Notable Quotables - 03/15/1993
ABC's On-Air Thank You Card
"As one parent put
it: `There is no better way to make me change my opinion than to change the
world for my child.' With nothing more than a listening ear, that is what Bill
Clinton did."
- ABC reporter Tom Foreman describing ABC's own February 20 program featuring
President Clinton talking to children, February 20 World News Saturday.
Jennings' Jihad on the Pentagon
"We had just come
out of Desert Storm, in which to this country's disgrace, and to the
government's disgrace, and I would also argue the public's disgrace, which did
not up and yell and cry about it, the media was totally locked out of a
military operation. The access for the U.S. press to Desert Storm was so
negligible as to be non-existent."
- ABC anchor Peter Jennings answering a question about coverage of the
Somalia landing during talk to Howard University students shown by C-SPAN,
March 4.
Cheering on the "Stimulus"
Garrick Utley: "We
also have that stimulus package, what is it, 29, 30 billion dollars in
spending and tax benefits?"
Jeff Madrick: "Plus
another 30 in tax cuts."
Utley: "Is that
going to be needed, there's quite a debate going on?"
Madrick: "My guess
is yes, it will be needed. My guess is the economy is not sustaining itself,
and what the Clinton Administration has is flexibility there."
- Exchange on NBC Nightly News, March 6.
"What could happen,
and what could be very bad, is if to stimulate the economy, they decide to
pass the spending parts of this program, the highway construction programs, in
an effort to get people back to work, that would be good, that would get the
economy humming. But if they don't pass the tax increases behind that, then
you will set off inflation and send the deficit into another galaxy."
- CBS reporter Bob Schieffer, Febuary 17 Evening News.
The Blame-Reagan Industry
"Senator, don't you
believe, a lot of people do think that the '80s were an excess, which a lot of
people got richer and people got poorer, and it's now fair to redress that
balance?"
- Sam Donaldson to Robert Dole on This Week with David Brinkley,
February 21.
"Ronald Reagan
reversed the trend to centralized authority, denouncing government as `the
problem, not the solution.' But he only succeeded by convincing voters that
lower taxes and more defense spending were possible at the same time. The
result was the $4 trillion deficit Clinton is facing."
- U.S. News & World Report Senior Writer Steven Roberts, March
1.
NBC's 20-Something View
"We learned about
initiatives like the New Deal and the Great Society in history class. To us
they had the same impact as the War of 1812. Unlike older people, we didn't
experience these innovative programs directly. During our lifetime, we had 12
years of hands-off Republican presidents who said the government should not
meddle in people's lives. At the same time, we begged for a President to get
the nation back on track....Ronald Reagan enjoyed support from many young
people, but his distrust of big government and scandals within his
administration reinforced our already well-developed cynicism."
- Tabitha Soren, MTV News reporter and NBC Today contributor, in USA
Weekend, February 26-28.
Hail to the Chief
"Another factor
adding to Britain's gloomy mood recently - a slight envy of America, where a
new administration has given the country a shot of optimism and things are
looking up."
- ABC reporter Mark Litke, February 24 World News Tonight.
"But this
action-oriented President, who seems to be thrusting Washington headlong into
new policy arenas every day, insists he is not for Big Government in the
traditional sense. In fact, Clinton's gusto for government has been restrained
by grim fiscal realities and what appears to be a healthy respect for the free
market."
- U.S. News & World Report writers Jim Impoco and David Hage,
March 8.
More on Rigid Republicans
"What about the
abortion issue? Do you think the party should remain as rigid vis a vis
abortion to be successful in 1996?"
- Today co-host Katie Couric to Pat Buchanan, February 1.
"So you don't think
the right wing should be so narrow-minded or rigid when it comes to
abortion?"
- Couric to RNC chairman Haley Barbour, same show.
"Rich Bond. As he
stepped down as RNC chair, he had some parting shots for the religious right
and fringe fanatics like Phyllis Schlafly. What did you think of his
remarks?"
- Today co-host Bryant Gumbel to Roger Ailes, February 9.
Better to Live Cramped
"Economists...contend
that the mortgage-interest subsidy encourages Americans to buy more costly
homes than they would otherwise. That tends to reduce their savings and
financial investment, and is one reason that Americans lead the world in
3,000-sq.-ft. homes, while the Japanese and Germans lead in
manufacturing."
- Time Washington reporter Dan Goodgame, February 22 issue.
Living in the Past
"You don't really
talk about it in terms of the U.N., you talk about it in terms of the United
States and the Soviet Union. If you cannot, by diplomacy, bring the Soviet
Union into an alliance with the U.S. to stop this situation it is not going to
be stopped."
- Columnist Carl Rowan on Inside Washington, March 6.
Roker: Too Much Time with Gumbel
Weatherman Al Roker:
"That's good to see those kids doing that. I think the kids are more
aware these days than perhaps the kids in the '80s. That's really nice."
Co-host Jackie Nespral:
"It raises consciousness."
- Exchange on teenagers fasting for world hunger, February 20 Today.
One Retiree Who Likes Clinton's Plan
"The general also
said that he now views Communist doctrine as `partially utopian and partially
wrong,' and that he has turned away from it while retaining `the values of the
left.' Asked what political philosophy he espoused, he replied, `Actually, in
Clinton's program I see elements I like a lot.'"
- New York Times story by reporter John Darnton on former Polish
dictator Wojciech Jaruzelski, March 4.
- L. Brent Bozell III;
Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Brant Clifton, Chris Crowley, Andrew Gabron, Kristin Johnson, Steve
Kaminski; Media Analysts
- Jennifer Hardebeck; Circulation Manager
- David Muska, Bill Thompson; Interns
