Quotes Archive: Other Topics
"Never seen anything like that. I bet a lot of folks in that dealership were Republicans. Most, based on snippets of conversation I heard, were Southerners. Almost all were white. And they watched, listened, and agreed with what Barack Obama was saying about race in America."
Daily Kos diarist Socratic, a resident of heavily Republican Cobb County, Georgia, writing about the reactions of other people at a car dealership which had Obama's race relations speech on the TV.
"'We warned that the Islamists were going to have a field day,' said one prominent analyst, who insisted on anonymity. Mike Zorick, the U.S. embassy's point person on Somalia in 2006, also objected vociferously to the employ of warlords. He was rewarded with a transfer to Chad. It wasn't long before critics' direst predictions came to pass."
David Case detailing how the war now raging in Somalia as brought about by significant Bush administration interference, against expert advice and with no plan for after the invasion. I know that sounds like Iraq and Afghanistan, but this time it's the Horn of Africa Bush screwed up.
"You've seen here tonight people who voted for the war, voted to fund the war, now they have a different position. People voted for the Patriot Act. Now they have a different position. People voted for China trade. Now they have a different position. People who voted for Yucca Mountain. Now they had a different position. Just imagine what it will be like to have a president of the United States who's right the first time."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich at the Nov. 15 debate, making the key point in his favor: he consistently gets the big issues right the first time, unlike most of his competitors.
"The irony in all this is that attempts to win the center by capitulating because you're afraid that you're going to be called left are the most self-defeating thing that you can do to try to win the center."
Drew Westen, author of "The Political Brain," on how backing down to the right to avoid being called "left" is self-defeating.
"Global capitalism will survive the current credit crisis; already, the government has rushed in to soothe the feverish markets. But in the long term, a system that depends on extracting every last cent from the poor cannot hope for a healthy prognosis. Who would have thought that foreclosures in Stockton and Cleveland would roil the markets of London and Shanghai? The poor have risen up and spoken; only it sounds less like a shout of protest than a low, strangled, cry of pain."
Barbara Ehrenreich, writing about the bursting of the subprime mortgage bubble, and how it was part of a wider squeeze on the poor.
"It may be the wealthiest nation in the world but the US sure has odd priorities when it comes to spending all that cash. Bridges and roads at home are allowed to crumble until the worst happens, while wars and weapons are never too expensive."
David Usborne, The Independent's "Man in New York", on how even foreigners have noticed how badly we've let our infrastructure deteriorate.
"How dumb can they be?"
Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2005, referring to Democrats who wanted to raise the gas tax to fund transportation projects. This year, he referred to them as "obsessed" with the gas tax. Also this year, GOP policy collapsed into the Mississippi.
"If you think everyone should play nice about it, you are living in Pollyanna Land. We are in a bare-knuckled political brawl in this country, and the government is in the hands of government haters who want to starve it or, in the alleged belief of presidential ally Grover Norquist, want to 'drown it.'
You can't drown government. It is people who drown."
Nick Coleman on the sudden desire of the politically ruthless right to not politicize the bridge collapse.
"No one 'likes' taxes. Nor do I. But the low-tax/no-tax folks play off of this dislike by starving vital government activities, then proclaiming how ineffective and inefficient are government services. It is a calculated, self-inflicted, self-fulfilling prophecy. As concerned citizens who care about our fine state, we must not allow them to sell us this fiction. Indeed, the fact is we are no longer the high-tax state these groups try to characterize us as. Additionally, it is a truism that preventive measures always are cheaper (both in cost and human life) than repairing later damages -- as the I-35 nightmare proves."
Myles Spicer, guest columnist and retired business owner, on the effects of conservatives saving themselves a teensy bit of taxes.
"Professor Zywicki firmly rejects personal testimony when he doesn't like the story. He attacks serious academic studies as 'junk science' when he doesn't like the data. He inflates the findings of studies he likes beyond the bounds of the studies' own sponsors. Throughout this exercise, he offers no work of his own: no data, no studies, no stories--nothing but the firm conclusion that he is right."
