Notable Quotables - 06/08/1992
Time at Rio: Forget the Police State, Make It A Police Planet
"Put an
international tax on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gases....Find a way to put the brakes on the world's spiraling population,
which will otherwise double by the year 2050....Give the United Nations broad
powers to create an environmental police force for the planet."
- Time list of "What They Should Do But Won't" at the
United Nations "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, June 1.
Gumbel: I Won't Condemn the Riots
"Gumbel opposed the
violent reaction, but would not condemn it. `Everyone is quick to want you to
condemn them but some of us that are sitting in this position feel
uncomfortable being asked to do that,' he said. `When the violence was being
perpetrated on these people on an ongoing basis, did America see it? Certainly
not,' he said. `Black people are being killed by the handfuls in that area on
an ongoing basis, and basically America doesn't care.'"
- Story by Knight-Ridder reporter Marc Gunther, May 13.
One CBS Vote for President Ann Richards
"The only two
candidates who appeal to me as someone who could lead the country are Ross
Perot and [liberal Texas Gov.] Ann Richards."
- Don Hewitt, Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, May 20 Boston
Globe.
Murphy Brown: Willie Horton In Maternity Clothes?
"There they go
again. Only this time, instead of Willie Horton, the GOP is making Murphy
Brown the symbol of what's wrong with the liberal elites."
- Newsweek Washington reporter Eleanor Clift, June 1.
"The racial
dimension flows naturally into the political, where the uglier side of
Quayle's mission begins to become apparent. One of Quayle's amazing but
unlikable feats last week was metaphorically to transform old Willie Horton
into a beautiful blond fortyish WASP has-it-all knockout."
- Time Senior Writer Lance Morrow, June 1.
"This was not an
accident. This was not a casual speech. This was a speech very much a part of
the White House game plan, a very deliberate attempt to use these family
values, which are an amorphous collection of ideas, but to use them as a wedge
issue to drive divisions in this country along cultural lines, along social
lines, and to some extent along racial lines."
- U.S. News & World Report Senior Writer Steven Roberts on Washington
Week in Review, May 22.
"George Bush has
been at the focal point of incidents that have exacerbated race relations in
this country....the Willie Horton affair, for example. Making affirmative
action a front-and-center proposal. Constantly discussing welfare as a problem
in this country. Things that really separate the races rather than bring them
together."
- Bryant Gumbel on NBC's Today, May 18.
Speak for Yourself, Maria
"When her husband
and family were placed under house arrest last August in an attempted coup,
our concerns were not just for him, but also for her...People are interested
in how you got through those hours, Mrs. Gorbachev. What sustained you?"
- NBC's Maria Shriver on Raisa Gorbachev, May 6 First Person.
"When you marry
someone, you marry them for sickness and health. [Republican politics] are
Arnold's sickness."
- Maria Shriver on Arnold Schwarzenegger in the June McCall's.
Cheering the Earth Summit
"Almost alone among
major nations, the United States retains a substantial constituency that is
indifferent if not hostile toward environmental regulation - an attitude
oddly shared by the GOP right wing and the leaders of the former communist
bloc. But this is increasingly a fringe position even among many of the
business executives it is supposed to benefit."
- Newsweek Senior Writer Jerry Adler, June 1.
"This is a story
about human folly. Mankind's attempt to engineer a better place to live, to
improve upon nature with inventions such as refrigeration, foam packing, and
electronics. But the man-made chemicals used in pursuit of the good life, have
all put life on earth in jeopardy. The chemicals have punched a hole in the
sky....already there's a moral to the story, and that is: nature may not
always be able to recover from the abuses of modern civilization."
- CNN anchor Bernard Shaw on global warming, May 26.
Canadian Unity Talks
Fail; Showdown Seen Likely
- Washington Post, May 31
Canada's Unity Talks
Show Signs of Progress
- New York Times, same day (Thanks to Jim Picone)
Whipping Welfare Critics
"[Bush] compared
the dole to a `narcotic' in his State of the Union message and regularly
peppers his speeches with vows to `change welfare and make the able-bodied
work.' This line is not surprising coming from a political heir of Ronald
Reagan, who voiced his contempt for public assistance with apocryphal stories
of `welfare queens' driving Cadillacs....What's going on here? Has America's
traditional compassion for the downtrodden worn thin? Is the country that paid
billions to liberate a wealthy oil sheikdom on the other side of the globe
suddenly unwilling to feed hungry kids at home?"
- Time Senior Editor Thomas Sancton, May 25.
"It is not that Dan
Quayle's family-values sermon missed the mark: much of what he said was right.
It is that Quayle represents an Administration that has only rarely supported
the programs that actually promote strong families - everything from child
care and parental leave to infant nutrition, Head Start, apprenticeship
training, gun control, and - well, the list is almost endless....because of
what two GOP administrations have failed to do, Quayle's calculated rant rings
hollow and deserves little more than a bemused shake of the head."
- Time Special Correspondent Michael Kramer, June 1.
A Sudden Concern for Bias
"My feeling is that
if he ends up being the owner, then we're out."
- Los Angeles Times Senior Editor Noel Greenwood about Pat
Robertson's purchase of United Press International, in Editor &
Publisher, May 23.
NEA: All That's Good and Wonderful
"If you've ever
watched A Chorus Line, or story-teller Garrison Keillor, or Driving
Miss Daisy, then you've seen what the National Endowment for the Arts can
do. And in each case, an NEA grant helped get the project started. Could this
be the same government agency that has conservatives so incensed?"
- ABC reporter Jackie Judd on Nightline, May 26.
Conservatives for Pollution
"You'll have
noticed that conscience funds serve certain types of consciences - all
liberal. No `First Aggressive Conservative Fund' has arisen to channel money
into profitable polluters, search out high-growth nonunion companies or build
a portfolio of firms that manufacture products in Mexico. Clearly, an unfilled
marketing niche. Pat Buchanan, call your office."
- Newsweek columnist Jane Bryant Quinn, May 18.
- 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
- Joe Busher, Cameron Humphries, Mario Lopez; Interns
