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- <text id=92TT2254>
- <title>
- Oct. 12, 1992: Grapevine
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Oct. 12, 1992 Perot:HE'S BACK!
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- GRAPEVINE, Page 23
- </hdr><body>
- <p>By JANICE CASTRO
- </p>
- <p> Don't Want to Talk About It
- </p>
- <p> Before consenting to be interviewed on several news shows
- lately, PRESIDENT BUSH has demanded that reporters not ask him
- about his involvement in Iran-contra. Good Morning America
- agreed to ask only about crime, health care and taxes; Bush
- appeared three times last week. Meet the Press refused to agree
- to any limitations and has yet to land an interview. Says Tim
- Russert, moderator of Meet the Press: "We just can't let the
- President set the ground rules for an interview."
- </p>
- <p> Pork-Barrel Defense Policy
- </p>
- <p> With the election just four weeks away, Defence Secretary
- Dick Cheney, Acting Secretary of State Larry Eagleburger and
- Army Secretary Michael Stone have handed their Commander in
- Chief a leg up in the pivotal states of Michigan and Ohio. By
- lobbying hard, they persuaded their friends in KUWAIT to agree
- to buy 236 heavy M1A2 Abrams tanks. The tanks are made by
- General Dynamics in Warren, Michigan, and Lima, Ohio. The $1.5
- billion Kuwaiti deal could mean thousands of jobs. And since it
- has been consummated just in time, maybe thousands of votes.
- </p>
- <p> Where's Jimbo?
- </p>
- <p> As George Bush's extremely reluctant savior, White House
- chief of staff JAMES A. BAKER III has made himself all but
- invisible since coming back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In
- fact, he's keeping such a low profile that West Wing staffers
- post notices of rare "J.A.B. III" sightings. Says a top Bush
- campaign official: "We're beginning to think the next time we
- see him, it will be on the side of a milk carton."
- </p>
- <p> Are You Out There, Ross?
- </p>
- <p> Now that Ross Perot is back in the race, subscribers to
- the PRODIGY computer-network service want to know when he will
- go on-line. Since August, Prodigy has been running an
- electronic town meeting in which Bill Clinton and George Bush
- chat with its 1.75 million subscribers. Members have flooded the
- candidates with more than 150,000 questions. Clinton answered
- 50 queries, all in a folksy tone, signed "Sincerely, Bill
- Clinton." Bush, who signs his more formal electronic notes
- simply "President George Bush," has replied to only about 25
- queries so far. Neither side, though, has been willing to answer
- one of the most popular questions: "If you win the election,
- will you stay on-line?"
- </p>
- <p> As GM Goes . . .
- </p>
- <p> Members of an extremely private, invitation-only New York
- investors group called AEA thought it was a hoot when they
- persuaded former General Motors chairman ROGER SMITH last year
- to take over as CEO of one of their investments, a tidy little
- group of rubber-and-plastics manufacturers with operations in
- Ohio, Virginia and Georgia. Before long, though, the company was
- declining fast. Since nobody can bear to fire Smith, investment
- bankers say the owners are now quietly trying to peddle the firm
- for far less than they paid for it.
- </p>
- <p> Film At 11
- </p>
- <p> The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (once known as
- the KGB) is starting its own newsmagazine. The first issue
- bristles with articles about espionage, the Russian mafia and
- the infamous Lubyanka prison, which some of the editors probably
- know firsthand. Called SB, the monthly also includes profiles
- of KGB spies. With pictures.
- SCORECARD
- </p>
- <p> Ross Perot's imperial re-entry brings to mind others who
- have been overstaying their welcomes lately:
- </p>
- <p> JOHN MCLAUGHLIN The screechy Church Lady routine is tired.
- </p>
- <p> SPIKE LEE Gag me with a spoon.
- </p>
- <p> THE ROYALS After the Fergie movie, even The Pat Robertson
- Story sounds good.
- </p>
- <p> DR. KEVORKIAN Is this some kind of grisly game?
- </p>
- <p> NIKE ADS Too perky, too '80s.
- </p>
- <p> MICHAEL DOUGLAS Infiniti was better off with rocks and
- trees.
- </p>
- <p> MADONNA Put it all on, please.
- </p>
- <p> MURPHY BROWN Get back in the TV set!
- </p>
- <p> DAN QUAYLE You know you're in trouble when your spokesman
- has to explain you were joking.
- </p>
- <p> STEPHEN KING O.K., O.K., we're scared.
- </p>
- <p> ROBERT DORNAN Only reason to avoid C-SPAN.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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