[The 90’s raw: 1992 election interviews]

Raw footage shot for the award-winning series The 90's. This tape features interviews with Bob McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice, and others about the 1992 elections.

00:00Copy video clip URL Interview with Bob McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice, on the streets of downtown Washington, D.C. When asked what the issues of next year’s presidential elections will or should be, McIntyre says the issues should be about the raw deal the middle class has received for the last ten years from the Government, claiming that their incomes haven’t gone up, but their taxes have and they are not provided any services any more.

00:45Copy video clip URL McIntyre notes that in the 1980s taxes on the wealthy were cut while taxes on everyone else were raised. He thinks taxes should be raised on the rich to help the country improve health care and education.

02:26Copy video clip URL McIntyre says that if the Democrats can’t make an issue of this they are hopeless. He says people need someone to stand up and say they’re going to do something about this issue.

02:56Copy video clip URL Change of location. The videographer and journalist David Corn are outside of Bullfeathers bar and restaurant interviewing three summer interns about what the key issues the 1992 presidential election should be. The first says she thinks there should be more focus on domestic issues, education, environmental, and a cut back on military spending, “Since supposedly the Cold War is over.” A second intern says she thinks the issues should be on education and domestic issues. “It’s time to start looking at our own country and start taking care of the issues we have here.” The third intern, working at the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, agrees we need to look inward and focus on domestic issues like health care and education. She wishes Mario Cuomo would run.

07:04Copy video clip URL Corn interviews a fourth intern working on Capitol Hill, a young man working for Congressman Jim Ramstad. He thinks the next election should focus on Congress and the President working together more towards a common goal. He says Bush should run on a statement of cutting defense spending, but not cut too drastically. He thinks the money should go into education and environment. He thinks Bush’s strength is Foreign Policy.

10:21Copy video clip URL The videographer asks the intern who other than Bush he’d like to see run. The intern says he’d like to see Jack Kemp or Bob Dole run. Kemp because he is “doing excellent things right now with the Housing and Urban Development.” And Dole because “has done excellent things as Minority Leader in the Senate such as trying to hold the line on spending.” When asked about Vice Presidency, the intern notes that he thinks the press is hard on Quayle, but that he believes Quayle is being groomed for the Presidency. He doesn’t think the Democrats have a chance for the Presidency. He notes that the mood on Capitol Hill is centered on how to cut military bases and the towns that rely on them staying open.

14:14Copy video clip URL He says that the Democrats don’t have anyone to lead them and that no one on the Republican side seems to be contesting George Bush for the Presidency.

15:20Copy video clip URL Corn looks for more subjects to interview. He asks two Bullfeathers employees standing outside the restaurant on break what they feel the issues in the upcoming election should be. One named Carl says the environmental issue should be approached. He thinks massive social reform needs to occur: children, elderly needs, illiteracy, and racism issues.

18:14Copy video clip URL The worker is talking about how the Government does not want to put money into social reform and that military spending could be drastically cut when the Maitre d’ enters and asks them to move out of the restaurant’s doorway. The worker does not think any candidate will speak out on these issues.

20:51Copy video clip URL Jane Danowitz, a woman friend of Corn, enters and greets the journalist with a kiss. He explains he is with a show called The 90’s for PBS and is asking people what they think the issues should be in the 1992 presidential election. She says it should be reproductive choice. She is head of an organization that elects women candidates who are pro-choice. She thinks some of the other issues should be economic opportunity, economic equality for middle and lower classes, and particularly for women and people of color.

23:01Copy video clip URL Interview with Matt Monroe who says he is not a Republican because it seems the rich keep profiting from the Republicans. He believes Jimmy Carter was good to the poor people, noting that he himself is lower middle class. He says if he were to vote he’d vote Democrat. Jumping subjects, he adds that in his opinion Bush wouldn’t have gone into Iraq if oil wasn’t involved. His rant continues about how the country needs heroes, the Vietnam War. He predicts Bush will be re-elected “because of that war thing.” But he notes that the war didn’t improve the country’s economy and argues that we never would have engaged if it wasn’t for oil.

27:50Copy video clip URL Monroe notes that he grew up in Northern Virginia. He continues his rant on Bush noting that Bush hasn’t accomplished much on the war on drugs. He continues on talking about the way African Americans are treated in the US.

28:50Copy video clip URL His advice to politicians is that they have to create jobs and do something about this war on drugs. If they’re going to do something they should legalize marijuana. His rant leads to talk about the country’s social double standards and about how closed minded the culture is about advertising preventative sex.

30:17Copy video clip URL Change of location. B-roll on the streets of Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C. Corn records an ID, show open. B-roll of various street scenes.

31:15Copy video clip URL Corn tries to record man-on-the-street interviews asking passerby what they think the key issues should be for the upcoming presidential election.

31:33Copy video clip URL Passerby Darryl says the issue should be affordable housing. They should re-open shelters. Congress should provide the money to do this.

33:35Copy video clip URL Corn tries to solicit passerby with no success.

33:58Copy video clip URL A middle class couple, Steve and Jodi Dobbs, think domestic violence and education should be the issues along with “a drug policy that actually does something.” They think teachers should receive better pay.

36:47Copy video clip URL Two female passerby simply say they hate politics.

37:56Copy video clip URL A Latina, Maria Renderez, says she wants to hear politicians talking about the war in El Salvador and the Mount Pleasant riot in DC in 1991. She argues that it affects business. People are afraid to come to Mount Pleasant because of the riots.

39:51Copy video clip URL A man says he doesn’t know much about the election. He is visiting and not American.