Law professor Elizabeth Warren, a researcher into the effects of medical bills on personal bankruptcies, showing that the art of science-denial has jumped from cigarettes, climate change, and voter fraud into medical reform.
"The fact of the matter is that during the impeachment of Nixon back in the 70s, the reason Congress was so effective and got so much done was that Nixon was scared and, in a calculated move, started cooperating with Congress to avoid impeachment. So the right thing to do is move immediately -- see what you can get out of Bush."
John Nichols, author of The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism, replying to the argument that impeachment will prevent anything else from getting done.
"Here's a radical thought, though: Maybe if these mainstream media types were as incredulous towards the powerful as they are to Moore, his productions wouldn't pose a threat. After all, there's nothing wrong with fact-checking, and asking hard questions, and raising an oppositional eyebrow towards pabulum and propaganda. The problem isn't that the media is so quick to doubt Moore. It's that they're so trusting the rest of the time."
Ezra Klein on how mainstream media scrutinizes Michael Moore far more closely than they do those actually in power.
"In demonstration of its impact, an informal discussion group ensued outside the theatre after the movie. While some people recognized how one-sided the presentation was, most were incredulous and 'I didn't know they (the insurers) did that!' was a common exclamation followed by a discussion of the example."
Barclay Fitzpatrick, VP of Corporate Communications for Capital BlueCross, in a company memo about "Sicko". There have been multiple stories of informal discussion groups of audience members leaving the theater.
"I like the violence."
Assistant Secretary of State and US Envoy to the Middle East, David Welch, according to UN diplomat Alvaro de Soto, speaking of the fighting between Hamas and Fatah, without sympathy for those killed in the administrations attempt to manipulate the situation. So Welch, how'd that work out?.
"This time, the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times ran front-page stories repeating [USA for Eastern New York, Roslynn] Mauskopf's superlatives [regarding the JFK terrorism plot]. Next time, when the complaint actually supports her claims, they may not. No one wants to look like a chump twice. Not even regular citizens. So every time the government is found to be embellishing its case, members of the public lose a little bit of faith. They might eventually begin to think the terrorism threat is not very serious after all. They might understandably discount what authorities say."
Amanda Ripley, commenting on the long term effect of making big pronouncements about tiny plots.
"C'mon, assignment editors, this is an easy one. It obviously isn't nearly as fascinating as a Democrat getting an expensive haircut, but couldn't CNN send a camera crew to the VonSpreckens' farm?"
Steve Benen, Talking Points Memo, on the amazing lack of coverage when the Giuliani campaign has Iowa farmers set up an event, and then cancels because they don't have the assets to make a point about the estate tax. In other words, they're too poor for Republicans.
"Well, as you can see, I'm an angry man."
Al Franken, referring to Republican charges that he's "angry", as he was exchanging hugs with his staff at the conclusion of his last radio show.
"Being funny is a defense mechanism one learns growing up, an ability to defuse situations so the old man doesn't smack you down the stairs or the playground bully doesn't stick your head in the pitcher's mound. But conservatives never do this. They learn to be a vicious thug from dear ol' dad, they are the playground bully (or aspire to that role) ...So they are never going to be 'funny' and their version of 'humor' is the 'laugh at and put down' variety, rather than 'laugh with' variety, ..."
Tom Cleaver in the comments on a The Carpetbagger Report blog on a conservative columnists lament that conservatives aren't as funny as liberals, and being hopelessly wrong about why. Cleaver's own blog is That's Another Fine Mess.
"Molly's enduring message is, 'Raise more hell.'"
The editors of the Texas Observer in their obituary for columnist Molly Ivins, who died Jan. 31 of breast cancer, and used her last column to call on Americans to stop the stupidity in Iraq.
