* “The Egyptian crowds watched and learned from the Tunisian crowds. But the Libyan government watched and learned from the fate of the Tunisian and Egyptian governments. It has decided to fight.”–George Will, Washington Post.
* “Anytime Obama seems insufficiently militant overseas–his current reluctance to use force in Libya, for example–he is accused of tepid semi-Americanism. The fact that he has more than doubled troop levels in Afghanistan and used Predator drones against the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan far more aggressively than George W. Bush ever did apparently counts for nothing.”–Joe Klein, Time magazine.
* “I think people are going to see that the Republican governors’ tea party has a lot more to do with Alice in Wonderland than it does with Sam Adams. Some of them are much more Mad Hatter than they are James Madison.”–Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley.
* “Concealed Carry on Campus is a national organization of students dedicated to opening up schools to more weaponry. Every spring it holds a national Empty Holster Protest ‘symbolizing that disarming all law-abiding citizens creates defense-free zones, which are attractive targets for criminals.’ And you thought the youth of America had lost its idealism.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.
* “If you want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.
* “This idea of selling Florida as the cheapest state–well, that’s what we’ve got now. To drive it (costs) down at the expense of young people’s education is wrong. Florida is a beautiful place to live. But it is a fragile place, and we have to keep investing in the things that will retain that high quality of life.”–Former Gov. Bob Graham.
* “No one can comprehend why you’re (Florida) not moving rapidly forward with a prescription monitoring program. Given the deaths, given the threat to safety, it makes no sense.”–John Eadie, director of Brandeis University’s PMP (Prescription Monitoring Program) Center of Excellence.
* “I’ve always deplored negative campaigning. I just can’t stay neutral in the face of that.”–Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio explaining her endorsement of Bob Buckhorn for mayor.
* “We have this reputation, and the NCAA knows that when it brings events to Tampa, it’s going to be a success. We’re not known as a big basketball city, but we are known as a big sports town.”–Travis Claytor, spokesman for Tampa Bay & Company, on this week’s opening rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum.