WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary James Watt's comments have gotten him into hot water a number of times. Here are some examples:
His suggestion this spring that the Beach Boys drew the 'wrong element' to Fourth of July festivities on the Washington Mall, and suggestion of replacing them with singer Wayne Newton instead.
The White House awarded him a plaster foot with a bullet hole in it for that flap, showing he had 'shot himself in the foot' with the comment.
November 1981: 'I don't use the words 'Democrats' and 'Republicans.' It's 'liberals' and 'Americans.''
July 1982 on offshore oil drilling policies: 'If the liberals of the American Jewish community join with the other liberals of this nation to oppose these efforts, they will weaken our ability to be a good friend of Israel.'
January 1983 on centralized planning desired by some environmentalists: 'Look what happened to Germany in the 1930s. The dignity of man was subordinated to the powers of Nazism. The dignity of man was subordinated in Russia. Those are the forces that this thing can evolve into.'
January 1983 (on Native Americans): 'If you want an example of the failure of socialism, don't go to Russia. Come to America and see the American Indian reservations.'
May 1983, when Watt urged graduates at Liberty Baptist College in Lynchburg, Va., to join the Christian revolution and combat 'the enemies of liberty and freedom here in America -- God's chosen place.'
