The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Quoteworthy
“Iran
has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy
supply.”—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on the drone attacks by
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabian oil sites.
“My
advice to the Administration is, let’s focus on trying to shore up our
relationship with Pakistan.”—Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“I’m
just thankful we got through Bolton’s tenure without him starting a war.”—Max
Bergmann, Center for American Progress senior fellow.
“John
(Bolton) wasn’t in line with what we were doing.”—President Donald Trump.
“Pompeo
played the game of Trump whisperer better than Bolton.”—CNN global affairs
analyst Aaron David Miller.
“(Trump)
supporters care far more about the persona than the policy.”—Brendan Buck,
one-time spokesman for former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“Trump
is not a valiant defender of the West and protector of our allies. He’s a
dangerous and corrupt patsy in the hands of strongmen.”—Jennifer Rubin, Washington
Post.
“While
Mr. Trump’s thermonuclear politics may rally both his base and Democrats who
slumbered in 2016, it is the paralyzing disorder and anxiety his bilious
behavior creates that is a distressing turnoff to voters at the margins who will
make the difference. To win, the Democrats will have to turn Mr. Trump’s
negative energy against him without embodying it themselves.”—David Axelrod,
former senior strategist for Barack Obama.
“Confrontation,
which has become the Democrats’ de facto political operating system on the Hill
and in the presidential primaries, excites their increasingly doctrinaire base;
but it turns off independents.”—David Winston, CQ-Roll Call.
“I
know people on the Second Amendment side go nuts when you say this, but what is
the purpose of an assault weapon?”—New York Republican Rep. Peter T. King.
“The
United States has shown the world that it is capable of putting someone like
Trump in office, and that can’t be undone. He’s left the whole country
compromised.”—Michelle Goldberg, New York Times.
“Democracy
is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more
than half of the time.”—The late author, essayist, poet and humorist E.B.
White.
“The
message of this report is either we delay and pay or we plan and prosper.”—Christiana
Figueres, former UN climate change official and a member of the Global
Commission on Adaptation that has issued a report arguing for drastic increases
in adaptation measures such as early-warning systems and resilient
infrastructure.
“I
pray there are no schisms. But I’m not scared.”—Pope Francis, referring
to some alienated conservatives within the Catholic Church.
“We
simply have to remove these attractive (non-tobacco) flavored (vaping) products
from the marketplace until they secure FDA approval.”—HHS Secretary Alex
Azar.
“When
your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address
the world that you have helped create. (Governments) need to move faster and
start to catch up with the pace of technology.”—Brad Smith, president of
Microsoft.
“Like
all other films we’d done, it’s an opportunity to understand who we
are.”—Filmmaker Ken Burns, on his latest documentary project, the 8-part
PBS miniseries “Country Music.”
“I
want to be the last father who could say, ‘I didn’t know what was going on in
the schools.’”—Andrew Pollock, the father of a student killed at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas H.S. and the author of “Why Meadow Died: The People and
Policies That Created the Parkland Shooter and Endangered America’s Students.”
“Even
where I’m from, which is a very conservative area, they want this offshore
drilling ban—even though they follow Trump significantly.”—Congressman
Francis Rooney, R-Naples, who sponsored legislation, which was passed by
the House, to permanently ban offshore drilling off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
“Publix
respectfully requests that only law enforcement officials openly carry firearms
in our stores.”—Publix spokesman Brian West.
“There
was once a perception that we could not grow international here in this
airport. There’s pent-up demand in this market.”—TIA CEO Joe Lopano.
“Our
needs are more urgent than ever. We are out of space completely on the research
side … On the hospital side, we have the same number of beds we did 12 years
ago. We’re nearly always full or near capacity.”—Dr. Alan List, CEO and
president of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institution, who’s
making a pitch for more state funding.
“We
are on a journey here. We are making fantastic progress, but we still have some
milestones coming up.”—USF President Steve Currall, referring to the
upcoming implementation of recently unveiled campus-consolidation plans.