Notable Quotables - 11/28/1988
Campaign '88 Reviews
"Bush won by
default, and by fouls. His 'mandate' is to ignore the threats to our economy,
sustain the Reagan heritage of let's pretend, and serve as figurehead for what
America has become, a frightened empire hiding its problems from itself."
- Conclusion of November 21 Time article by Gary Wills.
"After the 1988
campaign, no one can any longer argue that network news reflects a 'liberal
bias.'...Telejournalists...by and large...are indeed a bunch of liberals. But
their ideological slant has worked against any 'liberal bias' by the
TV news, as reporters bend over backwards not to seem at all critical of
Republicans."
- Johns Hopkins University instructor Mark Crispin Miller, in The New
York Times, November 16.
Dan Quayle
"Top Bush aides
dismiss [Quayle] as a good guy, but naive....they worry that he will listen
too much to conservatives, and they worry about the influence of Marilyn
Quayle, by all accounts more ideologically conservative than her husband
....Most people expect that Dan Quayle, unlike recent Vice Presidents, will
not be given major responsibilities. Bush advisors hope that Quayle will
cooperate and become completely irrelevant."
- Andrea Mitchell, NBC Nightly News, Nov. 11.
"The presidential
election isn't over. The Electoral College will meet on December 19 to elect
the next President and Vice President....It is the responsibility of the 538
members of the electoral college to dump Quayle."
- Georgetown University professor Theodore Reuter in The Boston Globe,
November 25.
Phil Donahue
"We are dangerously
close to being referred to as an intelligent talk show. If that happens, we're
doomed. Please do not call me 'intelligent.' Call me 'outrageous.' I'd rather
have it be suggested that we occasionally go too far, and I'd rather be called
'sleazy' than to be identified as 'intelligent.'"
- Phil in an interview with Tom Shales, November 18 Washington Post.
John Sununu
"DESPITE CRITICISM,
BUSH PICKS SUNUNU AS CHIEF OF STAFF"
- New York Times, November 18.
"Bush taps 'right
man'- Sununu"
- Washington Times, same day.
Ethics Bill
"The Reagan
Administration has been repeatedly accused of playing loose with government
ethics. And the announcement of this pocket veto while the country is
distracted by the Thanksgiving holiday is bound to renew charges of
sleaze."
- ABC's Jeanne Meserve, concluding a November 23 World News Tonight
story.
Time Magazine: Version One
"The
prison-furlough policy used by Massachusetts went beyond the bounds of common
sense. Unlike other states and the federal government...Massachusetts granted
weekend furloughs to convicts whom judges had condemned to remain behind bars
until they died. Horton is precisely the sort of criminal that people have in
mind when they say someone should lock him up and throw away the key."
- Time, November 14, page 20.
Time Magazine: Version Two
"More troubling was
the fact that both the print and broadcast press frequently failed to point
out the distortions....While many news organizations reported Bush's charge
that Massachusetts furloughed a first-degree murderer named Willie Horton, who
proceeded to rape a woman while on leave, few pointed out that the program had
been instituted under a Republican Governor and that many states, including
Calif-ornia under Governor Reagan, had similar furlough programs.
- page 71, same issue!
"Many," "Some," & "Experts" Say Raise Taxes
"Stocks nosedived,
in part because investors are worried that George Bush's 'no new taxes' pledge
may prevent him from reducing the deficit."
- substitute anchor Ted Koppel on ABC's World News Tonight, November
11.
"While many Wall
Streeters voted for Mr. Bush, some see no way the President-elect can cut the
deficit and keep some of his other election promises without a tax
increase."
- Reporter Ray Brady, CBS Evening News, November 11.
"Experts say Mr.
Bush's hard line [on taxes] has led investors to cast an early vote of no
confidence in the new President's willingness to sop up American red
ink."
- Reporter Candy Crowley, CNN PrimeNews, November 13.
"Many think taming
the deficit, widely perceived as the real problem here [in the financial
markets], is all but impossible without some new taxes."
- Frank Sesno, CNN PrimeNews, November 17.
Christmas Sales 1
"Retailers...already
are slashing prices on everything from apparel to appliances as the holiday
shopping season is about to kick off. That's good news for shoppers, who'll
find bargains galore this weekend."
- USA Today, November 23.
Christmas Sales 2
"Clothing prices
could be up as much as 10 percent to 15 percent from last year, some retail
analysts say. The Labor Department appeared to confirm the dreary outlook for
consumers yesterday....Some analysts say retailers should be able to avoid
discounting their inventories through Christmas."
- Washington Post, same day.
- 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