"Two New Mexico state senators have introduced a resolution calling on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. ... Well the way it works is that a state of course, cannot mandate impeachment of a president but the impeachment charges can be forwarded to the House of Representatives. ... But the fact that the issue of impeaching a sitting president is being discussed seriously in a state legislature like New Mexico's speaks volumes."
Jack Cafferty, commenting on the effort of New Mexico state legislators to have their legislature ask the US House to begin impeachment proceedings.
"President Bush has just announced that the budget can be balanced by 2012. There is some irony in that year. Shortly after his inauguration in 2001, administration economists said 2012 would be the year when the entire national debt would be paid off."
Economist Ed Lotterman, showing why Republicans can't be trusted to handle money.
"For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling."
Nancy Pelosi in her acceptance speech upon becoming the first female Speaker of the House. If a woman denies being a feminist, ask her if that means she thinks Pelosi shouldn't be Speaker.
"My understanding is it's turning more and more and more toward a sole focus of how to justify the privatization of infrastructure—just like Bush's Social Security commission. You couldn't be on the commission to study the future of Social Security unless you signed off in favor of a privatization solution in the beginning. It sounds like they're trying to pervert the commission we created to take the same direction."
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR, on how the purpose of a commission on highway privatization has been twisted to promote privatization.
"Another matter that warrants our attention is that whether it aims to or not SMU will, in the long run, financially profit on the backs of hard-working Americans who feel squashed by policies they've now rejected at the polls. Surely it's not the case that SMU will allow itself to benefit financially from a name and legacy that globally is associated with suffering, death, and political 'bad faith.'"
Letter from some Southern Methodist University faculty, administrators, and staff protesting plans to establish a $500 million Bush presidential library at SMU.
"We told Jim Oberstar not to earmark money that was not in our transportation plan. We'll show him a lesson and send the money back to Washington."
Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty according to state Sen. Tom Bakk, showing that sticking it to a Democrat was more important that accepting federal funds to fix a dangerous rural highway. Don't Republicans claim to be better at handling money?
"I have no association with Louis Farrakhan. I worked on the Million Man March, and that's all. It's a smear tactic. When people are getting a message from military personnel that their loved one has been killed, how on earth do we find the time to denigrate each other?"
Keith Ellison, DFL candidate for Minnesota's 5th district, on the attempt to tie him to Louis Farrakhan instead of addressing issues.
"I've received hate mail from lonely bigots with a gentler tone than your statement."
Columnist Doug Grow quoting himself in a conversation with GOP candidate Alan Fine regarding his venomous remarks about his DFL opponent, Keith Ellison. Fine is not some lonely bigot. He has a major political party backing him.
"They sent me the script, and I read it and told them they had to be kidding. I wanted my friends at the F.B.I. to still speak to me."
Retired FBI agent Dan Coleman, on the gross inaccuracies in "Paths to 911" that caused him to refuse the job as a consultant.
"I have to admit, as we sat and talked to him for two hours, our minds flashed back 16 years and our first long conversation with Paul Wellstone. Sylvia and I know each other well enough that we can both feel where the other is headed. And here was a guy who didn't have an agenda as much as what came through to us was he believes in social justice and the common good, which is a Jewish tradition."
Sam Kaplan, prominent DFL (Minnesota Democratic Party) donor, on their first meeting with 5th District candidate Keith Ellison. My own meeting with Ellison was quite brief but my impression was the same.
"My God, here we have a terrorist threat against hearth and home and the very first thing that comes out of their mind is how can we turn this to partisan advantage. I find that offensive."
Ned Lamont on the way Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney reacted immediately to the news of the British liquid bomb plot by saying Lamont's victory emboldened the terrorists.
"This is an election year. The president is down in the polls, he's trying to appease his base. It's a moment of political opportunism. It goes back to the idea that in some quarters it is good to perpetuate the myth of a clash between civilizations."
Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, on how the term "Islamic Fascism" is being used by the acting president to increase conflict with the Muslim world.
"The department failed to spend $200 million in research and development money from past years, forcing lawmakers to rescind the money this summer."
