* “We will normalize the temporary entry to the island of those who emigrated illegally after the 1994 migration accords.”–Homero Acosta, secretary of Cuba’s ruling Council of State.
* “As a German citizen who has now fought fierce battles with American telephone companies, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the public schools, I find it strange that Americans fear a socialist state. Because Europe’s bureaucratic nightmares have nothing on America’s.”–Malte Lehming, opinion page editor of Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel.
* “The 1980s–they’re now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”–President Barack Obama criticizing Mitt Romney’s foreign-policy vision during the last debate.
* “Being moderate does not mean being tepid. It will likely take some pretty energetic policies to reduce inequality or control debt.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “My party is full of racists. …To say that Colin Powell would endorse President Obama because of his skin color is like saying Mother Theresa worked for profit.”–Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s chief of staff during the first George W. Bush administration.
* “My former party didn’t like it because I dared to be decent to a new president. I’m voting for him today. I wish I had last time.”–Early-voting, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
* “When you’re looking at a for-profit organization, their real mission at the end of the day is shareholder value. The not-for-profit mission at the end of the day, at least for us, is improving the health of the community.”–Steve Mason, president and CEO of BayCare Health System, a regional network of not-for-profit hospitals that includes St. Joseph’s in Tampa.
* “Mass transit will never be less expensive than it is today. If we wait too long, it may become so politically expensive that it may not happen. I would like to see some urgency applied to this.”–Chuck Black, chairman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
* “I don’t blame Jeff (Vinik) for stepping away, and I’m hopeful that he’ll be patient until we can rid this deal of this cancer. I don’t think it’s over by any stretch of the imagination.”–Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn on Vinik’s announcement that his group was suspending efforts to take control of Channelside Bay Plaza due to legal uncertainties surrounding the previous owner’s right-of-first-refusal agreement.