Notable Quotables - 05/29/1989
Bush & The Environment
"Several signals,
including Bush's slow response to the Alaska oil spill and his refusal even to
consider an increase in the gasoline tax have raised concern that he is not
the kind of forceful, decisive leader the country needs to deal with the
growing environmental crisis."
- Dick Thompson in Time magazine's "Environment" section,
May 22 issue.
Oliver North
"Why not 10 years
of community service in a Nicaraguan hospital changing the wounds of women and
children whose limbs were blown off by U.S.-supplied and Contra-laid land
mines? Why not 10 years of cleaning latrines at a Marine Corps base, North
having disgraced the military he professes to love so much?"
- Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy suggesting sentences for
North, May 21.
China
"By American
standards, this extraordinary meeting was as if at the height of the anti-war
demonstrations in Chicago in 1968, President Johnson had met with radical
activists Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden and it had then been shown on the
network news."
- ABC's John Laurence on the May 18 World News Tonight, referring to
meeting between students and officials.
"It is the size of
China that's such a barrier for economic reform. That, and cultural traditions
bred through the centuries."
- Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 16.
"Zhao, Gorbachev
restore Communist Party ties"
- Washington Times, May 17.
"Gorbachev, in
China, Calls for Democracy"
- Washington Post, same day.
Gorbachev & The Students
"I think he's a man
who is sitting there thinking I must be a little bit overcome by my own
success. I created glasnost, the concept, I've tried to spread it around the
world, the Chinese students, the Chinese people said thank you very much, and
this is what became of it."
- Reporter Steve Hurst on CNN, May 19.
"'We, too, have
hotheads who want to renovate socialism overnight, but it doesn't happen in
real life. Only in fairy tales.'"
- Mikhail Gorbachev as quoted by The Washington Post, May 18.
The Quayles
"After monitoring
her husband's career and surviving the furor over his selection as George
Bush's running mate, Marilyn Quayle knows something about disasters."
- From Time "People" page, May 15.
Soviet Democracy
"Gorbachev is the
symbol of democracy around the world."
- Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group,
May 20.
"Today's real
advertisement for democracy, however, is to be found in the Soviet Union,
which is holding the second round of parliamentary elections."
- Sam Donaldson after story on elections on Argentina. ABC's World News
Tonight, May 14.
Jimmy Carter
"The person we have
chosen this week has continued his life with distinction, considerable grace,
and with a very strong commitment to peace and justice...In the public's mind,
the scales were never balanced. Carter's success in foreign affairs, peace
between Egypt and Israel, renewed respect for the United States in Latin
America, have always been outweighed in the public mind by the hostage
crisis."
- Peter Jennings on ABC's World News Tonight, May 12.
Panama
"Moreover, as
democracy became the Administration's watchword, dealings with Panama's
dictator rendered Reagan's denunciations of Nicaragua's 'dictator in designer
glasses' patently hypocritical."
- Time Senior Writer Jill Smolowe, May 22.
East German Economy
"East Germany is
the Communist world's vaunted economic success story, hailed as proof that
hard work, discipline and thrift can translate Karl Marx's theories into
reality."
- New York Times reporter Ferdinand Protzman in the May 15
"Business Day" section.
May Day
"In Red Square, a
relaxed, joyous May Day, with slogans celebrating not only labor, but peace
and protection of the environment."
- Bob Abernethy on NBC Nightly News, May 1.
Cold War
"For the present,
the United States may be likened to the Soviet Union in the Age of Chernenko.
American leaders are immobilized, unable to shake out of their Cold War
lethargy, their gargantuan 'national-security' budgets, their ossifying
military alliance and decaying cities."
- Institute for Policy Studies co-founder Marcus Raskin in the May 21 Washington
Post "Outlook" section.
Eastern Airlines
"RALLYING THE
RANKS: Eastern Strike Seen as Labor Success"
- Christian Science Monitor, May 23.
"Many striking
employees are facing financial ruin...Unless the airline is sold soon, many
strikers will face destitution."
- Peter Van Sant on the CBS Evening News, same day.
Media Bias
"People who are
biased and do the hiring don't feel that they are biased. Sharks don't think
they are worth making movies about. They're just having lunch."
- New York radio talk show host Barry Farber.
John Mack
"The television
networks, ordinarily eager to leap on wounded politicians, were distinguished
by their silence...Barbara Cohen, chief of the CBS Washington bureau, had a
novel explanation. On the one hand, she said, CBS has been pursuing Pamela
Small, with no success, for a filmed interview since 1988. On the other hand,
the CBS Evening News is not the place for such a story - 'we don't
have a Style section'- and in any case would not want to broadcast a story
casting 'a shadow' on Speaker Wright in his time of troubles, all this
suggesting that CBS henceforth may be referred to as the Compassionate
Broadcasting System."
- Washington Post Ombudsman Richard Harwood, May 14.
- L. Brent
Bozell III; Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Jim Heiser, Richard Marois, Patrick Swan, Dorothy Warner; Media Analysts
- Cynthia Bulman; Administrative Assistant
