* “Our policy is one of prevention, not containment. We are determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”–Secretary of Defense Hillary Clinton.
* “Our number one geopolitical foe.”–Mitt Romney’s characterization of Russia.
* “Democracy? Anthony Kennedy decides if 30 million Americans get health care. Bernanke decides how many Americans have jobs. Congress decides nothing.”–Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.
* “I love the military. This is not meant to be a black eye.”–Sgt. Justin Griffith, the main organizer of a military atheist concert, “The Rock Beyond Belief,” on the main parade ground at Fort Bragg, N.C.
* “The truth is, I’m trying to save the Republican Party from themselves.”–Ron Paul.
* “There are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish had run for president–but they didn’t.”–Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
* “For years what we’ve heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint–that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. And I’m pretty confident that this (Supreme) Court will recognize that and not take that step.”–President Barack Obama.
* “If this effort flames out, it would be many years before there is a friendly political environment to return to health care reform.”–Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
* “Heavily marketed as havens of prestige and a sure footing on the social ladder, gated communities in Florida also create an insidious fortress mentality.”–Bonita Burton, vice president of the Society for News Design and former deputy managing editor of the Orlando Sentinel.
* “Blacks and Muslims who face the insults of being profiled might direct their anger toward those who’ve made blacks and crime synonymous and terrorism and Muslims synonymous.”–George Mason University Economics Professor Walter E. Williams.
* “Where there is no justice, there will be no peace. Soon, and very soon, the law of retaliation may …be applied.”–Minister Louis Farrakhan’s tweet on the Trayvon Martin case.
* “The NRA has been a victim of their own success. They’ve won every big issue, so they’re left trying to fight over fringe issues. Lots of elected officials are afraid to cross them.”–Dan Gelber, former Florida State senator and Minority Leader of the Florida House.
* “If we tried to regulate guns, it wouldn’t have worked.”–City Attorney Jim Shimberg explaining why Tampa’s GOP Convention “clean zone” will, for example, ban air pistols but not actual firearms. Florida law (Chapter 790 of Florida Statutes) prohibits local governments from placing any restrictions on gun-carrying in public places.
* “It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever undertaken, and also the thing with the greatest risk, the most moving parts.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on this summer’s GOP National Convention.