* “If we went so far as to default on the debt, it would be a major crisis because the Treasury security is viewed as the safest and most liquid security in the world.”–Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
* “Today our leaders pop champagne corks when they avoid a government shutdown. When relief masquerades as accomplishment, you know we’ve defined democracy down.”–Matt Miller, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
* “He (House Speaker John Boehner) has House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the wings, eager to seize the speakership. To understand Cantor, think MacBeth with all the vaulting ambition and none of the guilt.”–Ruth Marcus, Washington Post.
* “People in my camp form a silent majority. But we have been astonishingly passive during these budget negotiations. The tax-cut brigades and the Medicare/spending brigades are well organized. The people who believe in balance and the fundamentals sit piously on the sidelines.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “Taxes are a limitation on liberty. You are stealing money from some people to give it to others.”–Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).
* “Ms. (Ayn) Rand warned, ‘Government help to business is just as disastrous as government persecution.’ And I agree. But she did not imagine executives would loot their shareholders, cause an economic crisis and then beg for government help.”–Al Lewis, Dow Jones Newswires.
* “Can liberals start their own tea party?”–recent headline in the Washington Post.
* “It helps that he delivers a good speech and looks like the lead in an old Western movie.”–Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune, describing Rick Perry, the Republican Governor of Texas who is a possible presidential candidate.
* “As black America benefited immensely from the Great Society, so it is likely to hurt most as the cuts come. … Incredibly, the question must be asked. Is this Democratic administration about to go to war with its base? Is black America souring on Barack Obama?”–Pat Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.
* “If we want to solve our immigration problem, we need to get beyond the moralistic semantics that cloud the debate. Some 11 million people are in the U.S. without proper authorization. Most are not going to leave willingly, and we’re never going to deport them all. Now, what are we going to do to let them get on with their lives and contribute to our nation?”–Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star.
* “It should not be lost on anyone that the president of the United States, when given a choice, chose a firmly committed pro-Israel Jew to chair the national party.”–Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in addressing members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
* “Never have the airwaves and bandwidths of this country been so clogged with gasbags posing as seasoned courtroom veterans, or lightweight has-beens seeking to jump-start their careers.”–Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald, on media coverage of the Casey Anthony trial.
* “I’d rather go to jail than sit on a jury like this again.”–Anthony juror #12 after quitting her job and leaving town before her name became public.
* “My experience would say that any organization that has 1.4 million customers, that has a premium revenue stream of close to $3 billion a year and a nice chunk of liquidity sitting on its balance sheet potentially has some value to the private world. We owe it to the state to see if it’s a viable option.”–Jim Malone, chairman of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
* “Inmates don’t have a constitutional right to underwear.”–Don Leach, former vice president of the American Jail Association.
* “Oftentimes, we’re not aware of what we have here. … We need to preserve our historic buildings.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, part of a 6-0 Commission vote to appropriate $2 million for the preservation and upkeep of three historic Ybor City buildings, the Cuban Club, the Italian Club and Centro Asturiano.
* “I never thought I’d be excited about a negative 4 percent. In this environment, I’m ecstatic.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on property tax values declining ONLY 4 percent–not the 6 percent that had been projected.