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"Proud" of New Yorkers for Electing Hillary; A CBS News Christmas: Getting High; 2nd Runners-Up in the MRC's Annual Awards >>> CyberAlert Countdown Calendar to the 1,000th edition. Today's is the 997th numbered issue, so 3 more to go. <<<
She recounted for Letterman how she attended an election night party with Bill and Hillary. Thurman declared of Bill Clinton: "He's done a very, very good job. I'm awfully proud of him." Of Hillary: "I think she's so incredible. I'm so proud of New York for electing her." When Letterman wondered if Gore was hurt by Bill "and his activities with the intern," she held up both her hands as a stop signal to Letterman as she turned her head away from him. As Letterman suggested the intern situation led Gore to distance himself from Clinton, Thurman chimed in: "That was a bad decision." She predicted: "I think that if Clinton could have been on that ballot as well as those two I think he would win again, intern or no intern." He certainly would have with Hollywood stars.
Last Sunday's Boston Globe asked a bunch of Massachusetts writers and
media figures to recall "their favorite holiday gift ever. Who gave
it to them? What made it so special? Do they still have it?" Here's
the response in the December 24 Globe from Emily Rooney, host of WGBH-TV's
Greater Boston show, a former News Director at the ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV,
and most relevantly, daughter of Andy Rooney: What a touching tale of the true meaning of the Christmas season. Maybe they didn't inhale.
To view all the winning quotes as well as the two or
three top runners-up and, thanks to Webmaster Andy Szul, RealPlayer video
clips for over two dozen of the quotes from TV shows, go to: To see the 8-page issue typeset as snail mail subscribers saw the newsletter, access the Adobe Acrobat PDF version. Go to: http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/nq/pdf/bestofnq2000.pdf [3] Below are the second runners-up quotes. Point totals are in brackets after each quote. First place picks by the 46 judges were assigned three points, second place choices were given two points and third place selections were allocated one point. Here are the results, starting with the "Quote of the Year" second runner-up: Quote of the Year, second runner-up Linda Chavez, Center for Equal Opportunity: "If you're someone like me, who lives out in a rural area -- if someone breaks into my house and wants to murder or rape me or steal all of my property, it'll take half an hour for a policeman to get to me....Thousands of lives are saved by people being able to protect themselves." Bonnie Erbe, host and former NBC Radio/Mutual reporter: "And if
you look at the statistics, I would bet that you have a greater chance of
being struck by lightning, Linda, than living where you live, and at your
age, being raped. Sorry." Aiding & Abetting in an Election Theft Award, second runner-up "Secretary of State Katherine Harris in Florida. As you know
she's a Republican, a Bush supporter. Warren Christopher said yesterday
that her, her decision on this five o'clock deadline has the look of
trying to produce a certain result in the election. Do you think, and to
use a rather crude term, that her decision does not pass the smell
test?" Kiss Me, Too, Al Award (for Gore Gushing), second runner-up "You've spent a quarter century in public service and have
worked on a lot of these issues, obviously have mastered a lot of the
details of them. When you look across the stage, are you frustrated at
all?" Kosher Kiss-Up Award (for Lauding Lieberman), second runner-up "Today Joe Lieberman had to go before the Black Caucus because
there were members of that caucus, the Congressional Caucus, who had some
reservations about his social conservatism. Did he persuade you and the
others that he's the right kind of vice presidential running mate for
this ticket?" I Am Woman Award (for Hillary Rodham Worshiping), second runner-up "When your husband ran for President eight years ago, it was often
said you get two for the price of one, meaning if you elected him, they
got your expertise. Does the same now apply? Do we get two for the price
of one? If we vote for you, do we get his expertise?" Carve Clinton into Mount Rushmore Award, second runner-up "It's not unlike watching a BMW, fully loaded, the sunroof back,
the heated seats, the Blaupunkt speakers blasting. No curves, no spin, a
180-kilometer-an-hour purity of performance. It's December and a press
conference in the bowels of the cement box that is the State Department,
and up there on the stage, hand jauntily in pocket and press corps in the
palm of his hand, the President is wowing 'em again. So you have again
the fractured promise of William Jefferson Clinton. Oxford Bill with the
political skill set of a veteran Chicago ward heeler. More intellectually
supple than Al Gore without the rent-a-wreck personality. More politically
attuned than George W. Bush, and he really reads the books." Media Hero Award, second runner-up "I think the American public really got a taste of the degree to
which not only Elian had been, in my view, you know kidnapped by these
people [Cuban-Americans], but American policy on Cuba has been kidnapped
by a very active, vociferous minority.... "I just came from a trip
from Venezuela to Bogota, Colombia to Moscow. I got to tell you, what
people in Bogota, Colombia would give for five minutes of Janet Reno. What
people in Russia today in these lawless, no rule of law societies, would
give for five minutes of Janet Reno." The Real Reagan Legacy Award, second runner-up "We went through that whole period, get government off our backs.
