Notable Quotables - 10/19/1998

Bobbittize Clinton

"Secret Service agents labeled Monica a stalker but couldn't do anything about it except make her wait at the gate in the Washington heat. Agent Steve Pape said that by the time she got in one day, 'It looked like she'd gone a couple of rounds with Muhammad Ali.' Pape said he wasn't worried about a bomb from Monica, but something more painful. It would be something along the lines of Lorena Bobbitt if she was going to hurt him, Pape testified. And that I couldn't stop. Well, it would have solved a very big problem."
- "Outrage of the Week" from Time magazine's Margaret Carlson on CNN's Capital Gang, October 3.

 

White House Spinning or Not?

"No one here is trying to spin today's vote [in House for an impeachment inquiry] as favorable to the President."
- ABC's Sam Donaldson, October 8 World News Tonight.

vs.

"It may seem hard to believe, but the White House is trying to find some way, even a small way, to cast today's vote in a positive light."
- Claire Shipman on NBC Nightly News, same night.

 

Starr Stained the Country

"Coming out on to the White House driveway on the day after he had violated all norms of privacy, he jauntily gave his trademark wave and his patented grin, one that doesn't involve eye movement, carrying himself as if he were President and as if there were a crowd of well-wishers rather than a ravenous camera crew awaiting him, as if he were on some high horse instead of on some low road. 'You cannot defile the temple of justice,' he has said in explaining his relentless pursuit of Clinton. But Starr did. As much as Clinton stained the dress, Starr stained the country to nail him for it. And his party goes on and on."
- Time magazine's Margaret Carlson in an October 12 "Public Eye" column.

 

Starr's Created 1984 for All of Us

"Anyone of us could be investigated like this and we would be able to keep no secrets about love or sex or money - no secrets about anything. If this reminds you of George Orwell's novel, 1984, it should. The government in that book poked and pried everywhere. Its slogan was Big Brother Is Watching You. And with the aid of the thought police, he was. Welcome to Orwell's world."
- CNN's Bruce Morton on Late Edition, October 11.

 

Linda Tripp, Media Pinata

"The story of Linda Tripp's betrayal is really very unappealing and she comes off as a conniving and really not a likable person."
- ABC legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on the tapes released, October 2 World News Tonight.

New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica: "What the Yankees have done across this summer is, they have taken away an American constant. I think people could count on hating the Yankees at this time of year. Its like, it's like hating Linda Tripp. You know, I mean its just something you can count on."
Co-host Lisa McRee, laughing: "It's easy."
- Good Morning America, October 5.

"And then there's Linda Tripp. Before she fades into history, my guess is you'll see her face at a lot of Halloween parties."
- Bob Schieffer's "final thought" on the fate awaiting players in Monicagate, October 4 Face the Nation.

 

Sad Day for Whom?

"All the spin aside, Bill Clinton now becomes the third President to face a serious impeachment challenge. There's not a lot to be happy about in that."
- Bob Schieffer ending an October 8 CBS Evening News story.

 

Liberals Loved Reagan and Nixon?

"To say that these [conservative] elements have engaged in a vendetta against Clinton since Jan. 20, 1993, is to understate the facts. No U.S. President since Franklin D. Roosevelt has faced such virulent opposition, and the venom of the Clinton-haters, in and out of Washington, from Rush Limbaugh to the New York Post, from Pat Robertson to Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), has poisoned the American political well at the expense of decent civic discourse."
- CBS News consultant Carl Bernstein in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, September 27.

 

If Linda Smith Just Were a Liberal

"[I'd] be awful inclined to vote for Linda Smith because I really think she's a feisty, independent person and the fact that the Mitch McConnell's of the world can't stand her is very appealing. You know, its just a shame she's so right-wing on issues like guns cause I think there was a devoted following, but its a minority following, I'm afraid, Bob."
- Wall Street Journal's Al Hunt, October 5 CNN Capital Gang.

