Notable Quotables
December 12, 1988. (Vol. One; No. 22)
SPECIAL ISSUE: THE BEST OF 1988
Reagan Record
Don Regan: "What’s the bottom line of the Reagan Administration? It’s a great record."
Lesley Stahl: "Bottom line. Largest deficits in history. Largest
debtor nation. Can’t afford to fix the housing emergency."
-- Exchange
on Face the Nation, May 15.
"I think it’s a dangerous failure at
least in terms of programs. A mess in Central America, neglect of the
poor, corruption in government....And the worst legacy of all, the
budget deficit, the impoverishment of our children."
-- U.S. News & World Report Editor Roger Rosenblatt during CBS News GOP Convention coverage.
Economy
"The nation’s unemployment rate fell a
tenth of one percent in March to 5.6 percent. That’s the lowest it’s
been since May of 1979. But this low unemployment rate is not entirely
good news. Fewer people are looking for work."
-- Connie Chung on the
April 1 NBC Nightly News.
"Unemployment in America in April was
the lowest it’s been in fourteen years, 5.4 percent. That, coupled with
other encouraging signs in the economy, is obviously good news but, you
guessed it, it may mean bad news in the form of higher inflation."
--
Tom Brokaw opening the NBC Nightly News, May 6.
“Inflation rate dips slightly in May”
-- Washington Times, June 22
“Consumer Prices Up Slightly During May”
-- Washington Post, same day
“Greenspan Sees Stable Rates”
-- New York Times, July 14
“Greenspan Signals Higher Interest Rates”
-- Wall Street Journal, same day
“Greenspan Warns of Inflation”
-- Washington Post, same day
“Greenspan expects growth, low inflation”
-- Baltimore Sun, same day
-- Reprinted from The New Republic
Feminism
"And, so we choose Betty Friedan because she had the ability and the sensitivity to articulate the needs of women, which means that she did us all a favor."
-- Peter Jennings on ABC’s February 19 Person of the Week.
Cuban Communism
"There is, in Cuba, government
intrusion into everyone’s life, from the moment he is born until the day
he dies. The reasoning is that the government wants to better the lives
of its citizens and keep them from exploiting or hurting one
another....On a sunny day in a park in the old city of Havana it is
difficult to see anything that is sinister."
-- NBC reporter Ed Rabel on Cuban life, Sunday Today, February 28.
Human Rights
“Soviet Rights Improved By ‘Glasnost,’ U.S. Says: Repression Eased Under Gorbachev Policy”
-- The Washington Post, February 11
“North Korea, Cuba worst abusers of human rights”
-- The Washington Times, same day
Oliver North
"The
best favor anybody could do for Lt. Col. Oliver North would be to send
him a copy of the U.S. Constitution."
-- Mutual Broadcasting and CNN
talk show host Larry King in his March 28 USA Today column.
"North’s
speeches are a skillful blend of showmanship and demagoguery."
-- Newsweek White House reporter Thomas DeFrank, August 1 issue.
Ted Turner’s Portrait of the Soviet Union
"The
Soviet Union, draped in history, born in a bloody revolution, bound
together by a dream that is still being dreamt. The dream of a socialist
nation marching toward the world’s first communist state."
"Once the Kremlin was the home of czars. Today it belongs to the people."
"Atheist
though the state may be, freedom to worship as you believe is enshrined
in the Soviet Constitution."
-- Statements by narrator Roy Scheider during three night WTBS cable "Superstation" series aired in March.
Grenada Liberation
“Prosperity Eludes Grenada 5 Years After Invasion”
-- Washington Post, October 25
“Grenada invasion halted communism in its tracks”
-- Washington Times, same day
Glasnost
"Oh, Mr. Gorbachev!
You are so different from all the other boys!
I think I’m falling in love with you!
Clap your hands, clap your hands, Gorbachev!
Clap, clap, clap, clap your hands!"
-- a Hungarian pop singer featured during story by NBC reporter John Cochran, May 26.
"It
is a totally different world. Moscow is right now an open city. It is
just as open as Washington, D.C."
-- William Lord, former Executive Producer of ABC’s World News Tonight, quoted in the Washington Post by Tom Shales, in early June.
Nicaragua
"Personally, I think
the Contras are worthless."
-- CBS News producer/reporter Lucy Spiegel
quoted by David Brock in the January 1987 American Spectator.
“Arias warns Ortega: No room for games”
-- Washington Times, front page, January 14
“Costa Rican Asks Nicaragua, Rebels To Aid Peace Plan”
-- Washington Post, same day
"Why
this sea of troubles? One reason is the old American tendency to ignore
the Canadians, belittle the Mexicans, and invest in the armies of
Central America. Another reason is that diplomacy has been replaced in
recent years by sloganeering and belligerence. Instead of making deals
with the Sandinistas, the President said he wanted them to cry uncle."
