backtop

A bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, 
quotes in the liberal media.

...And the Show Gave Newt a Thumbs-Down

"Winnie Mandela's stock is on the rebound now that South Africa is giving her a public hearing on charges she's facing. But let the buyer beware here: those charges still include abduction, assault, sabotage, and murder."
-- Bryant Gumbel offering "People Stocks" on the October 1 debut of his CBS show Public Eye.

Good Morning, Glorious Child Care Commissar

"It is clear that day care in this country is inaccessible to many, cost prohibitive for others, substandard in many situations. What can the government actually do to alleviate some of these problems?"

"As you know, Mrs. Clinton, regulations for at-home day care vary so much from state to state in terms of the ratio of children to day care provider, do you think there should be some kind of overall federal regulations?"
-- Today co-host Katie Couric to Hillary Rodham Clinton, October 23.

"We've seen a real range from $4,000 to $10,000 a year people spend per child. But the experts say that it really costs $6,800 per child for a year to provide quality child care. The average American only spends $4,000. Will this administration provide any funding to help make up that difference if, in fact, it's going to cost more to provide quality care?"
-- Good Morning America co-host Lisa McRee to Hillary Clinton, Oct. 23.

"What is the cost of ignoring this issue?...If people are following the Wisconsin [welfare reform] example, women will be required to go to work when their babies are six weeks old. And these are going to be the working poor. There we're really looking for more federal and state dollars or more private sector involvement, as you point to Florida. Is that a great example for the country to look at? What makes it so?"
CBS This Morning co-host Jane Robelot to the First Lady, same day.

Teamster-DNC Donation Swap?

Dem tells of 'Contribution swap' scheme
-- USA Today, October 10.

DNC Ex-Aide Denies Teamster 'Swap' Plan
-- Washington Post, same day

Wonderful to See An Unrepentant Witness in This Piddly Scandal

"It was wonderful to finally see a witness before this committee that wasn't intimidated. You know, you clearly believe Harold Ickes says 'Look, what I did was within the bounds of the law, and if you folks have a problem with the law, change the law. But don't pick on me. You have picked on the wrong guy."
-- CBS and U.S. News correspondent Gloria Borger on the PBS show Washington Week in Review, October 10.

"Ickes didn't give an inch...It was a breathtaking display of nerve...Ickes was loyal to a President who had not been loyal to him. In the end he drew grudging admiration from Republicans...It was an impressive personal victory and it was the 'Political Play of the Week.' For President Clinton, Ickes' testimony could not have come at a better time. This was the week when Clinton was in the most trouble because of the videotape fiasco. Senate investigators smelled blood. But when Ickes was finished, there was no blood on the floor."
-- CNN political analyst Bill Schneider on CNN's Inside Politics, October 10.

"President Nixon was investigated for obstruction of justice. President Reagan was investigated for not telling investigators what he knew of the Iran-Contra scandal. President Clinton is being investigated for making telephone calls from the wrong room in the White House."
-- New York Times Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Adam Clymer opening Oct. 15 analysis of Janet Reno's decision to further probe Clinton's calls.

Angry at Failure of "Campaign Finance Reform"

"We begin tonight with stalemate in the Senate. The majority thwarted. Politics prevails. Campaign finance reform, which the public wants, dead as a doornail, all of the above. After many months of talking about it, the first real effort to reform how campaigns for federal office are financed, the push to get some of the big money out of election campaigns has gone nowhere."
-- Peter Jennings, Oct. 7 World News Tonight.

"Legislation in Congress to reform campaign fundraising is dead, at least for now. It was killed in key votes spearheaded by Republicans today in the Senate. This happened as the political rhetoric turned hotter and nastier with Republicans charging the White House coffee videotapes are a grounds for a special prosecutor. CBS's Phil Jones begins our coverage of hot talk and no action on campaign cash."
-- Dan Rather, October 7 CBS Evening News.

"For all the rhetoric and the outrage about what happened in the '96 campaign, a bill that would overhaul the system was all but killed off today in a partisan battle. It was sunk by two procedural votes. One of which was a Republican amendment requiring labor unions to poll their members before making campaign contributions. Democrats saw that as a deliberate attempt to kill reform..."
Tom Brokaw, October 7 NBC Nightly News.

"In fact, Senator Specter, as Senator Torricelli mentioned, two votes have left campaign finance reform legislation pretty much DOA. Do you think that prompts the American people to wonder about the sincerity of Congress to really enact change and suspect that perhaps this is an intentional effort to embarrass the Democratic Party?"

"But it's so ridiculous, you know people watching this just think that reform is necessary. They can't understand why you guys can't get your acts together!"
-- Katie Couric to Senator Arlen Specter, October 8 Today.

Everyone Except the 83 Percent Who Disagree

"We're going to start tonight with a presidential decision... President Clinton's announcement today about how to deal with the change in the world's climate which the overwhelming majority of scientists now agree is being caused by man. The White House has now signed onto a gradual approach for reducing the pollution which we are spewing into the atmosphere. Many scientists think the problem is much more urgent and a significant chunk of American industry still insists that some of the proposals to reduce the gases will do harm to the U.S. economy."
-- Peter Jennings opening ABC's World News Tonight, October 22.

Reality Check:
"A Gallup Poll found that only 17 percent of the members of the Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Society think that the warming of the 20th century has been a result of greenhouse gas emissions."
From the "Myths of Global Warming" by the National Center for Policy Analysis, May 23.

Still Recycling Bias from the 1988 Campaign

"Atwater, a tightly wound country boy from South Carolina who rose to the chairmanship of the Republican Party before dying of a brain tumor in 1991 at the age of 40, will probably be best remembered as the political illusionist who turned a black convict, Willie Horton, into a national symbol of the fear of crime, thereby successfully applying the tools of marketing to race-baiting. (In his final days, he begged Mr. Dukakis's forgiveness for the smear)...[actor Bruce] McIntosh conveys both the naked ambition and folksy charm of a young man who advanced rapidly on an extraordinary instinct for the tastes, prejudices, and resentments of white middle America."
New York Times theater critic Peter Marks on the one-man play Lee Atwater: Fixin' to Die, September 16.

As If the Two Trends Are Unrelated

Crime Keeps on Falling, but Prisons Keep on Filling
-- September 28 New York Times headline over Week in Review article.

L. Brent Bozell III, Publisher
Brent H. Baker, Tim Graham; Editors
Eric Darbe, Geoffrey Dickens, Gene Eliasen,
Steve Kaminski, Clay Waters; Media Analysts
Kristina Sewell, Research Associate
Carey Evans, Circulation Director
Rebecca Hinnershitz, Intern