Notable Quotables - 03/02/1992

 

The Press Primary: Clinton Wins Unanimously


"The group of people I'll call The Press - by which I mean several dozen political journalists of my acquaintance, many of whom the Buchanan administration may someday round up on suspicion of having Democratic or even liberal sympathies - was of one mind as the season's first primary campaign shuddered toward its finish. I asked each of them, one after another, this question: If you were a New Hampshire Democrat, whom would you vote for? The answer was always the same; and the answer was always Clinton. In this group, in my experience, such unanimity is unprecedented....

"Almost none is due to calculations about Clinton being 'electable'...and none at all is due to belief in Clinton's denials in the Flowers business, because no one believes these denials. No, the real reason members of The Press like Clinton is simple, and surprisingly uncynical: they think he would make a very good, perhaps a great, President. Several told me they were convinced that Clinton is the most talented presidential candidate they have ever encountered, JFK included."
- New Republic Senior Editor Hendrik Hertzberg, March 9 issue.

 

No Such Understanding for Dan Quayle


"I think the more people who read the letter, the actual draft letter, the more people will come back to Clinton....One of the sentences in the letter he gets blasted for is that he wanted to keep his political viability. Well, he was what, in his early twenties? He was running for Congress when he was 25. What happened to the notion `I want to grow up to be President'? That's a good thing."
- Time Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Margaret Carlson on Inside Washington, February 15.

"Bill Clinton did not do anything illegal. There were, most young Americans at that time that were in his income and educational background did exactly what he did. They tried to find some way to avoid service."
- Wall Street Journal Washington Bureau Chief Al Hunt on CNN's Capital Gang, February 8.

 

Shifting Debate Targets


Foes target Tsonfas in final debate
- Washington Times, February 17

Democrates Aim Attacks at Bush In N.H. Debate
- Washington Post, same day

 

Early Morning Assault on Buchanan


Anchor Lisa McRee: "What's the difference between your message and the message of David Duke?....In terms of fairness, you've said things that have angered Jews, that have angered gays, that have angered women, that have angered minorities. In fact, just the other day, you said that there are certain groups that assimilate more easily into what is basically an American society which is of European derivation. As a woman, if I was a minority, why shouldn't I be scared of you?"
Buchanan: "....No nation of God's Earth has done more to fight discrimination, or has made greater progress in doing so, than the United States of America."
McRee: "But you want to turn that around!"
- Exchange on ABC's World News Now, February 26.

 

Conservatives Can't Spur Job Creation?


"Why was she looking for help from a man who promises to cut spending, dismantle government agencies, and deregulate corporations?"
- Washington Post writer Henry Allen on an un-employed New Hampshire woman talking to Pat Buchanan, February 17.

 

Yeah, And Harkin's Rhetoric Is Familiar to Supporters of Gus Hall


"Speaking to a receptive audience at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, Buchanan used the highly charged rhetoric familiar to supporters of former Alabama Governor George Wallace and former Louisiana State Representative David Duke to assail the well-born, Yale-educated Bush for signing the 1991 Civil Rights Act."
- Washington Post reporter E. J. Dionne, February 21.

 

Still Horton-Crazy After All These Years


"David Duke's exploitation of white working-class fears about blacks echoes a theme from the 1988 election. Then the issue was crime. This is the Maryland State Penitentiary. Inside resides the most politically notorious convict in America...William Horton, Jr., the focal point of a national campaign designed to exploit white fear of black crime."
- CNN reporter Ken Bode on World News, February 13.

Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY): "When you have the Willie Horton- type commercials, when you have candidates like Duke and Buchanan spew hate and are acceptable and are on the news every night, that, too, is a message to particularly young people that hating is okay."
Reporter Jacqueline Adams: "What's striking is that so many young people on college campuses and on the streets are willing to accept that message. For them, hatred has replaced the American dream of living in a country free of racial strife."
- CBS Evening News, February 20.

 

Joe Garagiola: Need We Say More?


"Among Cuba's successes is its health care - it's progressive and it's free."
- Joe Garagiola on Today, February 13.

 

Couric: Kind to Communists and Liberals


"Considered one of the most charismatic leaders of the 20th century....Castro traveled the country cultivating his image and his revolution delivered. Campaigns stamped out illiteracy and even today, Cuba has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world."
- Katie Couric on Today, February 13.

Katie Couric: "Governor Dukakis, do you feel somewhat vindicated that the economy is such a prominent issue in this campaign, and that's why perhaps Pat Buchanan fared so well in New Hampshire?"
Dukakis: "No, I'm just mad at myself for blowing that election..."
Couric: "Well, don't beat yourself up too much. Live and learn, I guess, is the moral."
- Exchange on Today, February 19.

 

Couric: Curt to Conservatives


Bryant Gumbel: "We'll surely be talking about Pat Buchanan's politics as the weeks proceed."
Katie Couric: "Some questionable stands, for sure."
- Exchange on Today, February 19.

"We just heard Martina Graywind's brother say he was very worried about her ability to make the right decision. Your organization, as we mentioned, offered her $10,000 to keep her child. Won't that further complicate her decision-making?....How do you differentiate this offer of $10,000 from baby-buying, which is illegal in this country?"
- Katie Couric questioning Robert Maxson of the anti-abortion group Lambs of Christ on Today, February 21. (Graywind had the abortion.)

 

Headline of the Post-Communist Era


A Gulag Breeds Rage, Yes, but Also Serenity
- New York Times story on last Soviet political prisoners being released, February 12

 

- L. Brent Bozell III; Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Brant Clifton, Nicholas Damask, Steve Kaminski, Marian Kelley, Tim Lamer; Media Analysts
- Jennifer Hardebeck; Circulation Manager