-- John Chancellor on why anti-U.S. feelings are on the increase. NBC
Nightly News, May 3.
"For months the Sandinistas have been trying
to influence favorably U.S. public opinion by being flexible,
permitting democracy. But now the Sandinistas simply say flexibility is
not working, and they will adopt a harder line."
-- NBC’s Ed Rabel on
July 12, after the Sandinistas expelled the U.S. Ambassador, arrested
demonstrators, closed down La Prensa and Radio Catolica.
"And in
Nicaragua, the Contras used weapons from the ‘enterprise’ against
civilians. It’s a terrorist war they’re fighting. Old men, women and
children are caught in the middle or killed deliberately as the Contras
use violence against peasants to pressure their government. Thousands
have died. Even when the hearings were taking place in Washington this
summer, a Contra raid in Nicaragua killed three children and a pregnant
woman. As the casualties mounted, the secret government in Washington
knew that the Contra leaders were not such noble freedom fighters after
all."
-- Bill Moyers in The Secret Government, the Constitution in Crisis, repeated by PBS on September 14.
Jim Wright
“CIA Attempted to Provoke Sandinistas, Wright Asserts: Aim Was to Erode Support, Speaker Says”
-- Washington Post, September 21
“Wright draws fire for spilling secrets”
-- Washington Times, same day
Tax Reform
"Critics
of the tax reform bill always claimed it would help the rich. And it
certainly benefited the California millionaire named Ronald Reagan. Tax
returns made public today show the First Couple paid less tax on more
income."
-- CBS News reporter Terence Smith, April 8.
Geraldo Rivera
"Is there a lesbian baby boom? That’s the focus of this edition of Geraldo."
-- Geraldo Rivera introducing his April 20 show.
"What
happens when the man you marry becomes a woman? Transsexuals and their
wives are the focus of this edition of Geraldo."
-- Opening his show, May 16.
Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue: "Let’s fight
communism by making it safe for your mother to be on the New York
subway. Let’s fight communism that way. Let’s make America work. You and
the Reagan ideologues have spent us into oblivion -- our children are
going to have to pay this bill -- and you step forward, like some
religious figure saying, ‘more bombs, more bullets, let’s get the
beachhead!’ Now the beachhead, as, like, Managua’s a beachhead like
World War II. You’re living like in an old ‘40's movie..."
Pat Buchanan: "Phil, calm down."
-- exchange on the April 25 Donahue.
"The
[Catholic] Church has always thrived on ignorance and oppression."
-- Phil Donahue, interviewed by Pat Buchanan on CNN’s Larry King Live, May 31.
Carl Rowan
"Anyone found in possession of a handgun
except a legitimate officer of the law goes to jail -- period."
-- Carl
Rowan in a 1981 column.
David Brinkley: "Suppose somebody was
breaking into your house at night, and you didn’t have a gun. Wouldn’t
you wish you had one?"
Sam Donaldson: "No, I’d call the police immediately, I’d slam the doors, I’d cower under the bed, or in the closet..."
Brinkley: "George?"
George Will: "I’d call Carl Rowan."
-- exchange on This Week with David Brinkley, June 19.
Cows & Dogs & Cats
"Every
month a truck would come from some slaughterhouse. I had become
friendly with the cows; I knew them as individuals....I first realized
something was ethically wrong with the milk industry - and I was right
in the middle of it. You don’t really know your relationship with an
animal until you’re making your living off of it. But I don’t think it’s
right to exploit animals for money, or for any reason....I want [pets]
to be free of humans. I think we should have a 20-year plan to phase out
breeding [dogs]. Then, after a few centuries, we can move on to cats."
-- Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy in The Animals’ Agenda, an animal rights magazine. Thanks to Washington Times columnist John Lofton, September 16.
Homelessness
"As a practical matter,
the homeless won’t get very far unless they can persuade a Republican
to break with Ronald Reagan’s policies -- or elect a Democrat."
-- Tom Mathews, Senior Editor of Newsweek, in the March 21 issue.
Headline of the Year
“Economic Surge Raises Concerns”
-- Washington Post, January 25.
BEST NOTABLE QUOTABLES OF CAMPAIGN ‘88
Sam Donaldson
"You’d
better be glad I’m leaving the White House beat in November, because if
Bush gets elected, I’d savage him."
-- ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, at the Republican Convention, quoted in Newsweek’s "Overheard" column, August 29.