 

This Morning's Left-Wing Smear

"Then the fallout from the death of Matthew Shepard. The tragic beating of the college student in Wyoming has some activists in this country saying there is a climate of anti-gay hate that's been fostered by a provocative advertising campaign by the political right in this country. We're going to get into that debate after news and weather."
- Katie Couric opening the October 13, 1998 Today.

 

Its Just Sex Lies

"On Capitol Hill, the Republican-dominated House now plans to vote Thursday to approve an official impeachment investigation into President Clinton, his sex life, and lies he told to hide it."
- Dan Rather, October 6 CBS Evening News.

 

Clinton Framed for "One Lie"?

"A President lying in front of a grand jury is a serious, serious thing. But you can't divorce it from the context, which is this weird sex trap. Yes, Clinton was completely guilty, but he was also entrapped. Both are true, we framed a guilty man....what's an impeachable offense? I think it has to be a more serious attempt to subvert the system of government than that one lie."
- Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas, October 3 Inside Washington.

 

Costly Focus on Clinton Perjury

NBC's Bob Faw: "Our preoccupation says a lot about our priorities and to some, it suggests that our priorities are all wrong."
Erica Jong, author: "The world is going to Hell in a handbasket and America is busy snooping into the private lives of public officials. It's tragic really."
Faw: "The President, the intern, the prosecutor, the process, the diversion has been costly."
- End of October 8 NBC Nightly News "In Depth" segment.

 

Cochran's Lack of Originality

"No one seemed to notice when the Senate killed campaign finance reform. The vote came during the three-day period last month when the Starr report was delivered to Congress and then made public."
- ABC's John Cochran on World News Tonight, October 4.

"The scandal diverted attention from popular issues that might have received more debate and public support like campaign finance reform. When the Senate decided to kill reform no one noticed because the vote came the day after the Starr report was delivered to Capitol Hill."
- Cochran, October 9 World News Tonight.

 

Glenn: As "Moderate" as Teddy

"As a Senator, he worked on national issues, nuclear non-proliferation, streamlining government. A moderate who became more partisan over issues like campaign finance."
- CNN's Bruce Morton on The World Today, September 30.

Reality Check:
Glenn's 1996 American Conservative Union rating was 10. His Americans for Democratic Action score was 95.

 

Clinton Hate is Really Self-Hate

"In ancient mythology, the scapegoat sacrifice, the scapegoat was always guilty. But what the scapegoat was driven out of the community for were the sins of the community. The things that we are most upset with Bill Clinton about are the things that we are most upset at ourselves about."
- Former Newsweek writer Joe Klein on CNBC's Tim Russert, September 19.

 

Rivera's Upchuck Tonight

"The grand jury is investigating whether David Hale's testimony was bought and paid for by a clique of right-wing Clinton haters. One strong piece of evidence comes from this unlikely setting: a modest fishing resort located just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas...Here's the connection: this place is owned by Parker Dozhier, the same Parker Dozhier who worked for The American Spectator magazine and who was being paid to dig up dirt on Bill Clinton. Did Dozhier pay off Hale? The grand jury also wants to know whether Ken Starr knew or should have known that his star witness, David Hale, was in the hip pocket of a group of hardline right-wingers determined to take down the President by any means necessary."
- Geraldo Rivera on CNBC's Upfront Tonight, October 6.

Geraldo Rivera: "They'll be celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary, Diane, on the 11th of October. That's a Sunday. And as of now, the First Lady plans on spending it in Bulgaria on a four-day trip to Bulgaria and the Czech Republic."
Diane Dimond: "Interesting that she would not want to be in Washington at the White House with her husband today."
Rivera: "So melancholy. So melancholy on this rainy day. God, give me an aspirin."
- CNBC's Upfront Tonight, October 8 just as the House voted to proceed with impeachment hearings.

 

Leave the Poetry to Professionals

"At times the report reads less like a legal document than an X-rated version of 'Green Eggs and Ham': Did they fondle on the desk? Did they fondle in the mess? Was the President on the phone? Did she talk dirty from her home?"
- Los Angeles Times reporter Ronald Brownstein, Sept. 14.

 

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