The Press Primary: Clinton Wins Unanimously
"The group of people I'll call The Press - by which I mean several dozen political journalists of my acquaintance, many of whom the Buchanan administration may someday round up on suspicion of having Democratic or even liberal sympathies - was of one mind as the season's first primary campaign shuddered toward its finish. I asked each of them, one after another, this question: If you were a New Hampshire Democrat, whom would you vote for? The answer was always the same; and the answer was always Clinton. In this group, in my experience, such unanimity is unprecedented....
"Almost none is due
to calculations about Clinton being 'electable'...and none at all is due to
belief in Clinton's denials in the Flowers business, because no one believes
these denials. No, the real reason members of The Press like Clinton is
simple, and surprisingly uncynical: they think he would make a very good,
perhaps a great, President. Several told me they were convinced that Clinton
is the most talented presidential candidate they have ever encountered, JFK
included."
- New Republic Senior Editor Hendrik Hertzberg, March 9 issue.
No Such Understanding for Dan Quayle
"I think the more
people who read the letter, the actual draft letter, the more people will come
back to Clinton....One of the sentences in the letter he gets blasted for is
that he wanted to keep his political viability. Well, he was what, in his
early twenties? He was running for Congress when he was 25. What happened to
the notion `I want to grow up to be President'? That's a good thing."
- Time Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Margaret Carlson on Inside
Washington, February 15.
"Bill Clinton did
not do anything illegal. There were, most young Americans at that time that
were in his income and educational background did exactly what he did. They
tried to find some way to avoid service."
- Wall Street Journal Washington Bureau Chief Al Hunt on CNN's Capital
Gang, February 8.
Shifting Debate Targets
Foes target Tsonfas in
final debate
- Washington Times, February 17
Democrates Aim Attacks
at Bush In N.H. Debate
- Washington Post, same day
Early Morning Assault on Buchanan
Anchor Lisa McRee:
"What's the difference between your message and the message of David
Duke?....In terms of fairness, you've said things that have angered Jews, that
have angered gays, that have angered women, that have angered minorities. In
fact, just the other day, you said that there are certain groups that
assimilate more easily into what is basically an American society which is of
European derivation. As a woman, if I was a minority, why shouldn't I be
scared of you?"
Buchanan: "....No
nation of God's Earth has done more to fight discrimination, or has made
greater progress in doing so, than the United States of America."
McRee: "But you
want to turn that around!"
- Exchange on ABC's World News Now, February 26.
Conservatives Can't Spur Job Creation?
"Why was she
looking for help from a man who promises to cut spending, dismantle government
agencies, and deregulate corporations?"
- Washington Post writer Henry Allen on an un-employed New Hampshire
woman talking to Pat Buchanan, February 17.
Yeah, And Harkin's Rhetoric Is Familiar to Supporters of Gus Hall
"Speaking to a
receptive audience at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action
Conference, Buchanan used the highly charged rhetoric familiar to supporters
of former Alabama Governor George Wallace and former Louisiana State
Representative David Duke to assail the well-born, Yale-educated Bush for
signing the 1991 Civil Rights Act."
- Washington Post reporter E. J. Dionne, February 21.
Still Horton-Crazy After All These Years
"David Duke's
exploitation of white working-class fears about blacks echoes a theme from the
1988 election. Then the issue was crime. This is the Maryland State
Penitentiary. Inside resides the most politically notorious convict in
America...William Horton, Jr., the focal point of a national campaign designed
to exploit white fear of black crime."
- CNN reporter Ken Bode on World News, February 13.
Rep. Charles Schumer
(D-NY): "When you have the Willie Horton- type commercials, when you have
candidates like Duke and Buchanan spew hate and are acceptable and are on the
news every night, that, too, is a message to particularly young people that
hating is okay."
Reporter Jacqueline
Adams: "What's striking is that so many young people on college campuses
and on the streets are willing to accept that message. For them, hatred has
replaced the American dream of living in a country free of racial
strife."
- CBS Evening News, February 20.
Joe Garagiola: Need We Say More?
"Among Cuba's
successes is its health care - it's progressive and it's free."
- Joe Garagiola on Today, February 13.
Couric: Kind to Communists and Liberals
"Considered one of
the most charismatic leaders of the 20th century....Castro traveled the
country cultivating his image and his revolution delivered. Campaigns stamped
out illiteracy and even today, Cuba has one of the lowest infant mortality
rates in the world."
- Katie Couric on Today, February 13.
Katie Couric:
"Governor Dukakis, do you feel somewhat vindicated that the economy is
such a prominent issue in this campaign, and that's why perhaps Pat Buchanan
fared so well in New Hampshire?"
Dukakis: "No, I'm
just mad at myself for blowing that election..."
Couric: "Well,
don't beat yourself up too much. Live and learn, I guess, is the moral."
- Exchange on Today, February 19.
Couric: Curt to Conservatives
Bryant Gumbel:
"We'll surely be talking about Pat Buchanan's politics as the weeks
proceed."
Katie Couric: "Some
questionable stands, for sure."
- Exchange on Today, February
19.
"We just heard Martina Graywind's brother say he was very worried about
her ability to make the right decision. Your organization, as we mentioned,
offered her $10,000 to keep her child. Won't that further complicate her
decision-making?....How do you differentiate this offer of $10,000 from
baby-buying, which is illegal in this country?"
- Katie Couric questioning Robert Maxson of the anti-abortion group Lambs of
Christ on Today, February 21. (Graywind had the abortion.)
Headline of the Post-Communist Era
A Gulag Breeds Rage,
Yes, but Also Serenity
- New York Times story on last Soviet political prisoners being
released, February 12
- 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