Duffy Critics Quotes

A heartfelt thanks to Evelyn M. Duffy, my assistant on five books that have covered four presidents. President Trump presents a particular hurdle because of the deep emotions and passions he brings out in supporters and critics. Evelyn immediately grasped that the challenge was to get new information, authenticate it and put it in context while reporting as deeply as possible inside the White House.

The elder Bush explained later that "watching your son taking a pounding from his critics was much, much harder" than being president. "Barbara quit reading the papers and watching the new, but I couldn't do that

But it was Archie, the creation of an eccentric radio writer-director named Ed Gardner, who refined the insult and made it an art form. When the tavern was visited by noted critic Clifton Fadiman (the similarity of whose name to Clifton Finnegan needed no elaboration), Archie greeted him with “Whaddaya know, besides everything?” Dancer Vera Zorina was introduced as “da terpsicorpse from da ballet.” To heavyweight party-giver Elsa Maxwell, Archie quipped, “Speakin’ of th’ Four Hundred, how’re you and the other 398?” About highbrow music critic Deems Taylor, Archie informed Duffy: “He’s got no talent of his own, he just talks about the other guys at the Philharmonica.

During the 1940s and 1950s, an American prison warden, Clinton Duffy, was well known for his efforts to rehabilitate the men in his prison. Said one critic, “You should know that leopards don’t change their spots!” Replied Warden Duffy, “You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day.

Launch!: The Critical 90 Days From Idea to Market (2014).