* “We are obviously very happy for the prisoners and their families, but I am not going to congratulate a government for imprisoning people that shouldn’t have been imprisoned in the first place.”–Jose Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch, in response to Cuba’s announcement that it will release more than 50 political prisoners over the next four months.
* “Levi Johnston has proved to be the only person in the world who can make me feel sympathy for Sarah Palin.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.
* “Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them and their actions. We will no longer allow you to hide like cowards.”–NAACP President Ben Jealous’ directive to the tea party.
* “Obama is down, but it’s very early in the play. Like Reagan, he came here to do things. And he’s done much in his first 500 days. What he has left to do he knows must await his next 500 days — those that come after re-election. Republicans underestimate him at their peril.”–Charles Krauthhammer, Washington Post.
* “A lot of people continue to be very upset that we can’t get Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden? We can’t even get Roman Polanski.”–Jay Leno, “Tonight Show” host.
* “There’s so much animus between the governor and his former party it’s like an emotional vortex sucking everybody in.”–State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.
* “It’s just the biggest tragedy in history that BP launched into doing what it did. But the resources and the potential are so enormous it would be a second tragedy if this first tragedy stopped exploration for oil in the Gulf.”–Philip Ware, president of Apalachicola-based Coastal Petroleum.
* “The future of Tampa International does not depend on high-speed rail.”–U.S Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa.
* “It’s a huge mistake for us not to have a (high-speed rail) stop at Tampa International Airport.”–Tampa City Council member Mary Mulhern.
* “What a mistake it would be to take it (high-speed rail) to Tampa International Airport. What a waste of a very expensive system.”–Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.
* “I never knew him to have violence and anger and rage. I never saw it in him.”–Salecia Watson, mother of Dontae Morris.
* “The demographics of that area are good. They need a facility.”–Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on the Tampa Bay Rays’ market/stadium situation.
* “They have to think with their heads and not their hearts.”–Gilberto Contreras, president of the Red Cross of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in the aftermath of the first successful drug cartel-car bombing where federal officers and paramedics were lured to a vehicle occupied by a bound, wounded man in a police uniform.
* “They are the do-nothing Legislature.”–Gov. Charlie Crist in response to this week’s special adjournment session in Tallahassee.
* “We definitely appreciate what he’s (George Steinbrenner) done for baseball with the salaries, especially in my case.”–Carl Crawford, the Tampa Bay Rays’ All Star outfielder in anticipation of free-agency riches.
* “I am extremely demanding. I can be annoying at it because I’m ferociously persistent in what I want, so I need people around me that can take it.”–New Tampa Bay Lightning coach Guy Boucher on a key criterion for assistant coaches.