Associated Press report on how the Bush administration has resisted research on explosives detection technology.
"Everyone in the state is unhappy that they aren't receiving enough money to meet their transportation needs."
Brad Larsen, federal relations manager for the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation, trying to excuse the way the Republican administration has bungled another highway project.
"The Taliban have been out of power for almost as long as they were in power. But here we are five years later. Schools are being burned. Boys being raped on their way to school. Teachers being beheaded. There are no roads; no electricity."
Zama Coursin-Neff of Human Rights Watch on the effects of the neglect of Afghanistan's reconstruction while resources were moved to Iraq.
"The danger I think, from my point of view is my son, who is now six years old, when he had just turned five the election happened. The last presidential election happened. And my son, when he sees an American flag, thinks that it's a Bush sticker."
Bradley Whitford of The West Wing in an interview on Ring of Fire about how fully Republicans have turned the flag into a partisan symbol (about 42 minutes into the archive).
"MnDOT and the administration need to face up to the fact that we need cash going into the system. I would think the administration would be nervous about the political consequences about not being able to start this project, and/or other projects."
State Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, correctly warning his party that the complete failure to start the Crosstown Commons project because the Pawlenty administration screwed up will be an icon of GOP incompetence.
"I could be press secretary for the president."
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Aaron Ward giving denials about his injuries that both he and the press knew were nonsense. It was hilarious in context. On a side note, the NHL playoffs have been great this year and I plan to watch game seven.
"We didn't have a single rules fight, didn't have a credentials fight or a single fistfight. It almost doesn't feel like the DFL."
DFL Chair Brian Melendez on the unity and confidence the DFL feels coming out of the convention.
"Why single Putin out? I can't help but conclude that in this case it merely reflects primarily domestic politics. It plays good to the Republican base. It only confuses Europeans and, on the other hand, he [Cheney] followed that up by a trip to Kazakhstan."
Nick Hayes, history professor and Russian specialist, on the hypocrisy of the acting vice-president criticizing Vladimir Putin while making nice with dictators in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The quote is about 11 minutes in.
"I'll tell you what I remember about 911. I remember people the age of those people out there [the studio audience] lined up single file block after block waiting to give blood till they were told none was needed. It was a silent scream 'Let me help!'. What the hell has anybody asked of anybody in this country to do...what would have happened if the president had gone and said right after 911, 'I have an energy policy. It's going to be painful. This is what it's going to take and I expect you to do it.' They would have all responded.
Sen. Joe Biden, D-DE, on the lack of leadership, the lack of shared sacrifice, and the blown chance to address energy policy since 911.
"Well, it was a big trauma wasn't it, and nobody can -- listen, everybody feels attached to New York. New York is home for a lot of people who don't even live here. I feel that way about New York. It was shocking, appalling that the place was attacked like that, but you know, it doesn't help not to talk about it, not to think things through, make sure these things don't happen again, and that's what the movie attempts to do.
Stephen Rea, who plays Fitch in V for Vendetta, on the need for a discussion on terrorism the we haven't been willing to have since 911. The interview is about 1:08 into the podcast of the Rachel Maddow Show for March 16.
"But these historic accomplishments also remind us that progress can be reversed. Elections do matter."
Rep. Martin Sabo, D-MN, at the press conference regarding his retirement, speaking about how the Minnesota miracle of the 70's is being undone by conservatives on the state level, and of how the 1993 economic program, which passed with no Republican votes, brought prosperity and budget surpluses which have been squandered by conservative policies.
"Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That's the government's job."
A TV news producer in "V for Vendetta" describing the fake news his channel was about to broadcast.
"When the people from the business community, the ones who create the jobs and actually sign the payroll checks in my district, tell me that a lack of transportation funding is hurting job creation, I listen to them. The Taxpayers League has never created a private sector job in its life."
MN State Representative Patrick Garofalo (R-Farmington), on the impracticality of the anti-tax zealots who run the Republican party.
