First lady Laura Bush, on whether any of the opposition to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers derives from sexism: "I think that's possible. . . . (She is) an extraordinarily accomplished woman (who has) broken the glass ceiling." XXX Eleanor Smeal, president and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation, while reserving her right to oppose Harriet Miers if she does not make clear her judicial philosophy on such matters as abortion and sex discrimination: "I think essentially that this hue and cry that (Harriet Miers) isn't qualified, there's a sexist basis to it. Does she have mental capacity? Give me a break. Would they say that about a man? I don't think they would." XXX The New York Times' United Nations reporter, Warren Hoge, on the rise of U.N. members' acceptance of Israel as measured by such things as (a) Israel's submission of its candidacy for a two-year seat on the Security Council and (b) the warm U.N. reception given to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: "For any of the 190 other nations in the world organization, those would be routine events. But in Israel's case, (they suggest) an end to the disdain with which the country has historically been treated at the U.N. . . . 'These are steps that could not have happened even two years ago,' said Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador." XXX Syria's U.S. ambassador, Imad Moustapha, on the alleged suicide (or government murder?) of Syria's interior minister - Major General Ghazi Kanaan in his Damascus office just days before an expected U.N. report implicating Syria in the car-bomb assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri: "The Syrian government was shocked by this death." XXX Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, in 1998, on Bill Clinton and special prosecutor Kenneth Starr: "Incredibly, (Clinton) actually blamed Kenneth Starr for his troubles. He might as well have said that the devil made him do it. Ken Starr was simply doing his job. . . . This isn't about Ken Starr. This is about a president who lacks the character to tell the American people the truth." XXX DeLay, September 28, on his own troubles with a prosecutor: "This morning, in an act of blatant political partisanship, a rogue district attorney in Travis County, Texas, named Ronnie Earle charged me with one count of criminal conspiracy, a reckless charge wholly unsupported by the facts. This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham, and Mr. Earle knows it. It's . . . the product of a coordinated, premeditated campaign of political retribution - the all-too-predictable result of a vengeful investigation led by a partisan fanatic." XXX Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, on such entities as the U.S. and Canadian Episcopal churches regarding - among other issues - homosexuality: "They are the ones who are tearing apart the fabric of our Anglican family, not the Nigerians." Continued... |