Open & Shut
A recent collection of funny, fascinating, nonsensical or just notable newsworthy quotations
From the Spring 2005 issue of The News Media & The Law, page 40.
“Is this the first sign of Armageddon?”
— Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) recalling what one colleague asked him after he introduced a bill to create a federal shield law.
“I see a danger that some members of Congress’ notion of the First Amendment might be different than those in this room.”
— New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller on a proposed reporter’s shield law to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in April.
“These waivers are really pernicious. They’re yet another way in which the government is trying to make sure that the only people we talk to are the authorized spokesmen cleared to speak to journalists. And if that the kind of news that people want, that’s what they’re going to get.”
— New York Times reporter Judith Miller on confidentiality waivers Bush officials required White House staff to sign saying private conversations they had with reporters are no longer confidential. Miller spoke to the University of California at Berkeley in March.
“You think I’m going there? You’re crazy.”
— President George W. Bush to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in April in response to a question about whether Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine were right not to reveal their sources.
“My argument is that cameras don’t cause the circus. They may show the circus, but they don’t cause it.”
— Court TV Chairman Henry S. Schleiff in the March 4 edition of The New York Times.
“It is simply false that Mr. Leno’s use of humor to engage in social commentary is somehow less valuable and worthy of First Amendment protection.”
— Motion by Jay Leno’s lawyers in March seeking an exemption to a gag order against him cracking jokes about Michael Jackson.
“We just can’t resist: What a load of crap.”
— March 30 editorial in the University of Oregon’s Daily Emerald about the reason Texas National Guard officials gave in refusing to release public documents: They were full of dirt, bugs — and rat droppings.
“If the [Georgia] Legislature passes House Bill 218 to override Georgia’s open-records laws and allow economic developers to negotiate in secrecy with industrial prospects, I hope every toxic waste plant, garbage dump and hog-killing plant in America locates in the middle of downtown Garden City. That’s the hometown of Republican Rep. Ron Stephens, who is pushing this unnecessary piece of legislation.”
— Georgia columnist Dick Yarbrough in the Feb. 19 edition of the Augusta Chronicle.
“It’s not the public’s meeting. It’s the school board’s meeting.”
— Hampshire County (W. Va.) Attorney Norwood Bentley to an Associated Press reporter in March after he successfully muzzled people demanding the firing of a school board official.
“No, no, no, Mr. Rooney. The first rule is the witness never gets to ask any questions . . . even if he’s a journalist.”
— U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon to Andy Rooney, who testified in an April trial about celebrities who claimed they were stiffed by a speakers bureau.
“I like a country with a free press — an independent, free press.”
— President George W. Bush in a Feb. 22 press briefing after meeting with European Union leaders.