"In the more likely event Thanatos truly is at the helm of our ship of state at this titanic moment, we can't afford to let Bush's death instinct subsume the national imperative to survive.
Survival now depends on fitter minds."
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker on how Bush has lost the basic instinct for national security. Is she calling for his removal?
"I don't know of a female who would want to go out there with all those old fogies."
New House Majority Leader John Boehner explaining why women wouldn't want to join a men-only golf club. Also, the little ladies wouldn't want to tarnish themselves with politics by being allowed to vote.
"Those are the facts - 'reality-based' reporting - that caused Tomlinson to tell The Washington Post that what he saw was 'liberal advocacy journalism.' Well, if reporting what happens to ordinary people because of events beyond their control, and the indifference of government to their fate, is liberalism, I plead guilty."
BIll Moyers speaking about the attempts of former CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson to kill off NOW for failing to promote the conservative agenda.
"The standardized-test-as-God formula for educational success — concocted and adhered to religiously by the political and educational establishments in Texas and elsewhere around the nation — has been dissected and shown to be a sham."
Roddy Stinson, columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, on a study casting doubt on the value of high stakes testing.
"I think Eric is dead on. This has been an administration and a congress who have been remarkably fiscally irresponsible. This is about as irresponsible an administration and a congress as I have seen, as I have ever studied. ... So I think Eric's concerns about the federal government seem very well warranted."
V. V. Chari, professor of economics at the University of Minnesota, advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and guest on Midmorning (scroll down to "Confidence in the economy slipping"), responding to a perceptive listener (yes, I am Eric from Minneapolis) pointing out the federal government's refusal to address the deficit.
"And if Congress can't curtail spending, then perhaps Republicans are due for another 40 years in the minority."
Annette Meeks, CEO of the conservative think tank Center of the American Experiment, expressing distress at Republicans' profligate spending.
"I guess this means we've won the war on terror."
Anonymous FBI agent commenting on the crack down on pornography (the adult kind, not child) ordered by Attorney General Gonzales.
"Maybe that's why the striking Northwest Airlines mechanics look more grief-stricken than angry: They walked away from jobs they were losing anyway. It's like a man abandoning his burning home by saying, 'I think I'll take a walk and get some fresh air.'
Better to die standing on a picket line than on your knees."
Nick Coleman writing about the attitude of striking Northwest Airlines mechanics who were facing outsourcing even without a strike.
"If I had reached him [Karl Rove] I would have asked him as he blathered about how anxious and proud the conservatives were who jumped at the chance to have a war -- where are they now on the streets of Baghdad? My son was a very liberal Democrat, when he signed up for the National Guard no one asked, when he was deployed no one asked his opinion or his politics, and after he lost his life protecting the people looking for those weapons of mass destruction no conservative hawk came forth to take his place. Nor have they lined up at recruiters offices to answer the needs of our exhausted Army."
Celeste Zappala, mother of a soldier killed in in Iraq, responding to Rove's accusation only conservatives are willing to fight after 911.
"If countries that promised never to have nuclear weapons now see weapons states holding open the option to test, some of them think, `Why should we give up nuclear weapons?'"
former Ambassador Thomas Graham, a US negotiator of the 1996 test ban treaty, on the refusal of the US government to ratify it and the possible effect on proliferation.
"Who are they? I mean the people obsessed with control, using the government to threaten and intimidate. I mean the people who are hollowing out middle class security even as they enlist the sons and daughters of the working class to make sure Ahmed Chalabi winds up controlling Iraq's oil. I mean the people who turn faith based initiatives into Karl Rove's slush fund, who encourage the pious to look heavenward and pray so as not to see the long arm of privilege and power picking their pockets. I mean the people who squelch free speech in an effort to obliterate dissent and consolidate their orthodoxy into the official view of reality from which any deviation becomes unpatriotic heresy."
Bill Moyers, identifying the detractors who are driving him to reconsider his retirement.