Remember the Competitive Council? Let the corporations voluntarily
regulate themselves and come up with safety standards, so that the Carter
administration could come up with new standards for tires, the Reagan
administration came in and cut them out, abolished them and cut the budget
of that very agency, that the Republicans are now criticizing, by 50
percent. And it's never come back. It's never come back." Flirting with Disaster Award (for Proximity to Conservatives), second runner-up "You said you ended up with a more conservative platform than you
originally drafted. How disappointed are you?" The Galloping Ghost of Gingrich Award (for Chiding Cheney), second runner-up "I have to ask you, as an African-American, if you have any
difficulty supporting a man who voted against releasing Nelson Mandela
from prison....Is that kind of vote acceptable under any
circumstance?" W is for Woeful Award (for Bashing Bush), second runner-up "A new poll shows that nearly 60 percent of Texans believe the
state has, at some point, executed the innocent. No matter. These voters
apparently view state-sanctioned murder as a fair price to pay for
maintaining the status quo. A real leader would try to take his people to
a better place. Will Bush? I have reasonable doubt." If He Didn't Sink, Send Him Back to the Clink Award (for Portraying a Cuban Paradise Awaiting Elian), second runner-up "Good evening. In Miami today, immigration officials met with the
Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez again and once again the government has
failed to get the kind of cooperation from the relatives that might allow
the case of this young boy to end in a civilized manner that is best for
him." Little Havana Banana Republic Award, second runner-up "Cuban-Americans, Ms. Falk, have been quick to point fingers at
Castro for exploiting the little boy. Are their actions any less
reprehensible?" Semper Fidel Award (for Jim Avila's Admiration of Fidel Castro), second runner-up "Why did she [Elian's mother, a maid] do it? What was she
escaping? By all accounts this quiet, serious young woman, who loved to
dance the salsa, was living the good life, as good as it gets for a
citizen in Cuba....In today's Cuba a maid, where dollar tips are to be
had, is a prestigious job. Elian's life relatively easy
by Cuban standards, living with Mom and maternal grandparents half of the
week, in Dad's well-furnished home the rest of the time. Both Mom and
Dad friendly to each other and caring towards their
only child....An extended family destroyed by a mother's decision to
start a new life in a new country, a decision that now leaves a little boy
estranged from his father and forever separated from her." Bring Back the Iron Curtain Award (for Admiring Communism), second runner-up "We missed the death of a notable American this week, so we want
to catch up. Gus Hall actually died on Friday. The son of a Minnesota
miner became head of the U.S. Communist Party at the height of
anti-communist McCarthyism in the late '40s and '50s. He spent eight
years in prison and a lifetime in the political wilderness for his views
here, but he was a dignitory, dignitary in the Soviet Union. Even after
his friends there abandoned the cause, Hall never wavered and he was
90." Damn Those Conservatives Award, second runner-up "Howard, who are the Republicans who are not happy with the way
this event looked tonight and similar groupings of these six, meaning, and
it's red meat for conservatives, the positions rather strident tonight:
anti-gay, pro-Jesus, and anti-abortion and no gray matter in
between?" Good Morning Morons Award, second runner-up Matt Lauer: "Let's say I come down to your dealership, I buy a
car tomorrow, I get my voucher, I go out and get my gun and then in a week
or so I decide that I don't want it, what's to stop me from selling it
to anyone I want to sell it to?...." Tennessee car dealer Greg Lambert, who gave free gun to car buyers: "I'm not responsible for the actions of other people...what we need is crime control, not gun control." Lauer: "Yeah, but why not take away the possibility? If you give
someone a CD player, they can't go out and kill someone with it....From
what I understand, Mr. Lambert, you're taking the promotion a little bit
further. Even children who come to your dealership are going to get a free
water pistol, and some people say that's just going too far." Politics of Meaninglessness Award (for the Silliest Analysis), second runner-up "The larger point here is how awful SUVs are. It amazes me that no
one contemplates getting rid of them, in a serious way, getting rid of the
things. They're gas guzzlers in a big way that are going to hurt us --
our long-term dependence on foreign energy. They're very unsafe. They
roll over. If you're in a small car, they'll
crunch you. Everything about them is bad, yet Americans gleefully buy them
and nobody talks about banning them." END Reprint of second runners-up in the MRC's "The Best Notable Quotables of 2000: The Thirteenth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." On Friday, the last CyberAlert of the millennium will feature the third runners-up. -- Brent Baker [4]
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Uma
Thurman, booster of Bill and Hill. Catching up on an item from last
Friday, on the December 22 Late Show with David Letterman, actress Uma
Thurman extolled how she's "awfully proud" of Bill Clinton and
thinks that if he'd been on the ballot he would have won again. As for
Hillary, she considers her "incredible" and proclaimed:
"I'm so proud of New York for electing her." Thurman appeared
to plug a new movie titled, I think, The Tell, or something like that.
Christmas
days of yesteryear: CBS Newsmen Andy and Harry getting high on joints
received as a Christmas gift.
On
Tuesday the winning quotes, yesterday the first runners-up and today the
second runners-up in the MRC's "The Best Notable Quotables of 2000:
The Thirteenth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." The
annual end of the year special 8-page edition of NQ is based upon the
votes of 46 judges -- radio talk show hosts, columnists, editorial
writers, magazine editors and media observers -- who evaluated and ranked
quotes in 18 award categories. For a list of the judges, refer back to
item #3 in the December 26 CyberAlert or go to: