Word: dumbing
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Funny? Dumb? Outrageous? That depends, but this is politics, late-night style. Talk-show monologues may still lean heavily on the latest TV mini- series, Rob Lowe's videotape and beautiful downtown Burbank, but more and more they are turning for their yucks to real-life politics. Johnny Carson, who slides easily from Doc's wardrobe to Noriega's goon squads in his Tonight show monologues, has long been TV's most reliable barometer of what Middle America thinks about the issues of the day. But now Johnny is just one of a late-night crowd. Jay Leno, Carson...
Even dedicated free traders are sounding increasingly protectionist. "I grew up believing protectionism was pretty dumb, and I still do," says Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca. "But somewhere along the line we stopped being idealists and started being patsies." Iacocca and other auto executives are well aware that cars, trucks and auto parts account for 64% of the $52.1 billion trade deficit with Japan...
...making it easier to charge drug offenders under federal statutes. Federal prosecutors are instructed to avoid offering plea bargains in such cases, making a prison term harder to dodge. Says White House aide Roger Porter, who helped design the package: "The people who are committing these crimes are not dumb. They know what the chances are of getting caught and getting sent to prison, and as we increase those odds, we can change their behavior...
...amount of heat we found was very large in comparision to the amount of radiation, which is very nice," says Huggins. "We're just plain dumb lucky--maybe nature's been nice...
...spend a lot of money blasting off 500 rounds an afternoon at silhouette targets of the Ayatullah, or you can use them to off your rivals and create lots of police widows. It depends on what kind of guy you are. But the N.R.A. doesn't care -- underneath its dumb incantatory slogans ("Guns don't kill people; people kill people"), it is defending both guys. It helps ensure that cops are outgunned right across America. It preaches hunters' rights in order to defend the distribution of weapons in what is, in effect, a drug-based civil...