Category: Verbatim

Verbatim

Buck Banks

Always the thought of my wife standing over me having unloaded a 15-round clip into me and asking, ‘Does somebody have more ammo?’

— Mike Huckabee, in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on what goes through his mind when women try to get his attention.

Verbatim

Trish

“I’m not suggesting that we’re going to agree on everything, whether it’s on health care or energy or what have you, but if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don’t have a lot of room to negotiate with me. You’ve given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you’ve been telling your constituents is, ‘This guy’s doing all kinds of crazy stuff that’s going to destroy America.'”

— Pres. Obama, speaking to the Republican House members at their retreat in Baltimore

Verbatim

Buck Banks

Oh, you betcha I’m going to be there. I’m going to speak there because there are people traveling from many miles away to hear what that tea party movement is all about and what that message is that should be received by our politicians in Washington. I’m honored to get to be there.

— Sarah Palin, giving a preview of the kind of convoluted syntax we can expect from her address to the upcoming Tea Bag Party convention.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

When you feel all this power, and this much fun, and the Internet in your hands, you’ll never want to go back. …. If there’s going to be a third category of device, it’s going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone. Otherwise it has no reason for being.

— Apple CEO Steve Jobs, touting the newly released iPad device, which he implies has a reason for being — to make money for Steve Jobs.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

Ever since I started covering politics, the Democratic ruling class has been driven by one fantasy: that voters will get so furious at people with M.B.A.’s that they will hand power to people with Ph.D.’s. The Republican ruling class has been driven by the fantasy that voters will get so furious at people with Ph.D.’s that they will hand power to people with M.B.A.’s. Members of the ruling class love populism because they think it will help their section of the elite gain power.

— Columnist David Brooks, writing in the New York Times, on the perceived political power of populism.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

It is very difficult to have a democracy without citizens. It is impossible to be a citizen if you don’t make an effort to understand the most basic activities of your government. It is very difficult to thrive in an increasingly competitive world if you’re a nation of dodos.

— Joe Klein, in Time magazine, on the CNN poll released today that found that nearly three-fourths of Americans thought the $787 billion stimulus package was wasted, even though the largest single item in the package — $288 billion — is tax relief for 95 percent of the American public, and $275 billion was in grants and loans to states to prevent teacher layoffs and keep fire stations open.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

The things he wanted to do weren’t going to be natural for continued public life anyway. He honestly cares about poverty.

— Elizabeth Edwards, in an interview with Politico, on her husband’s sex scandal and volunteer work in Haiti and El Salvador.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

It’s like in Roman times, they’d be trotted out to the coliseum and the lions would be brought out. I mean, they’re wanting blood and they’re not getting it so they want to protest, and, you know, you can’t blame them. But frankly, the fact is we inherited this mess and it’s becoming ours.

— Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-MA), quoted by Politico.