The Starr Chamber
"There is growing
controversy tonight, about whether the newly named independent
counsel in the Whitewater case is independent or a Republican
partisan allied with a get-Clinton movement. Among the questions
about Kenneth Starr are these: the involvement of anti-Clinton
activists in pushing for Starr's appointment to replace Robert
Fiske. Also, Starr's public stand actively supporting a woman's
current lawsuit against the President. This is a potentially
important and explosive story, correspondent Rita Braver has the
latest."
- Dan Rather on the August 8 CBS Evening News.
"Questions abound about how
and why Republican Kenneth Starr suddenly came to be the new
independent counsel in the Whitewater case replacing Republican
Robert Fiske. New disclosures are fueling questions about
whether or not Starr is an ambitious Republican partisan backed
by ideologically-motivated, anti- Clinton activists and judges
from the Reagan, Bush, and Nixon years. Correspondent Eric
Engberg has tonight's CBS Evening News reality
check."
- Rather, August 12.
Poor Bill Doesn't Get Enough Credit
"Why do you think that he
doesn't get credit for the good news that's going on? And if
Reagan was the teflon President, it seems like Bill Clinton is
the velcro President. Every bad piece of news just sticks to
him."
- Katie Couric questioning new Democratic National
Committee adviser Tony Coelho on NBC's Today, August
18.
"He is receiving little or
no credit for his accomplishments. He has, after all, cut the
deficit, slashed about a quarter of a million jobs out of the
federal bureaucracy, presided over a strong economy with low
inflation, and deserves, one would think, some points at least
for boldness of vision on welfare and health care reform. How
does all that, and NAFTA, and the first assault weapons ban,
weigh against the President's alleged indiscretions and
shortcomings?"
- Ted Koppel on the President's low poll
ratings, August 16 Nightline.
Clinton's Doing Great Things
Cokie Roberts: "You can
argue whether it's good or bad to have assault weapons banned. I
happen to think it's good."
Sam Donaldson: "...He
stepped right out, his first day in office, or second day, said
he was going to change the rules on gays and lesbians in the
military. That was a great thing, but he didn't have the
backing. And he has gone right down the line ever since, trying
to do great things, many of which I think the American people
agree with, but not having the public behind him."
-
Exchange on ABC's This Week with David Brinkley, August
14.
All the President's Friends
"It seems to me that this
President has had his ups and downs with the press. But it
hasn't been any worse for him than it has been for any of his
immediate predecessors. And there exists still a rather
widespread feeling among reporters in this town that this
President has set out to do the right thing, which they didn't
feel about Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and that if he is able
to accomplish even a fraction of this, there will be a
tremendous amount of applause from the media in this town."
- ABC White House correspondent Brit Hume on CNN's Larry
King Live, August 18.
>"Well, I think they
basically hate him [Clinton], elements of the extreme far
right...They just don't like his position on gut issues as far
as the far right is concerned. For example, abortion...gays in
the military....These are hot-button issues for the far
right."
- CNN White House reporter Wolf Blitzer, same
show.
Well-Organized Haters Who Are Well-Organized
"She [Hillary] is really
convinced that the right wing is incredibly well-organized, and
there is kind of a hate campaign going on in this country that
is, is deeply and well-organized, and it poses a real threat to
government and the Clinton's personally. And I mean, she may be
right."
- Newsweek's Evan Thomas on Inside
Washington, August 13.
Out on the Lunatic Fringe
"A more common response
from critics is an uncomfortable sense of deja vu about Mr.
Helms's continuing ability to affect government and policy
despite his standing at the outer fringes of the political
grid."
- New York Times reporter Peter Applebome
on Helms' lunch with Judge David Sentelle, August 17.
"Despite original
misgivings, he [Bob Dole] endorsed Oliver North's Senate
candidacy in Virginia, the result of a convention dominated by
ultraconservatives."
- Time reporter Laurence I.
Barrett, August 22.
Two Takes on the CBO
"The Mitchell plan has
gotten two bits of good news. The nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office estimated the bill would achieve 95 percent health
coverage as early as 1997, and would slightly reduce the federal
budget deficit."
- Reporter Kwame Holman on PBS's MacNeil
Lehrer NewsHour, August 10.
vs.
"The Congressional Budget
Office gave a decidedly mixed review to the Senate leadership's
health care reform bill. The agency, in a preliminary analysis,
said the bill would achieve its goal of covering 95 percent of
the population in 1997, almost immediately after enactment, but
would increase the deficit by $9 billion by 2000."
- Washington
Post reporters Dana Priest and Helen Dewar, same day.
Mitchell's Bureaucratic Bonanza? Tame?
"As reform goes, your bill,
frankly, is about as tame as it gets.
- Today co-host
Bryant Gumbel to Sen. George Mitchell, August 9.
Midnight Basketball or Else, Sucker
"Programs designed to aid
inner city youths...are not pork... 'Pork!' scream the
demagogues. 'Give us the death penalty!' The next time you or a
loved one find yourself trapped in the night-mare of a violent
crime, ask yourself if it wouldn't have been better for the 'perp'
to have been off playing basketball some-where. You may find
yourself suddenly in favor of even an imperfect attempt at
prevention."
- New York Times columnist and
former NBC News reporter Bob Herbert, August 17.
Bob Dole: The Real Forrest Gump
"[Forrest] Gump is the
perfect embodiment of this summer of O.J.'s fall from grace and
Whitewater, the political scandal with no there there...The
hero's weariness is simply the fatigue of being the good guy.
The character who does things is no longer heroic. As Clinton's
experience has proved, doing things is polarizing and
controversial. It opens the door for attack and low approval
ratings. Better to do nothing and play it safe. Like Bob
Dole."
- Washington Post movie critic Hal Hinson,
August 14.
Please Direct My Thoughts, Carole Simpson
"I won't make any pretense
that the American Agenda is totally neutral. We do take a
position. And I think the public wants us now to take a
position. If you give both sides and 'Well, on the one hand this
and on the other that'-I think people kind of really want you
to help direct their thinking on some issues."
- ABC News
reporter Carole Simpson on CNBC's Equal Time, August 9.
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Editors: Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham
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