Notable Quotables - 11/13/1989
Kill the Contras for Peace
"Latins do not
believe the Soviets want any more bases in this hemisphere: Cuba is enough,
they say. Their hope, as it has been for a long time, is that the U.S. will
disband the Contras once and for all, and then, maybe, just maybe, there will
be a chance for peace."
- Reporter Ed Rabel on NBC Nightly News, October 28.
"The latest
incident of alleged Contra violence in south central Nicaragua killed whatever
chances there might have been for the 19 month old ceasefire agreement to be
extended....The Sandinistas argue that they've given the Contras ample
opportunity to meet their obligations under terms of the regional peace plan.
Now they say the time has come for the rebels and the Bush Administration to
do their part if there is to be peace in Nicaragua."
- Beginning and end of story on CNN PrimeNews by Ronnie Lovler,
November 1.
"Contras: Ortega's
army on the attack"
- Boston Herald, November 2.
"Ortega Ends Truce
With Rebels, But Calls for New Peace Talks: Nicaraguan Leader Says Elections
Will Proceed"
- New York Times, same day.
Better Hope the Sandinistas Don't Lose
"Indeed, most
observers and politicians here agree that the election is just one part of a
larger process involving squaring the revolutionary side of Nicaraguan society
- the meshing of the Sandinista party with the government and Army after 10
years of rule - with a trend toward establishing a liberal democracy. That is
a long process fraught with contradictions that an opposition victory could
force to a conclusion too soon."
- Reporter J.D. Gannon in The Christian Science Monitor, October 26.
Bush the Racist
"In a way, you
might say that David Duke is the son of Willie Horton. Duke is more overt, of
course, but he's really just pushing the same buttons and sending the same
coded messages that the Horton ads did so effectively for the Bush campaign
last year."
- Reporter Judd Rose on ABC's Prime Time Live, November 2.
Rationalizing Soviet Aggression
"For the Russians,
tempered by centuries of land invasions, national security has long been
defined as the control of territory and the subjugation of neighbors. Moscow's
desire for a protective buffer, combined with a thousand-year legacy of
expansionism and a 20th century overlay of missionary Marxism, was what
prompted Stalin to leave his army in Eastern Europe after World War II and
impose puppet regimes in the nations he had liberated."
- Senior Writer Walter Isaacson in Time magazine, November 6.
Time's U.S.- Soviet Policy
"Propose deep mutual cuts in military forces and expenditures going well beyond those under consideration in START and conventional-arms talks."
"Offer most-favored-nation status, allowing the U.S.S.R. the same trading arrangements provided to most industrial nations, including Hungary."
"Relax
technology-transfer regulations to allow sales of such items as personal
computers and communications equipment that could spur autonomy."
- Policies recommended by Time, November 6.
Gorby the Dreamer
"What does
realistic mean with Mr. Gorbachev any more? We used to know what realism was
in world affairs, but we have a Soviet leader as bold as we, I think, have
ever seen, and a man who seems to be some kind of dreamer. He dreams new
dreams. I think he's saying 'Match me in boldness and we'll create a new
world.'"
- "CBS News consultant" Stephen Cohen on the CBS Evening News,
October 24.
KGB on TV
"A brief report
from the Soviet Union today to match the extraordinary times. Can you imagine
five CIA agents answering the public's questions during a live television
show? Not likely. In the Soviet Union today, television viewers had the
unheard of opportunity to ask questions of five KGB agents on a show broadcast
live nationwide. Here's one example. One listener asked, 'don't we have too
many secrets?' 'Yes,' replied an agent, 'and some stupid ones.'"
- a serious Peter Jennings on World News Tonight, November 2.
"Question: do we
need a freedom of information act as in America? A KGB officer answers no,
because we do not keep files on Soviet citizens. Viewers learned the KGB does
not tap citizens' phones, their agents get A's in school, live like anyone
else, and are very brave."
- a sarcastic Jonathan Sanders on CBS This Morning, November 3.
Raving at America
"The United States
is a mess. We are a badly educated, conformist, TV-addicted, Cold War-whipped,
racist society, blind to the erosion of our civil rights and free speech,
intent on destroying our architectural heritage, setting puritanical limits on
smoking and other activities."
- Charles Monaghan summarizing theme of new book, Back Home: A Foreign
Correspondent Rediscovers America, by AP Paris reporter and former International
Herald Tribune Editor Mort Rosenblum. From the Oct. 22 Washington
Post Book World.
"If we could warm up to the former Evil Empire, why were we obsessed with one of its distant clients? Suppose our Contras won. Would that be progress, installing a bickering junta of former Somocistas?"
"We cannot always
stand up to comparison with the Soviet Union. Its system is plagued by long
lines for simple things. Hard work seldom brings the rewards it should. But
there are food and housing at the end of the lines. Health care, inferior to
ours, is at least accessible to all. In America a man can earn twenty-five
million dollars just for getting fired. But we fought hard not to force
companies to give workers two months' notice before eliminating their jobs. In
Moscow, you could pick up a newspaper that carried an editorial page piece
about how an American hospital ordered a sick old person out to the parking
lot, where he died, because of a question over payment. It was USA Today."
- from Rosenblum's book.
Ray's Rising Unemployment
"A slowing economy
means less business for U.S. companies, pulling down profits....[Lower
exports] are already bringing layoffs at some companies....All that is slowly
lengthening unemployment lines like this one in Boston."
- Ray Brady on the October 26 CBS Evening News.
"Unemployment
remained at 5.3 percent last month, indicating that the economy remains
strong...nearly a quarter of a million new jobs were added."
- Tom Brokaw on the NBC Nightly News, November 3.[No story on the CBS
Evening News.]
Colman McCarthyism
"I feel no more
alarmed-in fact, less alarmed-when you folks show up than when the Democrats
and the Republicans show up with their latest schemes to run the world."
- Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy to Maoist members of the
Revolutionary Communist Party, October 20 Washington Times.
- L. Brent
Bozell III; Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Jim Heiser, Stewart Verdery, Dorothy Warner; Media Analysts
- Allison Dyer; Administrative Assistant
