* “They’ve handled themselves very poorly. And they’ve shown a stunning lack of knowledge about the basic U.S. fiscal budget math.”–Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in criticizing Standard & Poor’s for lowering the U.S. Government’s credit rating.
* “I hope Friday’s (credit-rating) news gives us a renewed sense of urgency.”–President Barack Obama.
* “All Americans, both Beltway politicians and those on Main Street, have to do some serious soul-searching to bring their country back from a potential financial abyss.”–Editorial in Xinhua, China’s official newswire.
* “You just don’t push the world’s largest economy and the most liquid financial markets to the brink of disaster without causing damage somewhere.”–Francesco Guerrera, Wall Street Journal.
* “Negotiating with fiscal terrorists only encourages them.”–Katrina Vanden Huevel, publisher and editor of the Nation magazine.
* “The Tea Party was a movement that changed the conversation in Washington, but it has steeped too long and has become toxic.”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.
* “They are totally unreasonable and doctrinaire and not founded in reality. I think they’ve been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it.”–Howard
Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
* “The vision of a second Camelot has turned to a mirage. Obama has seemed more like a Carter milquetoast than a take-charge Kennedy.”–Ann McFeatters, Scripps Howard.
* “The current iteration of the party abandoned real Republican principles long ago to cater to ideologues and corporations — the Koch entities, most notably — whose interests lie in the profiteering of America and the sacking of the middle class.”–Former Republican state Sen. Nancy Argenziano, in announcing
that she would try run for the U.S. House of Representatives (North Florida’s District 2) as a Democrat.
* “People do their homework and comparison shop online so stores are getting more like showrooms.”–William Taubman, COO of Taubman Centers Inc., the developer of International Plaza.
* “I know a lot of people are discouraged that the two parties (Tampa Bay Rays and St. Petersburg) of the (Tropicana Field) contract aren’t talking. And I will say that no one is more discouraged at the lack of communication than I am.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.
* “This is a Super Bowl times four.”–Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on the impact of the 2012 GOP convention on Tampa.
* “I happen to believe if we do the job right, and if we do it the way I know we’re going to, I think they’ll come back in ’16.”–Al Austin on the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa.
* “It’s an elite list of cities we’re on now with this competition.”–Tampa Bay & Company spokesman Travis Claytor on Tampa hosting the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships.