New world out of order
"We lost everything. We've got to get this sorted out here. It happened last week too. I mean, if I just listen to the question I can answer whatever it is. But if I think it's going to be on here I don't listen to the question, I just look at this." — US President George Bush, over a still-open microphone, in a discussion with his aides on November 26 after things went awry in an address to a school group in California. Prearranged questions were asked out of order, and Bush, sticking to his answer sheet, answered the first question in reply to the second.
Skill
"If Keating had been there he would have been wrapping it around their ears right from the word go. Even if he didn't have the facts he would have made out that he did." — A "disillusioned Labor MP" discussing Bob Hawke's performance on the Hewson tax package with the Sydney Sun Herald.
Good, clean fun
"The material I got was shattering. Disney was a paid informant for the FBI." — Author Marc Elliot on documents released to him after 14 months of legal battles, confirming that Walt Disney spied on friends and acquaintances, helping J. Edgar Hoover to prepare files on their sex lives and political views.
Street theatre
"Any time there was a camera crew around, someone would call for the dogs to search a convenient location where we could be seen." — Former army sniffer dog handler Keith Burley on the role of his squad after the Sydney Hilton bombing of 1978. The dogs were not called in before the bombing.
The winners
"There was an enormous amount of interest in the building at the time." — NSW Labor Party president Terry Sheahan on the party's purchase of a $3.8 million building which has since collapsed in price, contributing to a $6 million debt and a deep financial crisis. Union disaffiliations have cost the party about $100,000 annual income.
Pinpointing the problem
"The dark greens are opposed to nearly all major outback projects which could increase our exports in the 1990s." — Professor Geoffrey Blainey, in a migrant- and green-bashing speech delivered while the Darling and other inland rivers choked on blue-green algae.
Not good for business
"The United States has never been less threatened by foreign forces than it is today. But the unfortunate corollary is that never since the Great Depression has the threat to domestic well-being > US journalist William G. Hyland, commenting on George Bush's performance as president.