Notable Quotables - 03/16/1992
Quayle Hunt Starts Again
"Mr. Vice
President, I want to ask this question respectfully but directly. With Pat
Buchanan averaging roughly 30 percent of the vote in Republican primaries, why
should not you step aside this time and make Pat Buchanan your running mate
with George Bush?"
- Dan Rather to Dan Quayle, March 10 CBS special.
The Clinton Corps Reports
"It would have been
outrageous if he [Clinton] had been done in by the draft thing because that
was a bum rap. The word `draft dodging' does not belong in any sentence with
Bill Clinton's name in it."
- Time Editor-at-Large (and Clinton friend) Strobe Talbott, March 7 Inside
Washington.
"[Clinton] carried
a majority of whites and 70 percent of blacks. Why? Because Clinton was
perceived as the one candidate with the economic solutions and as the one who
cares."
- NBC reporter Lisa Myers, March 4 Today.
Anita Hill's "Conservatism" Revealed, But The Media Conceals
"There is this
sense that I was an absolute staunch conservative, that I was opposed to
affirmative action, that I supported Robert Bork. A lot of that has been
misunderstood. First of all, I have never been against affirmative action, and
while I was extremely uncomfortable with the way the hearings were conducted,
I did not support Robert Bork on the issues. My position is that the man
should not be judged on his personality. We decided we didn't like him as a
person, that he was strident, arrogant, and there-fore he was not a good
person for the Supreme Court position. My position was that he should stand or
fall on the issues."
- Anita Hill in the March issue of Essence magazine.
"There are reports
that you are still investigating Judge Clarence Thomas, looking to see if
there's anything else you think the public should know. What can you tell us
about that?... When, though, will we see more on Judge Clarence Thomas? I know
you said you haven't been able to write as much as you'd like to, are you
saying a month down the road, a couple of months down the road?"
- CBS This Morning co-host Paula Zahn interviewing National Public
Radio's Nina Totenberg, February 25.
Never Regret Raising Taxes
"The revived `no
new taxes' pledge may again prove to be widely popular. But with the federal
government borrowing more than one in every four dollars it will spend this
year, and with interest payments on the national debt eating up one of every
seven dollars of federal spending, many of the President's own supporters were
dismayed at his renunciation of the hard-won budget compromise. And many
economists criticized Bush's apparent renewal of his 1988 `read my lips'
campaign pledge."
- Washington Post reporter Steven Mufson, March 6 "news
analysis."
El Salvadoran Deaths: Reagan's Fault
"Before the war is forgotten, the arrogance and miscalculation that led to the U.S. policy that condoned d'Aubuisson and what it represented should be understood....D'Aubuisson thrived because American leaders who feared a communist takeover in El Salvador deliberately turned a blind eye to the use of state-sanctioned terrorism against Marxist guerrillas, their supporters, and suspected sympathizers....
"The tragedy is not
just the bloody career of Roberto d'Aubuisson, but the policy that encouraged
it. As Salvadorans celebrate the dawning of peace, the United States should
not forget its share of the responsibility for the carnage in El
Salvador."
- Washington Post reporter Douglas Farah, February 23
"Outlook."
Cause and Effect
"On the road I
travel to the mall in Wheaton, Md., two white men severely beat two black
women Tuesday. One was doused with lighter fluid, and her attacker tried to
set her afire. Both men cursed the women for being black. I couldn't help but
shudder: That could have been me. This heinous act happened only hours after
Pat Buchanan voters gave him 30 percent of the vote in the Maryland GOP
presidential primary."
- USA Today columnist and former "Inquiry" page Editor
Barbara Reynolds, March 6.
Brain-Dead Republicans vs. PBS
"Public television
has a hard enough time as it is. But now some Republicans are determined to
render it as brain dead as they are."
- Los Angeles Times television critic Howard Rosenberg, March 6.
Defending the National Endowment for the Arts
"During the era of
dramatic deregulation, the NEA could get regulated out of existence.
Reagan-Bush have deregulated the airlines, the airwaves, and the smokestack
industries that affect the very air we breathe. Reagan tried to terminate the
NEA altogether and the Endowment has been constrained and threatened under
Bush, who fired its director. While the pursuit of profit is irresponsibly
unfettered, support for cultural endeavors and free expression is increasingly
inhibited and compromised."
- Boston Globe arts critic and former "Living/Arts"
section Editor John Koch, March 5.
"Rather than a
pluralist tolerance in which one seeks only to ensure that one's side is
heard, anti-NEA campaigners seem to seek a monopoly in which no other values
can be affirmed by government....What their noses were being rubbed in was a
reminder that in a heterogeneous society, there are other, often antagonistic,
points of view - with equal entitlement to respect."
- Time critic William A. Henry III, March 9.
Buchanan's Free Media Ride
"For all of his
rock solid principles, Pat Buchanan has a few authenticity problems of his
own, starting with the Mercedes in his garage. Of course, portions of his
opinionizing have an authentic flavor - authentically racist and
anti-Semitic."
- Newsweek media critic Jonathan Alter, March 2.
Buchanan CW cynicism:
Hey, what's a little racism and anti-Semitism if he drives Bush nuts?
- Newsweek's "Conventional Wisdom," written by Alter, same
issue.
Tsongas: "Rarely
mentions the poor."
Bush: "Has paid
little attention to urban America."
Buchanan: "Right up
there with David Duke on the hate chart."
- Summary of "Social Policy" positions, Newsweek Voters'
Guide (supervised by Alter), March 16 issue.
"Buchanan's
rally....was accompanied under a bright sun by a mariachi band, which played
`The Beer-Barrel Polka,' and a bagpiper who played `La Cucaracha.' It was just
the kind of multicultural theme that Buchanan is always railing against."
- Washington Post staff writer Karlyn Barker, March 7.
Liberal and Proud of It
"The L Word
deploys wit and wisdom to counter the hogwash (to say nothing of downright
lies) Republicans have been peddling for a decade regarding liberalism. It
should be read by everyone - especially neo-cons, lapsed liberals, and
Democratic presidential hopefuls silly enough to think they can get to the
White House by posing as Republicans."
- Former Washington Post
reporter Myra MacPherson's back cover blurb for the new book The L Word:
An Unapologetic, Thoroughly Biased, Long-Overdue Explication and Celebration
of Liberalism.
- 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
