...And Why Did We Support Clinton in '92?
"This time around, why are
we leaving such critical decisions, then, up to the Republicans?
Why didn't we come up with another more perhaps realistic
deficit reduction budget plan?"
- NBC weekend Today co-host Giselle Fernandez
to Labor Secretary Robert Reich, May 20.
Stupid Tax and Budget Cuts
"It's too bad, because he's
actually one of the better chairmen. I mean he's a terrific
lawmaker. He's been a statesman in the last couple of years, and
he would be an important force, for instance, in stopping the
Senate from passing this stupid tax cut."
- Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Evan Thomas
on Sen. Bob Packwood's sexual harassment troubles, May 20 Inside
Washington.
"This is not the time to be
cutting taxes. What you want to do is if the economy gets in a
real jam, that's when you want to cut taxes, to give people
spending power. They should let the tax cut go for now, use that
money to really get that deficit down. That would be the best
thing for the country....Given the fact that next year is an
election year, I don't think it's too likely that they will pass
on that tax cut. I'm afraid we will see it."
- CBS chief economics correspondent Ray Brady on Sunday
Morning, May 21.
"In practice, personally, I
think it will destroy the future competitiveness and security of
the country, in terms of education, infrastructure, and medical
practice as we know it today."
- NPR reporter Nina Totenberg on the budget, May 13 Inside
Washington.
Dittoheads and More Thoughtful People
"Cut off the funding for
NPR, or gradually reduce its funding to the point where it
becomes a mere shadow of its usually robust, sensible self, and
the American people may find themselves left with nothing much
more than Rush and dozens of his mini-clones for information
about the world. For Limbaugh's `dittoheads,' this may be the
most splendid of tomorrows, but for other more thoughtful
listeners, it may be the bleakest of forecasts."
- Marvin Kalb, former CBS and NBC reporter and current
Director of the Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at
Harvard, reviewing three books on talk radio, May 21 Washington
Post Book World.
Republicans: Fomenters of Race War, Class War
"The Republican Congress,
of course, is not likely to embrace raising taxes and cutting
defense spending. It is beholden to three constituencies: The
corporations, whose lobbyists finance politicians and then
finagle billions in bizarre subsidies for clients. The rich, who
write campaign checks and simply ask to be left alone. And many
hard-working, middle-class men and women - mostly white - who
resent handouts to the needy....About the best [the Democrats]
can do is temper excesses of Republican plans - excesses that
could lead to class warfare or race warfare, excesses that will
widen the already widening gap between rich and poor."
- Former NBC News President Michael Gartner in his USA
Today column, May 30.
Paleoliberalism Lives
"If raising living
standards is the issue, then government should be doing more,
not less to help Americans secure job training and education and
to help kids go to college; more to help welfare recipients and
their children get jobs and lead productive lives; more to
restrain health costs and help all Americans get health
insurance. And if paying for such programs requires not only
cuts elsewhere but also new revenues - first, closing loopholes
and if necessary, maybe even tax increases - we should talk
about them openly."
- Former New York Times and Washington Post
reporter E.J. Dionne in his Post column, May 16.
Whitewater: Who Cares?
"You just heard Mr. Panetta
and his comments on the proposed Senate Whitewater hearings.
Polls in the past, Mr. Gingrich, have said that: a) the American
people really don't understand Whitewater; and b) they really
don't care about it. Is there a reason for hearings now, other
than to inflict political damage on the President prior to the
elections?"
- Today substitute co-host Matt Lauer
interviewing Gingrich, May 18.
Reagan's Fantasy Arrives
"An awful lot of people,
Cal, decided during the Reagan years that this could be done
painlessly. Remember Ronald Reagan, your old buddy, he used to
say, you know, `All you've got to do is cut waste, fraud, and
abuse, cut welfare, cut foreign aid,' and that's how you would
solve the problem. Reaganism never involved pain for
God-fearing, taxpaying, hard-working middle Americans. Now,
finally, the Reagan fantasy is coming face to face with
reality."
- U.S. News & World Report Senior Writer
Steven Roberts on CNBC's Cal Thomas show, May 16.
Conservatives Didn't Bomb Oklahoma...But They Did
"The bomb in Oklahoma was
not ignited by Rush Limbaugh or G. Gordon Liddy, but they are
significant as well as highly visible fomenters of a mood that
is fairly described as hateful, i.e., full of hate...The
distance between speech and action is wide and it is exceedingly
difficult for anyone to understand how and why it is closed. But
anyone who thinks that the right-wing zealots are merely
mouthing off is fooling himself."
- Washington Post columnist and chief book
critic Jonathan Yardley, May 1.
Too Zealous About Civil Rights
"As your convention begins
today, there is reportedly a power struggle going on within the
NRA. More traditional - you're laughing, but this is what by
many accounts is the case that there is a schism between
traditional NRA members, conservative sportsmen, and a more
radical branch of Second Amendment fundamentalist zealots."
- Today co-host Katie Couric to the NRA's Tanya
Metaksa, May 19.
If He's for Abortion Then Our Bodies Are His
"There should be an effort
to reconcile the two Packwoods: the lout - who purportedly
pounced on unsuspecting women, sticking his tongue in one's
mouth, running his hands up the legs of another, 18
reprehensible acts over 21 years - with the Senator who was a
lonely champion of women's rights, and who is proving himself to
be a voice of honesty and probity among the budget slashers in
his own party."
- Time columnist Margaret Carlson, May 29
issue.
Pete Wilson, Purveyor of Hate and Division
"Wilson, whatever his
chances, has already shown he knows his times....Now he is the
man who gentrified fear. Exuding an aura of stern decency, he
makes attacking Them only `fair.' He supported a state ballot
initiative last year to deny state benefits to illegals - it
passed overwhelmingly. Now he wants to end any state rule that
smacks of racial or gender preference. Is this the worst kind of
pandering? Or is it a public service to hear the fear and make
it legitimate?"
- Newsweek reporter Howard Fineman, May 22.
100,000 Killed by Gingrich
"Think of the upcoming
battle over Medicaid as though it were the battle of Manila. You
aren't familiar with the battle of Manila? Well, that's the
point. D-Day with its 19,549 dead and wounded was nearly a year
past, and the war in Europe nearly won when American troops
captured the city of Manila, a fight that resulted in 23,240
American and Japanese casualties and killed up to 100,000
Filipino civilians. The battle received little attention despite
its enormous impact. The same thing could happen to
Medicaid."
- Beginning of May 30 Washington Post news
story by reporter Judith Havemann.
- L.
Brent Bozell III, Publisher;
-Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
- James Forbes, Andrew Gabron, Mark Honig, Steve Kaminski,
Gesele Rey, Clay Waters; Media Analysts
- Kathleen Ruff, Circulation Manager;
-Melissa Gordon, Anna Johnson; Interns