The Rise and Fall of the Political Catchphrase

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December 2, 1993

William Kristol, former aide to Dan Quayle and aspiring Republican power broker, outlines a G.O.P. strategy on health care in a widely read memo: "Republicans should scrupulously avoid endorsing the President's depiction of a nation beset by fear over health care."

December 8

Rumored G.O.P. presidential candidate Dick Cheney tries out a new talking point: "I don't believe there is a crisis in our health-care system."

January 2, 1994

Bob Dole, Senate Minority Leader, weighs in on Meet the Press: "My view is that I think there isn't a health-care crisis."

January 9

Pat Moynihan, iconoclastic Democratic Senator from New York, comes to his own conclusion on Meet the Press: "We don't have a health-care crisis . . . We have a welfare crisis."

January 10

Another Kristol memo: "Republicans must aggressively debunk the Administration's 'crisis' rhetoric . . . there is no health-care crisis."

Mid-January

TIME, CBS News, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor run stories questioning whether there really is a health-care crisis.

January 25

While Dole responds to the President's State of the Union message: "Our country has health-care problems, but no health-care crisis," Newt Gingrich, House minority whip, frets: "We are in danger of looking like George Bush, really out of touch."

January 26

Kristol shrugs off increasing criticism: "No risks, no glory" -- and vows to fight on.

January 29

Moynihan clarifies his position: "There's an insurance crisis."

January 31

Dole tries to put the matter to rest: "I think we're making too much over whether this is a 'crisis' or a 'serious problem.' "