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The Best Notable Quotables of 1989:
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Joe Isuzu Award |
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First
Place
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"Communism got to be a terrible word here in the United States, but our attitude toward it may have been unfair. Communism got in with a bad crowd when it was young and never had a fair chance...
The Communist ideas of creating a society in which everyone does his best for the good of everyone is appealing and fundamentally a more uplifting idea than capitalism. Communism's only real weakness seems to be that it doesn't work."
-- 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney in The New York
Times, June 26. |
Runners-up: |
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"Indeed, most observers and politicians here agree that the election is just one part of a larger process involving squaring the revolutionary side of Nicaraguan society -- the meshing of the Sandinista party with the government and Army after 10 years of rule -- with a trend toward establishing a liberal democracy. That is a long process fraught with contradictions that an opposition victory could force to a conclusion too soon."
-- Reporter J.D. Gannon in The Christian Science Monitor, October 26.
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"The latest incident of alleged Contra violence in south central Nicaragua killed whatever chances there might have been for the 19-month-old ceasefire agreement to be extended....The Sandinistas argue that they've given the Contras ample opportunity to meet their obligations under terms of the regional peace plan. Now they say the time has come for the rebels and the Bush Administration to do their part if there is to be peace in Nicaragua."
-- Beginning and end of story on CNN PrimeNews by Ronnie Lovler, November 1.
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"The incident is now known throughout the country as 'Bloody Sunday' and marked a desperate moment in the leadership's attempts to win public confidence in its movement for democratic change."
-- Washington Post reporter David Remnick on Soviet troops killing peaceful protesters in Georgia, October 12.
"Medical care was once for the privileged few. Today it is available to every Cuban and it is free. Some of Cuba's health care is world class. In heart disease, for example, in brain surgery. Health and education are the revolution's great success stories."
-- ABC's Peter Jennings on the April 3 World News Tonight.
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Damn Those Conservatives Award
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First
Place |
"I've known Barney Frank since was in college. He's a man of surpassing integrity that I've never known to be questioned. I think he's a master politician, which people forget. He's also a magnificent Congressman, and above all, there is nothing in this episode that counters any of those other images, and I would expect him to survive this smear in good standing."
-- Boston Globe Washington Bureau reporter and columnist Tom Oliphant on
Inside Washington, August 26. |
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Runners-up: |
"And if his moving speech today does not restore those decencies he so wistfully remembered today, then perhaps history will remember that at least he tried."
-- Reporter Jim Wooten on Jim Wright's resignation announcement, ABC's
World News Tonight, May 31. |
"You two fill the voids left by those who were casualties of an ethics war Republicans started."
-- NBC Today show co-host Bryant Gumbel to Rep. Richard Gephardt and Rep. William Gray, June 15. |
"Politics didn't just turn ugly. It evolved from a nasty presidential campaign that featured the GOP's famous Willie Horton ad."
-- Reporter Eric Engberg on the CBS Evening News, May 29. |
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Which Way Is It? American Politics
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First
Place |
"Polls show that more than 70 percent of Americans support a woman's right to a legal abortion."
-- NBC reporter Jamie Gangel, on the April 9 Nightly News.
"Most in US favor ban on majority of abotions, poll finds"
-- Boston Globe front page, March 31
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Runners-up:
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"47 Wright charges dropped"
-- USA Today, April 18
"Wright Violated Rules 69 Times, Ethics Panel Says"
-- Los Angeles Times, same day
"SEX SCANDAL PERILS FRANK: Back home, constituents reconsider"
-- Washington Times, August 31
"For Now, Constituents Supporting Rep. Frank"
-- Washington Post, same day
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