* “Nobody goes untreated, no matter how poor or rich they are. I think that is very reassuring for people. I understand the arguments against it, but it’s something that everybody buys into, everybody believes in, and it works. It shows that there is something that really binds us together.”–Boris Johnson, the conservative mayor of London, explaining his support for socialized medicine in Britain.
* “Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a strong and sensible manner. They are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstance of each case.”–Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
* “I still believe in you. I need you to still believe in me.”–President Barack Obama at the HCC campaign rally.
* “Not sufficiently Reaganesque.”–Ron Reagan Jr. satirizing how today’s Republican Party would assess his father.
* “I really don’t have tremendous political ambition. I have policy ambition.”–Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, House Budget Chairman.
* “We spent the 20th Century protecting nature from people, and we will spend the 21st century protecting nature for people.”–Glenn Prickett, chief external affairs officer for The Nature Conservancy.
* “This slavish devotion to coal and oil, and sneering at environmentalism, contradicts the GOP’s long tradition of environmental stewardship that some Republicans are still proud of: Teddy Roosevelt bequeathed us national parks, Richard Nixon the Clean Air Act and the EPA, Ronald Reagan the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer and George H.S. Bush cap-and-trade that reduced acid rain. Does the GOP really think it will attract the idealism of next-generation voters with mottos like “Coal=Jobs”?–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.
* “A system that lets one individual pump so much money into supporting a favored candidate threatens to substitute oligarchy for democracy.”–Ruth Marcus, Washington Post.
* “When this many people are this overweight, you have not only an epidemic. You have a new normal, a context in which each obese person is less likely to recognize and appreciate the magnitude of his or her health problem because it’s entirely unexceptional.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.
* “All paparazzis should be waterboarded.”–Actor Alec Baldwin.
* “Nobody wins. We’ve all lost.”–Mother of an accuser in the Jerry Sandusky sexual-assault case.
* “The function served by daily newspaper journalism is critical to the very maintenance of democracy. It’s time we recognized that.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.
* “I guess the way this works is any job Florida loses is the fault of the president and his economic policies, and any job we gain is due to the governor’s efforts.”–Former state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami.
* “Voters don’t like him, Republicans won’t campaign with him, and he’s hurting the GOP up and down the ticket.”–Brannon Jordan, Democratic Party of Florida spokeswoman, on Gov. Rick Scott.
* “There seems to really not be any method to our madness right now.”–State university Board of Governors’ member Ava Park questioning the fairness of the process used to determine tuition hikes for all 11 universities.
* “It allows us to get pedestrians out of a very unsafe environment. As a linkage in our downtown core, it’s just as important as a road. … Those kinds of things, as mayors understand, not only create jobs but also create economic development opportunities.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on the importance of landing the $10.9 million federal TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant that will help the city finish the 2.6-mile Riverwalk.
* “Anarchy is a tactic, versus a group. It is used by different groups. Typically, they are loosely organized and misguided individuals who break the law and disrupt the event.”–Laura McElroy, Tampa Police spokeswoman.