Unpardonable Pardons
"Until the truth about the
Iran-Contra scandal is truly un-covered, and all responsible are made to
answer for it, it may be difficult for any of us to trust that the policies
made by the Congress we elect aren't being overturned by our own spies, suave
diplomats, and good soldiers. President Bush called the men he pardoned
patriots, and no doubt they are. So is Mr. Bush. But patriotism isn't simply
loving your country. It's not looking for pardons from the law."
- Weekend Today co-host Scott Simon, December 26.
"Walsh's investigation of
the President will continue. The men Mr. Bush pardoned were all accused or
convicted of lying to Congress, and so the question remains: How can the
executive and the legislative agree on a foreign policy when one branch of
government lies to the other?"
- Bruce Morton concluding December 25 CBS Evening News story.
"It seems to me that the
President with these pardons has attempted to apply a statute of limitations
to the American people's right to know what went on."
- ABC reporter Jim Wooten, December 27 This Week with David
Brinkley.
Scholars fear power abuse / Some
observers question pardon timing / Legal scholars worry about possible abuse
of power
- Boston Globe headlines over page one story and jumps to
inside pages, December 25.
Man of the Year
"Clinton's campaign,
conducted with dignity, with earnest attention to issues and with an
impressive display of self- possession under fire, served to rehabilitate and
restore the legitimacy of American politics and thus, prospectively, of
government itself. He vindicated (at least for a while) the honor of a system
that has been sinking fast. A victory by George Bush would, among other
things, have given a two-victory presidential validation (1988 and 1992) to
hot-button, mad-dog politics - campaigning on irrelevant or inflammatory
issues (Willie Horton, the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, Murphy Brown's
out-of-wedlock nonexistent child) or dirty tricks and innuendo (searching
pass-port files, implying that Clinton was tied up with the KGB as a
student)."
- Time Senior Writer Lance Morrow in Man of the Year cover
story, Jan. 4 issue.
Republican Thinking
"[Bentsen] may be a
Democrat, but some of his critics say he thinks like a Republican: a champion
of so many tax breaks that usually benefit the wealthy."
- CNN reporter Bob Franken, Dec. 10 Inside Politics.
And the Envelope Please...
"I would give that to the
right wing Republicans' attempt to appeal to bigotry and fear. I mean they
captured the Republican convention but they turned off the American
public."
- Newsweek reporter Margaret Warner on her "flop of the
year," December 26 CNN Capital Gang.
"The women of America. To have Hillary Clinton as a role model in the White House. The new age of feminism."
"The Democratic convention
was the most uplifting event of the summer. And it set the tone for the
campaign, and the bus tours and victory in November."
- Newsweek's Eleanor Clift choosing her "winners of the
year," December 26 McLaughlin Group.
Bill Clinton: Endorsed by Somali Killers
"The fate of welfare reform
- and indeed, deficit reduction - will be footnotes to the main story: Bill
Clinton's ability to lead, comfort, and inspire. On that most important score,
he seems off to a strong start. He conveys an ease and intelligence that has
won friends in the salons of Washington, the halls of Congress, and fast-food
emporiums everywhere. His personal warmth has transcended some surprising
borders: after interviewing two Somali clan leaders last week, Dan Rather was
amazed to learn that both had followed the presidential campaign closely, were
fascinated with Bill Clinton and had come - separately - to the same
conclusion: `He seems comfortable with black people.'"
- Newsweek's Joe Klein, December 21.
Two Very Different Conventions
"The President permitted
Buchanan, the man who tried to destroy him, to speak at the Houston convention
during prime time. Buchanan delivered a snarling, bigoted attack on
minorities, gays and his other enemies in what he called the `cultural war'
and `religious war' in America. Buchanan's ugly speech, along with another
narrow, sectarian performance by Pat Robertson, set the tone of right wing
intolerance that drove moderate Republicans and Reagan Democrats away from the
President's cause in November. If Houston represented the Republican Party,
many voters said, they wanted out."
- Time Senior Writer Lance Morrow in Man of the Year story,
January 4.
"Clinton, whose stepfather's violent alcoholism shaped his early life, and Al Gore, who often borrows recovery language and concepts, turned the Democratic convention last summer into a national therapy session and display case for personal trauma and healing. Gore dramatically retold the story of his son's near fatal accident and the effect on his family."
"The subtext of the
recovery-and-healing line is that America is a self-abusive binger that must
go through recovery. Thus: the nation borrowed and spent recklessly in the
1980s, drank too deeply of Reagan fantasies about `Morning in America' and
supply-side economics. And now, on the morning after, the U.S. wakes up at the
moment of truth and looks in the mirror. Hence: America needs the `courage to
change' in a national atmosphere of recovery, repentance and confession."
- Morrow, next page.
The Most Intolerant Humans of All Time
"I believe the platform, I
was down there covering the platform hearings, and they did veer to the right
when it comes to the question of abortion, strengthening that language and
they also made sure that there were many mentions of God and so forth in the
platform and then later chided the Democrats for not including it as though
you have to mention God several times to prove that you're virtuous. I
consider that veering to the right and if you look at the people who served on
that platform committee, they were a group of the most intolerant human beings
that could ever be collected."
- Newsweek Washington reporter Eleanor Clift at a University
of Pennsylvania forum broadcast by C-SPAN, December 4.
Rotten Apple Pie
"The game of baseball is as
American as apple pie. Unfortunately, in many corners, so is racism."
- Bryant Gumbel on the controversy over Cincinnati Reds owner Marge
Schott, December 1 Today.
Improve by Bureaucratic Force
"But sharing the nation's
economic gains more evenly is a political imperative, and only government can
make it happen by taking steps ranging from making it easier to unionize to
forcing small businesses to provide pensions and health insurance."
- Newsweek General Editor Marc Levinson, December 7.
Moronic Question
"The most troubling question
that arises: If a couple dozen black Somali teenagers are killed by U.S. or
other forces so that other black people can be fed, won't that be totally
counter-productive?"
- CNN anchor David French interviewing Somalia relief coordinator
Andrew Natsios, December 6 World News.
- L. Brent Bozell III;
Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Andrew Gabron, Kristin Johnson, Steve Kaminski, Mark Rogers, Bill Thompson;
Media Analysts
- Kathleen Ruff, Circulation Manager;
- David Muska,; Interns