The Primaries
"When he
entered the race nearly a year ago he had the courage to say that as
President he would probably have to raise taxes. And he never recovered
from his courage."
-- ABC’s Peter Jennings on Babbitt’s withdrawal from
the race, World News Tonight, February 18.
"Jesse Jackson toured
Chicago and brought tears and excitement wherever he went. Watch him as
he walks to the Robert Taylor project, home of some of this city’s
poorest people. They gave him what they had, they gave him love. This
week Jackson has been king. Greeted like a rock star, in a campaign more
emotional, perhaps, than Robert Kennedy’s in 1968."
-- Reporter Bruce
Morton, CBS Evening News, March 15.
"Dukakis is a centrist."
-- Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Scheer on The McLaughlin Group, weekend of June 11.
“Dukakis would junk SDI, MX missiles”
-- Washington Times, June 15
“Dukakis
Adopts Centrist Stance: On National Security Policy, He Seeks to
Reassure Establishment”
-- Washington Post, on same speech, next day
"George
Bush wants to convince voters that Michael Dukakis is a big spender who
will raise taxes, coddle criminals, and disarm America. In other words,
a ‘liberal.’ But does the dreaded ‘L’ word stick to Dukakis? Probably
not."
-- Newsweek table of contents summary of lead story in the July 4
issue.
"Not only is the campaign getting stale, it’s getting a
little gruesome, and Dukakis may be sending the wrong message. He may be
convincing voters the issue is: ‘Do you vote for Bush and hope he
lives, or Dukakis and hope he doesn’t?’"
-- CNN political analyst
Frederick Allen, October 11.
"Obviously, I am for Dukakis."
-- Convicted murderer Willie Horton in USA Today, October 19.
Democratic National Convention
"Jesse
Jackson succeeded in conducting a brilliant presidential campaign in
which he enlisted white support as well as black support...and conducted
a mainstream campaign."
-- Walter Cronkite, July 20.
"He
[Jackson] has become here, a kind of new, he’s acquired a new status.
He’s almost like Hubert Humphrey was, a sort of conscience of the
country."
-- Eric Sevareid during CBS News coverage, July 20.
"Nobody
almost is an old-fashioned liberal anymore in a sense of ‘let’s throw
some money at a problem.’"
-- Reporter Bruce Morton on CBS, July 19.
"Today’s
Jane Pauley, perky as ever on her Wednesday morning broadcast, has
resilience. She arose for work at 4 a.m., as usual, after having stayed
up until the wee hours. The compelling draw to keep her out late Tuesday
night? Visiting the convention. ‘I’m a Jesse fan,’ she says."
-- USA Today, July 21.
Republican National Convention
"He’s
against outlawing abortion, he’s against President Reagan’s Star Wars
defense, he worries about the poor and homeless...Nine delegates to this
convention describe themselves as liberals....Harold Fergiss: a lonely,
rather brave figure out there on Canal Street. Symbol of the kind of
Republican that once was, but almost isn’t anymore."
-- Charles Kuralt
on CBS, August 17.
"But for all the talk about Bush’s asserting
his political independence, the Vice President cannot hope to defeat
Michael Dukakis without standing on the shoulders of the President. Bush
appears, on present form at least, overmatched as a candidate, offering
the voters little more than a resume without a rationale."
-- Time
National Political Correspondent Laurence Barrett, August 22 issue.
Dan Quayle
"What
is really hypocrisy, as I hear that word bandied about, is to watch
some pontifical powdered poop asking Dan Quayle questions and know that
that person was hiding out during the Vietnam War carrying a Viet Cong
flag."
-- Senator Alan Simpson on NBC Nightly News, August 18.
"I’ve
always said that I.Q. is a small part of the political world....The
minute he speaks his own mind, he reminds us of why Lady Di isn’t
allowed to talk, the guy has nothing to say and when he speaks it’s
frightening....He explains his military policy in Europe on the basis of
what [Indiana basketball coach] Bobby Knight believes, ignoring the
history of World War II, this century’s history. In terms of strategic
policy, he looks to Tom Clancy for his authority. These are not
metaphors he uses....What can he do? Can he talk or think? Which one can
he do?"
-- San Francisco Examiner reporter and CBS This Morning
"political columnist" Chris Matthews on The McLaughlin Group, September
17.
"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 be 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 Hendrick Hertzberg, October 31.
"After the 1988
campaign, no one can any longer argue that network news reflects a
‘liberal bias.’...Telejournalists...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.
"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.
-- L. Brent Bozell III; Publisher
-- Brent H. Baker, Marc S. Ryan; Editors
-- Richard Marois, Dorothy Warner; Media Analysts
-- Cynthia Bulman; Administrative Assistant