They Said That?!

A friend of mine here at CNN has a theory about the Bush administration. They’re convinced that everything Bill Clinton ever did was wicked bad and awful and so they want to do the opposite….Clinton wanted to save all that wilderness area in Alaska; and Mr. Bush wants to drill for oil there. Clinton fussed about clean air; this president wants to ease new restrictions on coal-burning power plants…. Clinton my friend noted had surpluses. Obviously the Bush administration thinks those are evil because what they want is deficits — big ones maybe the biggest ever.  * CNN’s Bruce Morton on Late Edition February 9.

We Did To Iraq What Bin Laden Did To Us

I decided to put on my flag pin tonight – first time. Until now I haven’t thought it necessary to display a little metallic icon of patriotism for everyone to see….I put it on to take it back. The flag’s been hijacked and turned into a logo – the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism…. When I see flags sprouting on official lapels I think of the time in China when I saw Mao’s Little Red Book on every official’s desk omnipresent and unread. But more galling than anything are all those moralistic ideologues in Washington sporting the flag in their lapels while writing books and running websites and publishing magazines attacking dissenters as un-American….I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don?t have to make it….I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us.  * Bill Moyers on PBS’s Now February 28.

No Difference Between 9/11 Iraq Attack

To many New Yorkers the scenes of a city under siege were achingly familiar. New Yorkers watching the televised bombing of Baghdad yesterday said they were riveted by the raw and uninterrupted display of American military might. But for some the bombing brought back particularly visceral and chilling memories. They could not help thinking about Sept. 11 and how New York too was once under assault from the skies.  * New York Times reporter David Chen in a March 22 news story headlined Baghdad Bombing Brings Back Memories of 9/11.

Katie Couric Girl Reporter

There’s an article in the Style section of the Washington Post this morning. It says you’ve logged 26 years of personal minutiae filling 4 400 two-by-three inch notebooks color-coded by season. An example: ’12:17′ – this is when you made the announcement – Ascend stage stumble regain balance; 12:18: Applause ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ plays (U2); 12:19: Clap wave; 12:20: Adjust tie (red white stripes); 12:21: Double thumbs up; 12:22: Sing along with National Anthem right hand on heart.’ What what do you do this for?!’ * Katie Couric to Senator Bob Graham on NBC’s Today May 7 apparently unaware the article she quoted from was a spoof of the presidential candidate’s diary.

I don’t think anybody who looks carefully at us thinks that we are a left-wing or a right-wing organization.  * Peter Jennings as quoted by USA Today’s Peter Johnson in a September 9 article on Jennings’s 20 years as sole anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight.