Word: contras
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That was, of course, a reference to one of the more memorable lines uttered during the Iran-contra hearings: Attorney Brendan Sullivan's notable "I am not a potted plant" response when Senator Daniel Inouye grew impatient with the lawyer's frequent objections and suggested that his client, Oliver North, should be the one to speak up. The fact that the President would remind his audiences even obliquely of the scandal that has seriously impaired his effectiveness signaled his rising optimism. Although the Wisconsin demonstrations had been carefully stage-managed, they reinforced Reagan's recovery from the doldrums inflicted...
North's testimony may have marginally aided the contra cause and enhanced his own can-do image (though there are already signs that Olliemania is fading), but it did not help his Commander in Chief, who professed not to know what his National Security Council staff aide had been up to. National Security Adviser John Poindexter's insistence that "the buck stops here with me" on the diversion of profits from the Iran arms sales to the contras meant that investigators had not found a "smoking gun" in the President's hand. But many Americans found the admiral's tale...
Worse yet, there was no way to avoid harsh bottom-line judgments of what Reagan had actually done, or failed to do, in the Iran-contra fiasco...
...President's self-inflicted Iran-contra wounds will not heal quickly. He will try to put the events behind him later this month by giving his own post- hearings perspective in a brief televised speech. But more blows seem likely. The final report of the Senate and House select committees, due in early October, is certain to be highly critical...
...indictments by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh will draw fresh attention to the scandal, and some could very well fall close to the Oval Office. Reagan is known to be especially hurt by the revelation that his former personal assistant, David Fischer, took large payments for bringing potential contra contributors into the White House for presidential handshakes...