borger, April 7. [71 points]


Runners-up:


ABC reporter John Cochran: "Flood victims in Grand Forks do not
understand why Republican leaders refuse to pass an aid bill
without strings attached."
A flood victim: "The river took our home, our possessions, our
neighbors, our neighborhood and we still have our spirit. But the
government is taking our spirit and our strength. And that's
what's going to kill us."
Cochran: "Doug Sprehe is a life-long conservative Republican."
Doug Sprehe: "I believed in these guys and I voted for some of
them and I'm beginning to lose my faith in the conservative
party."
Cochran: "...People whose homes and businesses were destroyed say
GOP leaders should realize that what they really need is money to
rebuild."  

--ABC's World News Tonight, June 6. [68]

"But there's another reason why all but nine of the 225 House
Republicans backed Gingrich: deep reservations about the man next
in line, the hard-right majority leader, Dick Armey. Just as Dan
Quayle's lack of gravitas led many Republicans to pray for the
health of George Bush, Armey's ideological stubbornness and
hot-headed rhetoric inspire in his colleagues protective optimism
about Gingrich....In a House brimming with mean-spirited
rhetoric, Armey stands out."  

--U.S. News & World Report Senior Writers Kent Jenkins Jr. and Paul Glastris, January 20 issue. [62]

"It'll be interesting when he sits down with Jiang Zemin, the
President of China, and starts lecturing him about the rule of
law though, I think. I'd like to be a fly on the wall in that
session."

--New York Times columnist and former reporter Thomas Friedman disdaining Gingrich, March 21 PBS Washington Week in Review.  [44]