* “We see Africa as the new frontier in terms of counterterrorism and counternarcotics issues.”–Jeffrey P. Breeden, chief of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Europe, Asia and Africa section.
* “It’s going to take an international effort when Assad falls–and he will fall–in order to secure these (stockpiled chemical) weapons.”–Adm. William H. McRaven, head of the military’s Special Operations forces.
* “We will be truthful to sport.”–Bahram Afsharzadeh, secretary general of the Iranian Olympic committee, explaining that Iranian athletes will compete against Israelis at the London Olympics.
* “He (Mitt Romney) is going to have to define a vision of modern capitalism. He’s going to have to separate his vision from the scandals and excesses we’ve seen over the last few years. He needs to define the kind of capitalist he is and why the country needs his virtues. Let’s face it, he’s not a heroic entrepreneur. He’s an efficiency expert.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “America’s problems have rarely looked so large, and Congress has rarely looked so small.”–U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.
* “I wish this president would learn how to be an American. … What I thought I said, but what I didn’t say, is the president has to learn the American formula for creating business.”–Romney surrogate and former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu.
* “When he (President Obama) shows up somewhere, he always leaves more popular than he was before he showed up. It really is the power of the incumbency.”–Democratic pollster David Beattie.
* “The Polish part is about the Catholic vote, and that vote is very important. Everyone that has won the majority of the Catholic vote has won the presidency.”–Veteran Republican campaign operative Ed Rollins explaining the inclusion of Poland on Mitt Romney overseas trip this week.
* “We’ve been hoping for this for a long time. Housing has been flat-lining at the bottom for two years. It looks like things are turning.”–Celia Chen, housing economist for Moody’s Analytics.
* “Incentives are baked into the system to take advantage of it for short-term profit. The incentives are to cheat, and cheating is profitable because there are no consequences.”–Neil Barofsky, ex-federal prosecutor, former special inspector general for TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) and author of “Bailout.”
* “Why is NCLB (No Child Left Behind) so unpopular? Because it exposes the failure of adults in the lives of children. And the bipartisan response of many governors, educators and legislators–alarmingly, predictably–is to excuse the adults.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.
* “I feel like it was all God’s plans.”–George Zimmerman telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity about the night he fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
* “I’m not planning to get involved. Let the primaries work. I’ll be supportive of the Republican candidates after the primaries.”–Gov. Rick Scott.
* “They didn’t want the merger and they didn’t want me.”–Bill Johnson, former Progress Energy CEO, on how the merger with Duke Energy was viewed by Duke’s board of directors.
* “The fundamental issue is that you don’t yet have a city that’s particularly transit-supportive, because it’s just not dense enough.”–Pete Sechler, project manager for AECOM, the consulting firm hired to work on the city’s InVision Tampa project.
* “It will be a different environment, but we knew that when we asked for this.”–Christine Burdick, Tampa Downtown Partnership president, on the Secret Service security plan for the GOP Convention.