Notable Quotables - 10/31/1988
Campaign '88: Dukakis
"The huge newsroom
staff, thought (by me) to be viscerally Democratic and L- - - - - - in its
sympathies, lurks in the wings as a sort of silent, nonvoting regiment of
Jiminy Crickets, peering, in a metaphorical sense, over the shoulders of the
editorial custodians of the newspaper's 'soul.' They would, if given a vote,
go like a shot, I suspect, for Dukakis."
- Washington Post Ombudsman Richard Harwood, October 30.
"The Dukakis
campaign events tend to be more interesting, both in terms of the type of
message he is now delivering and the events he's scheduling. They're combative
and compelling. The message is much sharper, it's specific, it's repetitive
and it contains - excuse the expression - some passion."
- CBS News Senior Political Producer Brian Healy, quoted in the Washington
Post, October 29.
"Ohio matters
because it's big, 23 electoral votes, and because it's a model of America.
Parts of the state are the rust belt, depressed, still trying to recover and
cope with the changing economy, and knowledge and that the old high paid jobs
may never come back. Parts, like the capital Columbus, booming, full of
construction."
- CBS News reporter Bruce Morton, October 17.
"Bush, striving
socially down, Dukakis striving moralistically up....George Bush, the
privileged embodiment of America's unearned graces, its abundance, its allure.
Michael Dukakis, the individualistic embodiment of America's earned grace, its
striving and performance."
- Garry Wills concluding PBS's Campaign: The Choice, October 24.
Grenada Liberation
"Prosperity Eludes
Grenada 5 Years After Invasion"
- Washington Post, October 25.
"Grenada invasion
halted communism in its tracks"
- Washington Times, same day.
Campaign '88: Crime
"Obviously, I am
for Dukakis."
- Convicted murder Willie Horton in USA Today, October 19.
"Condemned killer
John Wayne Gacy has sent a letter of complaint to GOP officials in Illinois.
He says it was sleazy of them to issue campaign leaflets stating that he would
have been eligible for weekend prison passes if he had committed his 33
murders in Massachusetts."
- CNN PrimeNews anchor Bernard Shaw, October 26.
Campaign '88: Quayle
"From a distance of
two feet Quayle looks younger than he is, his face smooth and creamy, as if
unmarked by life. He's good-looking, no denying that. If he were a woman he
would he described as beautiful. His facial bones are delicate, and his mouth
is what pulp fiction writers call sensual."
- New Republic politics editor and former Newsweek reporter
Hendrik Hertzberg, October 31.
Black Monday Anniversary
"Last October,
Americans did not panic and send the economy itself into a nose dive. But as
Hastings-on-Hudson looks toward Wall Street, it worries, along with the rest
of the U.S., whether we'd be that lucky if there's a next time."
- Irving R. Levine, NBC Nightly News, October 16.
Abortion
"Let's suppose that I'm 12 and I was sexually molested by my father and I become pregnant, would you want me to carry that baby to term?
But don't you think this would ruin my whole life? I mean, it's not even my fault and my whole life would be ruined. I would have to drop out of school, I would be ridiculed for the rest of my life and probably never get a good job.
But it would still have negative psychological effects on me, and what if, when I grow up, I become an incestuous mother?
So you would want me to have the baby even though my whole life could be ruined and I could be mentally affected?
Well, why wouldn't you allow me to have an abortion? If it wasn't my fault I was pregnant?
So although you're not
actually killing me, you would sacrifice my prospects for the future for that
baby?"
- Eleven-year-old Children's Express reporter Suki Chong's questions
to Dan Quayle. Interview aired in entirety for the three minutes on the
October 26 CBS Evening News.
Drug Trafficking
"Bank is Charged by
U.S. With Money-Laundering"
- New York Times front page, October 12.
"Indicted bank had
links to Carter, Clifford, Lance"
- Washington Times, next day.
- New York Times and Washington Post: No Story
Political Labeling
"Now we turn to two
experts with different views on the environment. Kent Jeffreys is a Policy
Analyst on energy and environmental issues for the Heritage Foundation, a
Washington based conservative think tank. And Carl Pope is National Director,
National Political Director, rather, of the Sierra Club, a non-profit
environmental public interest group."
- Judy Woodruff introducing guests on the October 26 MacNeil-Lehrer
NewsHour.
Campaign '88: Defense
"If these options
turn into decisions, there would be very little daylight left between George
Bush and Michael Dukakis on defense."
- Reporter David Martin concluding story on how Bush may cancel two Navy
carriers and reduces the bomber program. CBS Evening News, October 20.
- 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
