backtop

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

August 7, 2000

(Vol. Thirteen; No. 16)  

Mandela Imprisoned by Cheney?

"I have to ask you, as an African-American, if you have any difficulty supporting a man who voted against releasing Nelson Mandela from prison....Is that kind of vote acceptable under any circumstance?
-- Jane Clayson to J.C. Watts on The Early Show, July 31.

"I'm just curious, do you have any problems with the fact that he did vote against Head Start -- because you care so deeply about education -- and against a resolution that would have allowed Nelson Mandela to be released from prison?"
-- Katie Couric to Colin Powell, August 1 Today.

Churlish Cheney Charges

"But Bush is portraying himself as a compassionate conservative. If he's running with somebody who voted for all the Reagan budget cuts, for example, wouldn't that prove a bit of a problem?"
-- Gloria Borger to Karl Rove, July 23 Face the Nation.

Linda Douglass: "A close look at his ten years in Congress reveals that Cheney was one of its most conservative members, say analysts who have looked at his record.
Sarah Binder, The Brookings Institution: "If you look at any of the big issues in the 1980s, he was on the far right."
-- ABC's World News Tonight, July 25.

"Cheney's politics are of the hard-right variety. He's opposed to abortion and gun control and favors both capital punishment and school prayer."
-- Bryant Gumbel on CBS's The Early Show, July 25.

"And when you talk about votes like that, that he made while in Congress, anti-affirmative action, anti-abortion, anti-gun control, anti-equal rights, how does George Bush portray him as a compassionate conservative?"
-- Today co-host Matt Lauer to Tim Russert, July 26.

"On the subject of equal rights, you voted against the Equal Rights Amendment. You consistently opposed funding for Head Start programs and I read something yesterday and this was not a bill, this was a resolution. But you voted against a resolution that would have recommended freeing Nelson Mandela from a South African prison. Why'd you do that?"
-- Matt Lauer to Dick Cheney, July 27 Today.

Platform Failed o Please Liberals

"If the Republican Party is a party of the big tent, a lot of different views, why not express those views on this divisive issue of abortion instead of that very, very strong, total, against-all-odds abortion provision?"
-- CNN's Wolf Blitzer to Senator Bill Frist on The World Today, July 28.

"You said you ended up with a more conservative platform than you originally drafted. How disappointed are you?"
-- NBC's Maria Shriver to platform committee chairman Tommy Thompson, during MSNBC coverage, July 31.

"You and others who are for abortion rights in the Republican Party were frozen out of the platform. What does that say, if anything, about compassionate conservatism and the broad tent?"
-- CNN's Candy Crowley to New York Governor George Pataki, July 31 daytime coverage of the GOP convention.

"How does that broaden the appeal of the party? You're talking here tonight about being more inclusive, yet 59 percent of the people here describe themselves as conservative."
-- Andrea Mitchell asking Pataki about Dick Cheney, July 31 MSNBC prime time coverage of the GOP convention.

"This is the convention of inclusion, so-called. The platform, however, represents the ideology of these convention delegates. It is very conservative. Especially on issues like abortion."
-- Tom Brokaw to Bush aide Karl Rove, August 1 MSNBC.

"The platform is, again, very strongly pro-life and rejects abortion rights, and the platform specifically comes out against gay unions, and against legal protections based on sexual preferences. So is this really an open, compassionate, tolerant party?"
-- Charles Gibson to Lynne Cheney, August 2 Good Morning America.

GOP Run By Pope, Jesse Helms

"Well, you put Tom Ridge out there for example, the Governor of Pennsylvania, big and important state, a guy with a great record, pro-choice, immediately the Catholic Church and Jesse Helms said no way."
-- Tom Brokaw to George W. Bush, July 24 NBC Nightly News.

Powell: GOP's Uncle Tom

"General Colin Powell, the most influential African-American in the Republican Party will be talking to these delegates, reminding them that they have to think about minorities every day, not just every four years."
-- Tom Brokaw, July 31 MSNBC convention coverage.

"Most famous black man in America, probably, and they push you into the front position all the time. Do you ever feel that maybe this is the professional wing of the party trying to use you?"
-- Peter Jennings to Powell on Nightline, July 31.

"Only four percent of the delegates in the convention hall are African-Americans. Do you feel troubled at all by this, and do you feel used by your party?"
-- Katie Couric to Powell, August 1 Today.

Blacks Should Still Fear GOP

"George W. is one thing, but as long as the Republican Party -- you noted some of them -- is populated by the Pat Buchanans, the Jesse Helmses, the Jerry Falwells, the Bob Barrs, don't blacks have a right to be suspicious?"
-- CBS's Bryant Gumbel to a panel of black men, August 2 The Early Show.

Carlson's Compassionate Corner

"Bush has kind of morphed into Clinton and left Al Gore in the dust in between Bob Jones University and now. The only mistake he may have made is by choosing Cheney, which reminds people -- the million moms are not going for Dick Cheney. The militia moms will."
-- Time's Margaret Carlson, July 29 CNN Capital Gang.

"[Bush's] Big Tent will be the biggest ever. Why should a little disagreement over abortion make us all tense and angry with one another? The ideology-lite candidate, Bush was able to change from compassionate conservative to Bob Jones conservative and back again inside six weeks with near impunity, while Al Gore was ripped apart for changing the color of his clothes."
-- Margaret Carlson in the August 7 Time.

Tolerance Held Hostage

"Is the Republican Party held hostage, in your judgment, Christie Whitman, by its views on abortion? So that people like you, who believe that there ought to be some choice, can never be considered for Vice President?"
-- Tom Brokaw to Whitman, Aug. 2 MSNBC coverage.

Cheney: "Hard Right" Isn't Sexy

"Now the country may not want sex appeal, but they're not going to get it in Dick Cheney. He's a hard-right conservative....The question will be should Bush have selected someone to reach out, with that sex appeal? We'll see."
-- Sam Donaldson on Cheney, August 2 ABC News prime time coverage of the Republican convention.

Lashing Out at Loony Lynne

"Many people have described you as the true right-wing warrior of the family. You're a staunch conservative, you've spoken out against feminism, multiculturalism, you oppose trigger locks for guns....You have been described by Ken Adelman, a former arms control individual, as 'thinking all of Western civilization is in danger from the left and she has no levity about that.'"
-- Katie Couric to Lynne Cheney, August 2 Today.

Bush's "Compassion" Claims Contradicted By Conservatism

"He went along with having an openly gay Congressman address the convention last night, yet Bush opposes hate crimes legislation, gay marriage and gay adoption. He is the candidate who talks of making health insurance available to all who want it, but has fought to limit federal insurance for children. Bush is the candidate who has proposed a huge tax cut as a way to help the working class. But more than sixty percent of the relief would go to the richest ten percent of Americans. And while he speaks of the need to protect the environment, Bush supports mostly voluntary efforts to do it."
-- ABC's Dean Reynolds, August 2 World News Tonight.

"But inclusion is not universal here. On Powell's affirmative action, the GOP platform says #we will attain equal opportunity without quotas or other forms of preferential treatment.' The platform would ban all abortions, going further than Bush. It opposes sex education in schools except for teaching abstinence and it opposes laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination."
-- CNN's Bruce Morton, August 3 convention coverage.

Thanks for the Insight, Dan

"You may want to note that Cheney is referring to Clinton Gore, not Clinton and Gore, in effect making Clinton Al Gore's first name: Clinton Gore."
-- Dan Rather during Dick Cheney's acceptance speech after Cheney said "We're all a little weary of the Clinton-Gore routine...it is time for them to go," August 2 CBS News Republican convention coverage.