In physics as in lifestyle and the arts, Germany and the United States both saw a great questioning of old values, limits, and presuppositions of all kinds—followed by an iron backswing of the pendulum rushing to shut down all the openness, answer all the questions, replace uncertainty with certainty, and relativism with absolutes. Does our anxiety in the face of uncertainty and relativity drive us to cook up fake certainties, like which language is better, who is going to Hell, who must live, and who should die? Did Germany, and will the United States, overcompensate for being uncertain like Napoleon did for being short?
Donna Glee Williams, seeing frightening similarities between pre-Nazi Germany and today's US.
"I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton."
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio and member of the foreign relations committee, expressing the ethical Republican's continuing dilemma between the party line and decency.
"The Republicans have squandered the huge budget surplus they inherited by spending not just on guns and butter but on guns, butter, and tax cuts. Because of government obfuscation, most Americans don't realize the deep fiscal hole we're in--and the fact that we're still busy digging."
Mortimer Zuckerman, editor at U.S. News & World Report
"What can we do to coordinate our messages on these reports so that you and we are saying the same thing about it?"
Homeland secretary Tom Ridge according to inspector general Clark Kent Ervin during a meeting where Ridge wanted an independent report spun to be less critical.
"At first blush, the argument that the warheads are wearing out sounds good, but it isn't so - they're making up the problems. There is no reason to go ahead with this program. It's politics; there is no scientific basis."
Joe Cirincione, director of the non-proliferation program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, speaking of Bush's attempt to resume testing nuclear bombs.
"If the media took Democratic partisanship at the Wellstone funeral and played it up nationwide as a scandal, why is there no similar condemnation when a Republican politician took an official tribute to a deceased leader and used it to get recorded votes on her partisan agenda?"
Minnesota state senator John Marty on the partisan rancor over a resolution honoring Ronald Reagan, and the hypocrisy compared to the reaction to the Wellstone memorial.
"While we watched, our teacher asked us when in our lifetimes we'd be watching the inauguration of a woman president. The consensus was sometime around 2000, which, at the time, seemed so far into the future that we figured we'd be wearing spacesuits and eating protein pellets for breakfast.
Now that I'm old enough to run for the presidency myself, I'm beginning to think we'll be living on Mars before anyone from Venus gets elected to the nation's top office." Columnist Laura Billings remembering watching Reagan's inauguration in 1981.
"The issue—you know, talking louder doesn't make you more right."
Hilary Rosen during an interruption by conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham during a joint appearance on Hardball.
"I find it impossible to understand how you can be leading an investigation and suddenly announce guilt before the investigation is complete. This is nasty business."
Former Vice President and Senator Walter Mondale commenting on Norm Coleman's call for Kofi Annan's resignation.
"If I had come to you when you asked for help maybe my son wouldn't have lost his legs. Now I will tell you where the mines are so no one else's son has to suffer."
A Croatian man who helped plant land mines near his home during the war telling Jody Williams he regretted refusing to help identify the mine fields.
"I am deeply convinced that we have no moral right to push a big European state to any kind of massive disorder."
Russian president Vladimir Putin who endorsed the "winner" of the stolen election in Ukraine, apparently blaming those who denounce the fraud instead of those who carried it out. He endorsed Bush too.
"They told us we were shooting a Greenpeace commercial!"
The wolves in Bush's wolf pack commercial according to Wolf Packs for Truth.
"You're Bush's brains Karl. I was expecting a much smaller man."
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog trying to speak to Karl Rove and taking apart the spinmasters in the spin room after the last presidential debate.
''In meetings, I'd ask if there were any facts to support our case. And for that, I was accused of disloyalty!''
Christine Todd Whitman, former head of the EPA, to author Ron Suskind on the day she resigned.
"Let the record show this bill is fair, this bill is balanced."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa on a corporate tax bill giving $136 billion in tax breaks to special interests.
dead silence
George Bush's reaction for seven minutes after he was told "America is under attack" and before an aid came and got him. Click here to see the video for yourself.
