Notable Quotables - 09/23/1996
Gumbel Coddles Clinton's Crooked Crony
"Have you any
doubt that Kenneth Starr and his deputies are pursuing an agenda
that is purely political?" "Bobby McDaniel, you said
that your client is being used as a political pawn. Have you any
legal recourse but to sit there and watch this unfold?"
"Given that you think this is all just a Republican witch
hunt, do you expect the pressure to ease somewhat after the
election?
- Some of Bryant Gumbel's questions to former
Clinton business partner and convicted felon Susan McDougal and
her attorney, September 17 Today.
Mistake to Talk to Conservatives; Mistake Not to Talk to Liberals
"Dole decided only
this morning to speak to the Christian Coalition despite worries
inside his campaign that a bow to the religious right might send
the wrong message to moderate, swing voters....Clinton's
campaign spokesman said in a statement: `Watching Bob Dole arm
in arm with Pat Robertson speaks volumes to the extreme agenda
being pursued by the Dole-Kemp-Gingrich team.' Bob Dole tried,
perhaps even succeeded today, in reinvigorating his Republican
base. But a top Clinton campaign official was all smiles,
saying, `if you see Dole, tell him thanks for me.'"
- NBC's
David Bloom, September 14 Nightly News.
vs.
"No doubt this was
a Clinton crowd [at the NAACP convention]. That comes as no
surprise to Bob Dole. Dole had been invited to speak at the
convention yesterday, but declined. He claimed he was already
committed to campaigning and the All-Star baseball game. To
those at this convention that was quite a stretch and an insult
to African-American voters....By not showing up here, Bob Dole
may reinforce those racial divides along party lines and fuel
the anxiety among some Republicans that in this presidential
campaign, Bob Dole may not be up to the challenge."
- NBC's
Jim Miklaszewski, July 10 Nightly News.
Dispute Over Clinton's Tax Plan
Clinton's tax cuts come with a
hitch
Plan likely to turn into an increase
- Washington Times, September 12
Congressional Study Saying Clinton
Plan Raises Taxes Is Disputed
- Washington Post, same day
Fallows' Hillary Fan Club Application
"Is Hillary
Clinton's predicament worse because she is a woman? Probably so.
From Primary Colors to Rush Limbaugh to Saturday Night Live, the
hostile stereotype of Hillary is the domineering ice-woman, the
one person who scares the Most Powerful Man in the World. Bill
Clinton has suffered when judged on the age-old standard of
masculinity: military service. But female observers, from
Camille Paglia to Maureen Dowd, have judged Hillary with a catty
ferocity they would not apply to men. A man with a prim exterior
can get into trouble, too, as Jimmy Carter could testify, but he
mainly risks being seen as a weakling. Such a woman is an
emasculating schemer."
- New U.S. News & World Report
Editor James Fallows in an essay titled "She's Lois
Lane" in the September/October Mirabella magazine.
Ad Says Dole Opposes Time Off While Your Kid Dies: I Loved It!
"That family leave
ad was right on the mark. You know, it absolutely escapes me how
somebody can be for family values and yet be willing to deny a
father the opportunity to spend time with a critically ill child
or a mother time with a newborn without fear of losing their
job."
- Wall Street Journal Executive Washington Editor Al
Hunt on the Clinton campaign's negative ads, CNN's Capital
Gang, September 14.
Intensely Competitive Puff Pieces About Gore
"George Bush fumed
about jokes that he had put his manhood in a blind trust to
serve as Ronald Reagan's Vice President. The young Dan Quayle
never convinced the country he had the gravitas to be Veep, let
alone top man. But the cerebral, private, intensely competitive
Al Gore has managed the contortionist's feat of projecting an
almost perfect loyalty to his boss's re-election without
diminishing himself...Gore and Clinton, both brainy, moderate
Southerners with an abiding interest in the plumbing of
government, speak an easy shorthand and razz each other like
competitive brothers."
- Time Washington reporter J.F.O. McAllister,
September 2.
"Though Al Gore
relishes politics almost as much as his boss does, tonight he is
next door in the Old Executive Office Building, doing what he
really loves: thinking about complexity theory, open systems,
Goethe and the absence of scientific metaphors in modern
society. He's writing a speech, and the elegant Ceremonial
Office is strewn with pizza cartons and Diet Coke cans...Clinton
may lead the country into the millennium, but it is Gore who
truly embodies the new century's possibilities and
anxieties."
- Newsweek reporter Bill Turque,
September 2.
As Opposed to Those Pro-Civil Rights Southern Democrats
"But most
important is the Republican Party's recent record as the vehicle
of white supremacy in the South, beginning with the Goldwater
campaign and reaching its apex in Richard M. Nixon's `Southern
Strategy' in 1968 and 1972. Republicans appealed to Nixon
Democrats (later Reagan Democrats) in the northern suburbs, many
of them ethnic voters who had left the cities to escape from
blacks, with promises to crack down on welfare cheats and to
impose law and order, and they fought against affirmative
action."
- New York Times Washington Bureau Chief
R.W. Apple on why the Dole-Kemp ticket isn't attracting black
support, September 19.
Clinton Makes Life Great, Dole Makes It Worse
"For most people
in this country, life is awfully good. So Clinton doesn't need
to raise any issues. He just needs to point to his record and
promise more of the same. The people who don't have a great life
right now - the 39 million people below the poverty level, the
40 million people with no health insurance, the 6.2 million
people earning at or below the minimum wage - are the people
who really do have the issues. But Dole isn't about to reach out
to them, and they aren't about to vote for Dole or the
Republicans. That would make their plight worse, if that's
possible."
- Former NBC News President Michael Gartner in
his USA Today column, September 17.
So What If the Tax Burden's At A Historic High?
"But if the
economy's booming, as you say it is, why do we need tax cuts at
all?"
- Time Washington reporter Michael Duffy to Alan
Murray on PBS's Washington Week in Review, September 6.
The Media Encouraged Newt's Extremism
"The media's
preoccupation with conflict in general deeply affects the
behavior of politicians, especially in Congress. An ambitious
politician knows that the sure way to command press attention is
with sensationalism and extremist polemics. Newt Gingrich built
his power with media fireworks."
- Former New York Times
reporter Hedrick Smith narrating his PBS special People and
the Power Game, September 3.
Bigoted Bonnie
"TV viewers saw a
well-orchestrated image of a moderated Republican Party,
portraying itself as pro-woman, pro-minorities, and
pro-tolerance. This is in sharp contrast to the delegates on the
floor, sixty percent of whom self-identified as conservative
Christians."
- NBC Radio News/Westwood One reporter Bonnie
Erbe hosting To the Contrary on PBS, August 16.
- L.
Brent Bozell, Publisher; Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Geoffrey Dickens, Gene Eliasen, James Forbes, Steve Kaminski,
Clay Waters; Media Analysts
- Peter Reichel, Circulation Manager; Brad Podliska, Matt
Turosz; Interns