The Best of Notable Quotables; December 19, 1994

Vol. Seven; No. 26


No Money Down Award (for Excusing the Clintons’ Financial Scandals)



“What happened was a riveting hour and 12 minutes in which the First Lady appeared to be open, candid, but above all unflappable. While she provided little new information on the tangled Arkansas land deal or her controversial commodity trades, the real message was her attitude and her poise.”

Time reporter Michael Duffy, May 2 news story on Hillary Clinton’s press conference on her commodities dealings.


Runners-up:


“She’s been re-zoned back into the stratosphere. And when you watch that [commodities press conference], you just wonder why they waited so long. She’s at least as good a communicator as her husband, and people have said about Clinton, ‘If you’ve got Elvis let him sing.’ Well, I don’t know what the analogy is, this was Streisand...For anybody except the Whitewater fanatics, this was an A-double-plus in both categories [style and substance].”

Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group, April 23.

“But Whitewater so far is a parody of a political scandal, full of sound and fury, signifying next to nothing. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a...turkey.”

Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter, August 8 issue.

“The beauty of the special counsel is that he or she has to prove criminal wrongdoing, and not only criminal wrongdoing, but criminal intent, and I think, you know, everyone is certain that doesn’t exist with the Clintons.”

Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group, January 15.