Plus: Advertising Writer Stuart Elliott is hearing things.
By
Clay Waters
February 9, 2007 - 3:04pm
"When Republicans learned that Ms. Pelosi was trying to upgrade at taxpayer expense, they caricatured her as an imperial speaker even though no one uttered a peep about Mr. Hastert's reliance on military jets. Cornered by reporters on Thursday, Ms. Pelosi suggested that what she called a misinformation effort emanated from the Pentagon." - From Carl Hulse's February 9 "Congressional Memo."
"For Ms. Pelosi, relentlessly caricatured by the Republicans last year as a hard-edged, tax-raising liberal, the image of mother and grandmother takes the edge off the ideological cartoon." - Robin Toner, January 29. In the same article, Toner straightforwardly called Heritage editor Kate O'Beirne a "conservative analyst."
Except When Cleaning out the Clinton Stables...
"A powerful muckraker who plans to single out waste and fraud." - Text box to Philip Shenon's February 6 story on liberal Rep. Henry Waxman of California, who threatens to subpoena the Bush administration on a variety of alleged scandals.
Can't Win: A Liberal Blames Uncle Miltie for Ending the Draft
From Ginia Bellafante's review of a PBS documentary of the renowned free-market economist, January 29.
What "Deep Cuts"?
"One day after the Bush administration proposed deep cuts in domestic spending, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. told Democratic critics in Congress on Tuesday that the proposals for Medicare and Social Security were 'a starting point for a discussion' and could be revised." - Steven Weisman, February 7.
"The proposal has deep spending and benefits cuts, increased military spending and a call for continued tax cuts." - Steven Weisman, February 8.
Victory In Cold War? Think Oil Prices, Not Uncle Ronnie
"Economists have long studied this phenomenon, but I got focused on it here in Moscow after chatting with Vladimir Mau, the president of Russia's Academy of National Economy. I mentioned to him that surely the Soviet Union died because oil fell to $10 a barrel shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev took office, not because of anything Ronald Reagan did." - From Thomas Friedman's February 2 column.
The "Enormity" of...Oil Profits?
"While Exxon's fourth-quarter results were actually down a bit from the year before, the enormity of its annual profits had Democratic politicians shaking their heads." - In a February 2 story by Clifford Krauss.
The Advertising Reporter Is Hearing Things
"Then, too, there was the unfortunate homonym at the heart of a commercial from Prudential Financial, titled 'What Can a Rock Do?' The problem with the spot, created internally at Prudential, was that whenever the announcer said, 'a rock' - invoking the Prudential logo, the rock of Gibraltar - it sounded as if he were saying, yes, 'Iraq.'" - By advertising reporter-columnist Stuart Elliott, under the headline "Super [1]Bowl Ads of Cartoonish Violence, Perhaps Reflecting Toll of War [1]," February 5.