* “After an extended Arab Spring, the realist practice of supporting favorable autocrats in the Middle East and North Africa seems hopelessly naive. The combined dictatorial rule of 95 years in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya collapsed in the course of eight months, and there is no reason to believe the revolution has ended.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.
* “Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete.”–The anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq.
* “No U.S. leaders dare to tell the truth to the people. All their pronouncements rest on a mythical assumption that ‘recovery’ is around the corner. Implicitly, they say this is a normal recession. But this is no normal recession. There will be no painless solution. ‘Sacrifice’ will be needed, and the American people know this. But no American politician dares utter the word ‘sacrifice.’ Painful truths cannot be told.”–Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
* “The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”–President Barack Obama in his speech to a joint session of Congress.
* “We used the Cold War to reach the moon and spawn new industries. We used 9/11 to create better body scanners and more Transportation Security Administration agents.”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.
* “Post-industrial America turned out to be a bust. The time for neo-industrial America has arrived.”–Harold Meyerson, American Prospect.
* “We could really use some patriotic CEOs who understand that to have first-class infrastructure and educational systems, the businesses that benefit must pay their fair share. They can’t complain about government waste and inefficiency–and shift their money offshore–leaving everyone else to pay.”–Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies, and co-author of “The Moral Measure of the Economy.”
* “Sadly, there has been too little progress in fixing our financial system so that it works for all Americans, not just the titans of finance, and few consequences for those who drove our economy off a cliff.”–Phil Angelides, former chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
* “The data is pretty weak. It’s very difficult when we’re pressed to come up with convincing data. When it comes to showing results, we better put up or shut up.”–Tom Vander Ark, former executive director for education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on the challenge of gauging the educational value
of expensive technology investments.
* “Bachman? Perry? Romney? They’re good looking action figures for a partisan sport, not public servants.”–Waylon Lewis, Editor, Elephant Journal.
* “We have the social, economic and racial diversity that some of the other early primary states don’t have. You can’t use the same speech in Dade County that you use in the Panhandle.”–Florida House Speaker-Designate Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.
* “I think whoever wins it will be the next president.”–Gov. Rick Scott on the implications for the GOP-candidate winner of Florida’s upcoming Presidency
5 straw poll.
* “There’s a good argument to be made that when times get tough financially, it’s better to be tied to the mother ship.”–Rick Danzler, Winter Haven Attorney and former Democratic member of the Florida House and Senate, on the issue of USF Polytechnic in Lakeland becoming an independent university.
* “You got to know him very well, and you have grown to love him. He loved you just as much.”–Dewey Selmon on his late brother Lee Roy’s relationship with the Tampa Bay community.