* “Iranian proxy.”–CBS correspondent Lara Logan’s characterization of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
* “If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”–Mitt Romney.
* “An important step to unlocking global economic growth will be expanding trade in the Asia-Pacific, and the ATP holds this key.”–U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue, in praising the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative.
* “Free advice to the financial services industry: ‘Stick to being bulls. Stop being pigs.'”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.
* “‘Myside bias’–the tendency to judge a statement according to how conveniently it fits with one’s settled position–is pervasive among all of America’s political groups.”–Economist Daniel B. Klein, Atlantic magazine.
* “I think there will be further erosion of what little confidence remains of our federal government.”–Debt supercommittee member Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., assessing the impact if the supercommittee fails to reach an agreement.
* “A democracy can’t be strong if its citizenship is weak. And right now American citizenship is attenuated–strong on rights, weak on responsibilities.”–William A. Galston, Brookings Institution senior fellow.
* “They (Occupy Wall Street) want–wait, no, we want–to be heard by a media that has devoted four mind-numbing years to channeling and interpreting every word uttered by a member of the Palin family while ignoring the voices of everyone else.”–Dahlia Lithwick, Slate.
* “Latinos are everywhere–except in the corridors of power.”–Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN.com.
* “If somebody wanted to give (the state) the kind of ‘stupid money’ that they paid for the Miami Herald property, I would listen.”–Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam indicating that he wanted the Florida State Fair Authority to consider the growing interest in the fairgrounds property by developers. (A Malaysian resort and gambling company paid $236 million for the Herald’s downtown Miami location.)
* “Monopolies are a bad thing. Gaming monopolies are toxic.”–State Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale
* “Congressman Connie Mack inherited a popular name.”–Anna Nix, spokeswoman for George LeMieux.
* “Here in Florida there has been little to no leadership at the state level in guiding Florida’s universities to a common mission. Everyone wants law schools, medical schools and graduate programs because they are prestigious. … There’s no sense of mission because it’s every institution for itself.”–Charles B. Reed, former chancellor of the State University System of Florida and current chancellor of the California State University system.
* “People in Polk really want University of South Florida recognition and affiliation. If you took a vote, it would be a landslide in favor of no separation.”–Lakeland realtor Gene Engle, the chairman of the USF Polytechnic board of trustees.
* “Learning how to learn is the primary purpose of education.”–Donald R. Eastman, president of Eckerd College.
* “The difference is night and day. Everything is rejuvenated.”–Robert Kapusta, chairman of the Mahaffey Theater Foundation, on the $2 million in changes at Mahaffey since April when Bill Edwards’ Big 3 Entertainment took over management and operation.
* “That is shocking. It just doesn’t make sense.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist upon learning that the county has no uniform policy for how background checks on potential job candidates are conducted.
* “This is an excellent opportunity to re-energize one of downtown’s grand historic buildings.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on soliciting bids from developers to rehab the old federal courthouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
* “I refuse to believe that our guys are that bad.”–Bucs head coach Raheem Morris after last week’s embarrassing 37-9 loss to the Houston Texans.