* “If you just stand there, be confident and raise the cost gradually and increasingly to Russia, that doesn’t solve your Crimea problem and it probably doesn’t solve your eastern Ukraine problem. But it may solve your Russia problem.”–Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and now president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
* “Public policies concerning gun control should be decided by the voters’ elected representatives, not by federal judges.”–Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
* “Every alleged hate crime, no matter who the intended target, is an affront to who we are … both as a country and as people.”–Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking at an interfaith service mourning those killed at Jewish community sites in suburban Kansas City.
* “A great man has died, one whose works gave the literature of our language great reach and prestige.”–Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa on the death of Gabriel García Márquez.
* “He never said he would take a vow of political abstinence. … He is a man at peace, but I don’t think that he has politics totally out of his blood.”–Former Mit Romney adviser Tom Rath, on Romney’s return to the political stage, notably the fund-raising circuit.
* “Let me say this, hypothetically speaking, I really do hope we have a woman president in my lifetime.”–Hillary Clinton.
* “This constant effort to get around the rule limiting banks’ investment in hedge funds, on behalf of a few institutions who apparently want room to resume the financing practices that got us into trouble in the past, really should end.”–Paul A. Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman.
*The angry opponents are more mobilized than the beneficiaries.”–David Axelrod, longtime adviser to President Obama, on the political dynamics of the Affordable Care Act.
* “The difference between the stand-up and the sitcom is you’re going from the least collaborative medium there is to the most collaborative. The reason you become a comedian is you’re not a good collaborator, you’re not good with people, you’re not good in social situations or professional situations.”–Jerry Seinfeld.
* “The pope’s charisma is not one of dazzle. It’s one of truth.”–David Wolpe, head rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
* “It usually does boil down to who people like. Most people don’t know issues in depth. … It’s who do they identify with, does he come across as genuine.”–Screven Watson, former executive director of the state Democratic Party, assessing the Rick Scott-Charlie Crist match-up.
* “Utilizing local dollars to fund the state portion of an expansion of traditional Medicaid does not address President Gaetz’s concern with the federal government’s ability to finance Medicaid expansion in the long-term or his belief that traditional Medicaid is a broken program that providers, patients and taxpayers are unhappy with.”–Katie Betta, spokeswoman for Florida Senate President Don Gaetz.
* “Limited education dollars should be used first and foremost in our public school classrooms.”–Former Florida legislator Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland.
* “You can make a pretty strong argument that cities need to be attuned to what millennials want. That is their future generation.”–Micheline Maynard, author of Curbing Cars: America’s Independence From the Auto Industry.
* “I am happy with where we began and where we are today. The next generation belongs to a new CEO with new ideas and new passions for the future of MOSI and our community.”–Wit Ostrenko, in announcing his retirement as president and CEO of the Museum of Science and Industry at the end of next year.
* “I love that piece of dirt. I see nothing but opportunity there.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, referring to the five empty acres next to Channelside Bay Plaza.
* “We don’t need additional ordinances. I’m asking that you guys enforce the laws you’ve got, not give us new laws.”–Ybor Ritz owner Joe Capitano Sr.
* “They need to be managed. They are going to eat all of our native species.”–Todd Campbell, University of Tampa associate biology professor, on Argentine tegu lizards now thriving in certain parts of southern Hillsborough County.