40:18Copy video clip URL A group of men walk away refusing to be interviewed.

40:35Copy video clip URL A woman passerby thinks candidates should talk about the abortion issue. She wants to hear them say they are pro-choice.

41:50Copy video clip URL A male passerby says he’d like to hear them speak about the economy because there are too many people out of work.

44:06Copy video clip URL David Heft from Silver Spring, Maryland, says the key issue should be greater care in naming candidates to the Supreme Court.

47:31Copy video clip URL A man from East Africa thinks the issues should be economic stability and employment. The social services in the country need improvement. He also thinks the US has taken positive steps in East African issues.

50:35Copy video clip URL Passerby Greg Bowling thinks the issues should be socialism versus free market. He is on the free market side. He suggests people look at supply and demand and note what the government is doing to it. He says the government should be getting out of the economy. He comments that he is a student at Texas A&M University and is a member of the Corps of Cadets beginning his senior year. He adds that he wants to see minimum wage repealed, allowing more teenagers to work.

55:30Copy video clip URL Passerby Michael Goldrich thinks the key issue is domestic policy. He admits to being worried about the country’s problems with health care, unemployment, homelessness, drugs and crime. To him these issues should be more important to the US than the Middle East issue.

56:50Copy video clip URL B-roll of Jamie Mahoney, a bike-riding street vendor selling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. When interviewed about what he thinks the issues of the 1992 presidential election should be, Mahoney says: honesty and world freedom. “We need a real, honest president.” He says you can tell if a politician is honest by looking into their past. He thinks the country should focus on freedom for the Palestinians, domestic homelessness, hunger, and cutting back on taxes. He says businesses need to pay their fair share of taxes. When asked about Ben & Jerry’s, Mahoney notes that they are a great company to work for.

01:00:21Copy video clip URL A woman, Larissa, is getting a shoeshine. She says the key issue should be a domestic agenda: child care, education, maternity leave, health care, and abortion. She thinks these needs are not being met beyond the status quo.

01:02:22Copy video clip URL Charles Sheppard, the shoeshine guy, chimes in stating that homelessness needs to be the key issue. He suspects the government will address it eventually and do something about it, but it will take time. He says he shines shoes on Capitol Hill and meets senators all the time.

01:04:32Copy video clip URL A college student called Cornelius thinks the issues need to be education and homelessness. He doesn’t feel politicians have been talking about these issues. He would like to see more grants for college students, education for the homeless, drug rehab.

01:07:38Copy video clip URL A passing couple, Roy and Dahlia,  stops. Roy thinks the election issues should be civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, everybody’s rights. He thinks the government should stop censorship. Dahlia thinks the issues now are about how the government can fool the people. She thinks Congress is a joke and that education needs to be addressed. “We’re behind the world.” She says this is not a Democrat or Republican issue, both parties need to stand behind it. She notes she came to Washington, DC, to go to law school. “My reality check was when Thurgood Marshall stepped down.” She decided she would be a poor man’s lawyer and started working at homeless shelters. She talks about her advocacy for helping homeless people so they can re-enter society.

01:15:15Copy video clip URL Change of day and location. The videographer (Eddie Becker) and journalist David Corn are in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, continuing to interview passerby on what they feel are the key issues for the 1992 presidential election. One passerby, Charles Ericson, wishes the president would deal with the violation of human rights in Tibet. He adds that he feels politics are beyond him and that he feels he doesn’t have all the information and that through the media it’s difficult to decipher which information to believe.

01:17:35Copy video clip URL Debbie Barger, who works on the Hill, thinks the issues should be about the deficit.

01:22:17Copy video clip URL A security guard comes over to ask if the video crew is with the press. He says they are not allowed to interview on the steps of the Capitol Building and directs them to a designated spot across the way for video crews. Another passerby comes up to the security guard and asks for directions to the Metro station.

01:23:58Copy video clip URL Corn asks two Australian tourists about the issues for the upcoming US presidential election. One of the men, Paul, thinks the US government has been doing a fantastic job. The other, Michael, says he thought Bush did a good job in handling Iraq. They note how many derelicts are in the streets in America. “Everywhere I go I see a drunk or someone homeless.” He notes the differences in Australia: We have less people but more public education and public medicine.

01:28:51Copy video clip URL They interview Missy Jenkins, a woman who works for Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming. Jenkins notes that she herself is from South Carolina. When asked about the issues for the 1992 presidential election, the woman notes that she and her senator are interested in the environment and Veteran’s Affairs. She notes that more and more environmental issues are being taken more seriously. When asked if writing one’s Congressman helps, Jenkins answers “It sure does,” and tells the story of someone who yesterday came into the office from Georgia. He had served in Saudi Arabia. He was concerned about Veterans’ Affairs. He wrote a note for Senator Simpson. Jenkins suggests that the Senator takes notes like that seriously. She debunks the myth that life on Capitol Hill is all glamour, and notes how hard Senators, Congressmen and their staff work.

01:33:08Copy video clip URL A couple, Lou Paris and Beth Schoonbeck, are interviewed outside the Capitol Building. Schoonbeck, a kindergarten and high school teacher from Connecticut, says the country needs to put more money into education. She notes there’s too much money being spent on defense. She thinks with more money put towards the national education issue more people would be getting educated.

01:35:13Copy video clip URL Paris says the issue should be letting Congress in on foreign affairs and not giving all the power to the president. The money, he says, needs to be used domestically in education, roads, poverty.

01:37:36Copy video clip URL Audio signal garbled.

01:38:26Copy video clip URL END. Recording stops in mid-sentence.

 

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