Still Mourning for Mario
"Well, now we all
say Bill Clinton now that my, now that Mario Cuomo, Governor Cuomo, has opted
out. Never forgive you for that, never. I thought Mario Cuomo would be the
most formidable, the most expressive, demanding exponent of traditional
Democratic values that the party has today. He would have been a candidate
that would have given George Herbert Walker Bush fits."
- Sam Donaldson, after being asked to name the Democratic front-runner on Live
with Regis and Kathie Lee, January 16.
Michael Kramer, Time:
"He's incredibly smart. He's the most interesting person to talk to that
I've ever met in politics."
Gail Collins, Newsday:
"He is such a fascinating guy. He is everything, the most fascinating
politician I've ever met."
Joe Klein, New York
magazine: "He's one of the most fascinating people I've met, period. I
mean, in life, period. He's more fun to talk to than almost anybody."
- Reporters on Mario Cuomo, January 9 Nightline.
Moralizing from Mount Moyers
"Today, making it
in America means more family members working longer hours for less pay and
fewer benefits. If the trend continues, it will change radically America's
work force and America's future. Economic progress will come to fewer and
fewer of us, the divisions among us will grow and millions will find that
poverty and a paycheck go hand in hand."
- PBS omnipresence Bill Moyers concluding his special Minimum Wages,
January 8.
Harkin: For Socialism, Not Handouts
"[Democratic
presidential candidate Tom] Harkin is one of the most forceful champions of
the poor and downtrodden....He said his affinity for the disadvantaged is
based on his belief that everyone should be within reach of the American
Dream, which he sees as a position of comfort to be gained by honest, hard
work instead of handouts....He believes government should ensure health care
protection to all Americans, but he makes it clear that he does not support
government giveaways."
- Boston Globe profile of Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin by reporter
Curtis Wilkie, January 3.
Still Sticking It to Buchanan
"If street people
were asked today who Scrooge is, some might name Republican presidential
contender Pat Buchanan, who said last night that the homeless should be
restricted to certain areas and that pan handlers should be locked up if they
ignore warnings to stop."
- NBC White House reporter John Cochran, December 24 Nightly News.
"[Buchanan's]
respect for civil liberties is suspiciously selective. An ACLU man, he ain't.
Buchanan is a hard-liner on all accused criminals - except Nazis."
- Newsweek media critic Jonathan Alter on Buchanan's defense of
accused war criminal John Demjanjuk, December 23.
Horse Manure from The Washington Post
"But the man [Bush]
who had campaigned on a promise to run the economy just like Reagan - only
more so, or less so; only better - had gotten to the bottom of Reagan's
famous parable about the little boy on Christmas who dug and dug through all
the manure with all the optimism of his sunny nature. Bush's shovel had
finally struck the boards of the stable floor and broken on the bitter truth
that there was no pony."
- Washington Post reporter Marjorie Williams in The Washington
Post Magazine, December 29.
Tax Cuts Caused the Deficit
"Bush wants to cut
the tax rate on capital gains....But the glue holding this supply-side model
together is the same that came undone after 1981, when tax cuts led to record
deficits."
- USA Today reporter Richard Wolf, December 17.
Lost Communist Glory Years
Connie Chung: "In
formerly communist Bulgaria, the cost of freedom has been virtual economic
disaster. Peter Van Sant reports."
Van Sant:
"Thousands of socialists rally in Sofia, Bulgaria. It may look like a
rally from communism's glory years, but it's not. It's an expression of
frustration, a longing for the bad old days when liberty was scarce but at
least everybody had a job."
- CBS Evening News, December 29.
"In the old Soviet
Union, you never saw faces like these. The poor, the homeless, and the
desperation of the Russian winter. Their numbers are growing. Tonight - Is
this what democracy does? A look at the Russia you haven't seen before....The
people of Russia are learning this winter that the price of freedom can be
painfully high."
- Barbara Walters opening Nightline, January 14.
Right-Wingers: Still Looking to Hate
"The Right Wing:
With no more Reds to hunt, the right searches desperately for enemies at home.
Baseball's designated hitter rule, U.S. wetlands policy and imported Italian
menswear are all big winners in direct-mail solicitations."
- Newsweek's Ned Zeman, Joshua Hammer, and Jonathan Alter making
jokes about the coming year, January 6 issue.
Working on the Government Railroad
"The construction
of [light-rail transit systems] could be financed, at least in part, by new
taxes on parking and gasoline. Similarly, high-speed railcars could be a new,
more efficient means of transportation and could be paid for by imposing new
taxes on diesel and jet fuel. Those levies would not be popular, but that's
what leadership is for. This ambitious undertaking would certainly provide an
immediate lift to the economy..."
- Time Associate Editor Barbara Rudolph, January 13.
They're Not Liberal, Are They?
"`[Her] departure
is a significant loss to the choice community,' said Arthur J. Kropp,
president of People for the American Way, a 300,000-member, nonpartisan
constitutional-liberties organization."
- Associated Press story on Faye Wattleton leaving Planned Parenthood,
January 9 Washington Post.
Thomas Got Off Easy
"Would the Thomas
vote have gone differently if his story had been challenged as relentlessly as
hers was; if the Senators had pressed him on his penchant for watching
pornographic movies in law school, or his sudden claim that he was a victim of
a racist conspiracy that would have to have been plotted ten years earlier,
when Anita Hill first spoke of his behavior to her friends?"
- Time Senior Editor Nancy Gibbs, January 6.
In It for Liberalism
"Every once in a
while, my 1960s liberal feelings bubble to the surface, and I pull myself back
a little bit, and then I realize, no. That's why I'm in this. That's why I'm a
journalist. We must give voice to those who can't speak for themselves, and we
must expose the issues that need to be written about."
- Dennis Britton, Chicago Sun Times Editor and former Los
Angeles Times Deputy Managing Editor, in the November Chicago magazine.
- L. Brent Bozell III;
Publisher
- Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- Brant Clifton, Nicholas Damask, Steve Kaminski, Marian Kelley, Tim Lamer;
Media Analysts
- Jennifer Hardebeck; Circulation Manager