* “China increasingly reminds of South Korea or Taiwan in the early 1980s, when an educated middle class was nibbling away at dictatorship.”–Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times.
* “Ireland is coming out with its own version of the show Cheers. Yeah, a sitcom about people who sit around drinking at a bar all day–or as they call that in Ireland, reality TV.”–Comedian Jimmy Fallon.
* “The U.S. secretary of defense today is a high-stakes actor in international diplomacy. America is well-served when the Pentagon and State Department work together, as they have since Robert Gates took over the Pentagon in 2006. With Mr. Hagel at Defense and John Kerry at State, America would again benefit from that cooperation. Chuck Hagel would be a great secretary of defense.”–Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
* “Whether Egypt turns out more like Pakistan or India will impact the future of democracy in the whole Arab world.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “The American Dream is in peril.”–Speaker of the House John Boehner.
* “I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds.”–U.S. Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., in response to Hurricane Sandy-relief delays in the House.
* “The tax issue is finished. Over. Completed. That’s behind us. Now the question is what are we going to do about the biggest problem confronting our country and that’s our spending addiction.”–Sen. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
* “It’s an iron law of politics that prospective losers lobby harder to block change than prospective winners do for its adoption.”–Robert H. Frank, New York Times.
* “We are all for properly trained, properly selected school-based police officers. It’s not a job for every police officer. It really is a field of specialization.”–Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, commenting on the post-Newtown trend for increased school policing.
* “Some (Congress members) might have been willing to support this (budget compromise) deal, but the environment of Republican primaries has become frightening if you are not on board with the conservative wing of the party.”–University of Florida political scientist Stephen Craig.
* “These days everyone’s a pundit. Got an opinion? Why, step right up to the microphone. If you’re ‘good TV,’ you too can be a ‘contributor.'”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.
* “If you want to learn something from a movie, watch a documentary.”–Actor Samuel Jackson commenting on Django Unchained.
* “Today 48 percent of Floridians were born in another state, 19 percent in a foreign country and 33 percent in Florida. The percentage of native born is the lowest in the nation. …Is it any wonder that Floridians lack a sense of community, a mythic identity, and a knowledge of the state’s past?”–David R. Colburn, author and interim director of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida.
* “I don’t understand why everybody’s not a Republican. Anybody who believes that they want to improve themselves should be a Republican.”–Gov. Rick Scott.
* “Listen, you can’t underestimate any guy who’s going to spend $100 million to get re-elected. A landslide (gubernatorial) win in 2014 is going to be by one or two points.”–Democratic strategist Steve Schale.
* “Tampa Bay is an underserved international gateway when you look at the demographics.”–Chris Minner, TIA vice president of marketing.
* “This more clearly demonstrates our belief that every town and local community deserves to have its own focused news coverage and voice.”–Tampa Tribune publisher William Barker in announcing the debut of The St. Petersburg Tribune.
* “We’re going to continue to push services out. We can operate better closer to the people we serve.”–Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill.
* “I think the statistics are showing this program works, and it works as a safety measure.”–Tampa City Councilman Harry Cohen on the city’s implementation of red-light cameras.
* “The future of health care is that you have to have relationships. That doesn’t mean mergers necessarily. … What it does mean is you have to figure out how to align yourself with other players where it makes sense.”–Jim Burkhart, president and CEO of Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, who takes over in March for Ron Hytoff as head of Tampa General Hospital.
* “He’s the one that makes the trains run on time. He can deliver a message but do it without rancor. He does it without leaving a trail of bodies.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on his chief-of-staff, Santiago Corrada.