Notable Quotables - 09/03/1990
War in Iraq? Blame Reagan
Reporter Lisa Myers:
"The problem is that slow but steady progress on energy conservation came
to a screeching halt in the mid-1980s, which is a big reason Iraq has us over
a barrel today....What derailed the conservation effort? Two things: a sharp
drop in oil prices, and the Reagan Administration."
James Wolf, Alliance to
Save Energy: "They were a disaster. President Reagan's administration
fought on the wrong side of the energy efficiency wars. They opposed every
initiative to improve energy efficiency."
Myers: "In some
cases, Reagan actually turned back the clock, relaxing auto efficiency
requirements, delaying appliance efficiency standards, scrapping research on
new energy technologies."
- NBC Nightly News, August 15.
"American are
furious - at the oil companies, at Iraq, and at Washington for doing nothing
to protect them from price shocks....The Reagan Administration preferred the
free market to an active energy plan. And since 1981, oil imports have risen
from 33 percent to 46. While the U.S. waits for a strategy, it now buys almost
as much Mideast oil as it did before the last crisis there."
- ABC reporter Ned Potter on World News Tonight, August 9.
"We've been
training to fight a desert war for years while buying weapons to fight the
Cold War in Europe. Instead of building fast ships to move troops and
equipment to the Persian Gulf, the Navy spent billions on Trident submarines
and warships. As a result, the Pentagon can move only one division at a time
to the Middle East....It's the legacy of Ronald Reagan's trillion-dollar
defense buildup. Critics say the Pentagon was thinking richer, not
smarter."
- Reporter Andrea Mitchell, August 16 NBC Nightly News.
Probing Questions
"Mr. President, do
you think this is a Vietnam in the sand for the United States?"
- Question from Dan Rather to Saddam Hussein, August 29 CBS News special.
Shootout at Gumbel's Gulf
Bryant Gumbel:
"What's your view of the presence of U.S. troops here, Kamal?"
Kamal Sultan, Kuwaiti
refugee: "Basically, I really wish they were here a lot sooner, okay? I
think they make a positive contribution to the situation here and you know
they are here right now to prevent the Iraqis from moving farther south."
Gumbel: "Are you
speaking as an Arab or as a graduate of the University of California-Santa
Barbara?"
- from Today, August 20.
"I need not
elaborate on the differences between your culture and ours, but how much of a
threat to the Saudi way of life do you think the presence of American forces
represents?"
- Gumbel interviewing an editor of The Saudi Arabia News, the same day.
Another Excuse for Gas Taxes
"Ask yourself: When
prices go up at the gas pump, would you like to send your extra dollars to
Saddam Hussein or would you prefer to keep most of them in America for
domestic needs? That stark choice has hung over us for two decades and,
incredibly, we have always come down on the wrong side. It's time we got
smart....This latest threat makes it clearer than ever that American must
finally kick the habit, freeing us from this awful dependency. There are
several cures, but the fastest and surest is a 50-cent federal tax on every
gallon federal tax on every gallon of gas at the pump, phased in over five
years."
- Former Reagan official and U.S. News & World Report
Editor-at-Large David Gergen, August 27/September 3 issue.
Let's Try a Socialist Energy Policy
"We have allowed
this country to be held hostage by an industry that produces a product vital
to our national interests. This makes about as much sense as having the
military services or the nation's water supply controlled by private
corporations....In the long run, what would make the most sense would be to
nationalize the oil industry to protect the economy."
- Washington Post columnist Judy Mann, August 8.
Another Excuse for Attacking the Bush Campaign
"This is the crisis
for which Bush has spent a lifetime preparing....[in 1988], Bush still saw
foreign policy as his ticket to the White House and the true measure of
presidential achievement. After Michael Dukakis' rousing performance at the
1988 Democratic Convention, Bush was down 17 points in the polls. A rash of
silly sloganeering and low blows ensued (remember the Pledge of Allegiance and
Willie Horton?), but the road back followed a carefully detailed game plan and
always returned to attacking Dukakis as ill-equipped to manage America's world
role."
- Time Special Correspondent Michael Kramer, August 30 cover story.
How To Distort the News
"Even though it
looks like we're taking a few pictures, just by omission - what we leave out
and choose not to take a picture of - we are making editorial judgments in
the field. And it is very easy to distort the truth visually, you know. If you
take a hot issue such as abortion, and if you have one view or the other on
that issue...you can make it look as though there is a very large group in
favor of it. Or, by how you frame your shots, you can distort the truth in
numerous ways. You can put people in a bad light just by the way you light
them, the way you frame them."
- Washington ABC affiliate WJLA-TV cameraman Steve Affens on CBS' Nightwatch,
July 27.
Oh No, Not Religion
"Poland's Public
Schools to Offer Classes in Religion: Many now wonder if an abortion ban will
be next"
- New York Times, August 15.
Bring Back the Berlin Wall
"The farmers of
East Germany were forced against their will into cooperatives in the 1950's,
but now the great majority of the 660,000 members of cooperatives want to
maintain that form of organization. It has given them regular working hours,
vacation time, pensions, libraries, and other benefits that probably could not
have been attained on their own."
- New York Times correspondent David Binder, August 16.
"East Germans,
already angry over what capitalism has brought, got more to worry about
Sunday."
- Beginning of USA Today article by Clive Freeman, July 25.
Soak the Rich
"The notion of
employing Robin Hood tactics to cut the deficit has gathered momentum -
leading lawmakers to consider everything from raising the top income-tax rate
to enacting 'luxury' taxes on furs and pricey cars. Higher levies may be
justified. The rich prospered during the 1980's, as the federal tax system
became decidedly less progressive."
- U.S. News & World Report Senior Writer Susan Dentzer, August
13.
Brennan's Image Polishers
"Brennan was the
engine who, more than any other individual, drove the court in the last 30
years to declare new rights, to protect new minorities, to bring more of the
disfavored into the safe harbor of the U.S. Constitution."
- USA Today reporter Tony Mauro, July 23.
- L. Brent
Bozell III; Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Callista Gould, Jim Heiser, Marian Kelley, Gerard Scimeca; Media Analysts
- Kristin K. Bashore; Administrative Assistant
