Category: Verbatim
FL22: Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Calls African-American Tea Bagger Allen West ‘Scary, Frightening’
This man [Allen West]. Scary. Frightening. We wouldn’t have a Civil Rights Act. I saw those signs that said, “White Man,” “Colored Man,” “White Woman,” “Colored Woman.” Now we have someone who happens to be African American saying that black people, people of color, African Americans, were better off before the Civil Rights Act. You have a man who represents our dark past. He wants to take us back but we’re not going back. Run, crawl, make it to that ballot box and vote for Ron.
– Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga, campaigning for Ron Klein.
FL22: Allen West Says He Wants to Desegregate the GOP – But Has He Okayed That with the Republican Racist Base?
The first black members of the House and the Senate after during the Reconstruction period were Republicans and we’ve got to reconnect the Republican party back to the black community. Because on Sunday the most conservative people in the United States of America sit in black churches.
– Allen West, an African-American tea bagger running against Democratic Rep. Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd House District. who is apparently oblivious to the fact that the Republican base is seething with hatred toward African Americans.
I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.
– Groucho Marx
Verbatim
Her opponent and that crowd in Washington make Richard Nixon look like a member of Students for a Democratic Society. They make Newt Gingrich and George Bush look like garden variety liberals.
— Bill Clinton, quoted by CNN, at a campagin event for Tarryl Clark (D) who is running against Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN).
Verbatim
It doesn’t bother him that maintaining tax cuts for the top 2 percent of income earners would increase the deficit by $700 billion. In his world, deficit spending is bad if it saves middle class jobs but good if it covers tax cuts for the wealthy.
— St. Petersburg Times editorial titled, “Rubio’s Rigid Ideology,” which ends, “Rubio embraces an inflexible ideology, not practical solutions. The Republican leaves no room for compromise or consensus — and that is what is wrong with Washington.”
Verbatim
What we can fairly conclude, even before the votes are counted on November 2, is that America is not interested in becoming France.
— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by CNN, accusing the Obama administration of “trying to turn us into a Western European country as rapidly as they can.”
Verbatim
The idea that the Democrats are just going to sit this one out doesn’t seem very likely. While there’s no question that Republicans are going to pick up seats, the question is how many.
— Pollster Larry Hugick, citing a new Newsweek survey that shows Democrats leading Republicans in the generic congressional ballot 48 percent to 42 percent among registered voters. Among those who have already voted, Democrats lead by 10 points, 52 percent to 42 percent. The poll also shows President Obama’s approval ratings have jumped substantially to 54 percent, while the portion of respondents who disapprove of the president dropped to 40 percent.
Verbatim
He should wake up and look at what’s going on in our backyard.
— Tiffany Hartley, who was jet-skiing with her husband, David, in Mexico when, according to her story, pirates attacked them and killed David. Hartley is referring to Pres. Obama, but it’s unclear who should do the waking up, although Americans who illegally cross borders into murderous drug gang territory do come to mind. Nor is it clear what exactly the American president could or should do in Mexico to protect such folks.
PA03: Asked to Name ‘Specific’ Budget Cuts He Would Make GOP Candidate Mike Kelly Talks for Two Minutes, Can’t Name a Single Cut
Sure, I’ll address that, and I’ll address it very specifically. The specifics — the specificity — is in the process. When Gov. Christie got elected in New Jersey, they asked him the same question; he says “let me get there and I’ll figure it out. Let me just do this.” [GROANS from audience.] Because as a businessperson, you have to look every month at what you do. You have to look at the things that work and the things that didn’t work. You have to determine whether that’s the right course to be on or not be on.
And I’m always intrigued when people say, “specifically, what would you do?” Here, specifically, what would I do? I’d tear it apart. I’d tear it apart. I would want to look at every bit of our spending budget. Does it work or does it not work? Is it something we can improve on? Is it something we should redeploy those funds? Absolutely, there’s stuff to be cut. What is it right now? I can’t tell you.
But I can tell you this. I’m always amazed that people take this attitude that you can’t expect the government to work the way a business does. And I would put this just the other way. You could never expect a business to work the way the government does. [LAUGHTER.] And when we talk about all these savings and all these costs. [Unintelligible.] … the backs of the taxpayers. The government acts like somehow we’re taking money from them. The truth of the matter is they are taking money from us. Much as golfers [unintelligible] pennies, every single penny that goes into government coffers comes off the backs of taxpaying citizens.
So I think we have the wrong point of view here. Specifically what would you do? Specifically, what I would do? I would be the most responsible legislator who’s out there. I would measure twice and cut once. I would look at every expense and is it performing the way it’s supposed to perform, or this just another one of those government programs that has an endless life that we just keep adding and adding and adding. So the specificness of it is getting people there that are responsible, that have skin in the game and that have sweat [inaudible], that understand what it means to make payments out of your own pocket, not the taxpayer’s. That’s a very sacred duty, that’s the way we would approach this.
