* “It will be almost impossible for Israel to deal with the emerging democratic and demographic currents in the absence of a peace agreement with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. Turkey, conscious of its own responsibility, stands ready to help.”–Turkey President Abdullah Gul.
* “If we wouldn’t have had this embargo for 40 years, (Fidel) Castro would have been gone a long time ago.”–U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
* “Unlike his approach in 2008, when he tried to capture the early contests and bring a quick end to the competition (and failed), his plan now is to wend his way to victory, downplaying Iowa’s caucuses, dominating New Hampshire and Nevada, surviving South Carolina and then using Florida as a springboard to ‘inevitable.’ His strategy is more war of attrition than knockout punch. … But if he wins the nomination–and he remains the oddsmakers’ favorite–he will win it ugly.”–Mark Halperin, Time magazine, on the 2012 GOP presidential-nomination strategy of Mitt Romney.
* “It doesn’t take a genius to see that Obama is very likely to be re-elected. Every few years, Republicans try to reform the welfare delivery systems to make them more market-like. Every few years, voters, even Republican voters, reject this. The situation today is slightly less hostile to these ideas, but not much.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “Some of the (tea party) attitude on spending is a little extreme, because we do need a government, there is a role for government.”–Christine Todd Whitman, former EPA Administrator and Republican governor of New Jersey.
* “The new instant-gratification pill.”–Akron, Ohio (Democratic) Mayor Don Plusquellic, on the national trend of voters resorting to recall votes (57 in 2010) of mayors.
* “We cannot come to terms with the Civil War because it presents us with an unacceptable kind of self-knowledge. We think, as Americans, that we possess a heroic past, and we like to think of our history as one of progress and the spread of freedom, even transcendence. But the Civil War tells us that we possess a tragic history instead, over which we must continually paste a mask of hope.”–Edward Ball, author of “Slaves in the Family.”
* “How did it become normal, or for that matter even acceptable, to refer to medical patients as ‘consumers’?”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.
* “Florida is one of Chase’s high-priority growth markets, and we plan to invest in the people, facilities and technology needed to serve Florida consumers and businesses well.”–Former Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, now chairman of Florida, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for JPMorgan Chase, commenting on Chase’s plans to open 37 more branches statewide, including 12 in the Tampa Bay area, by the end of this year.
* “You have more than 50 percent of your sales in the foreclosure and short sale category. You pull the foreclosure and short sales out of the picture, and we have conventional sales (prices) actually increasing in the Tampa Bay area.”–Peter Murphy, Tampa real estate firm Home Encounter.
* “Everything is going to be on the table. We’re going to have to look at everything the city does and ask the question why and should we be doing it at all.”–Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, addressing a possible $30 million 2012 budget deficit.