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I’m naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the president’s budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?
— Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), quoted by Roll Call, about an encounter with the White House chief of staff in the House gym.
Have I succeeded in reversing a 30-year trend of skepticism and cynicism about government? I confess that I have not. Maybe next year.
— White House political adviser David Axelrod, quoted by the New York Times.
I worried most about Senator John Edwards. He was a fresh face, articulate and engaging, and attractive to the point of being almost too pretty.
— Karl Rove, writing in his memoir Courage and Consequence, about the Democratic presidential candidate he feared — while being titillated by — most in 2004.
Single men might not attempt so many sexual conquests if they knew that the government would require them to pay support for any child that their exploits brought into the world.
— Mitt Romney, in his new book No Apologies, making, as Ben Smith notes, a “questionable assertion.”
There are two good signs for the Democrats: One is all this blowup happened 10 months before the election, not 10 weeks before the election. Two, the average American believes that better times are ahead. Those are two important indicators. Now, there are plenty of indicators that aren’t so good, but I think a month is a huge lifetime in politics, so I think we’re actually going to do a bit better than people are predicting.
— Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean, in an interview with Salon.
Every idea has been put on the table. Every argument has been made. Everything there is to say about health care has been said and just about everyone has said it.
— Pres. Obama, lighting a fire under the backsides of Democratic lawmakers. To which we can only add, “Amen!”
The idea that it is outside the rules to proceed within the rules is a very unique view on the rules… The point is this: If you’ve got 51 votes for your position, you win.
— Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), defending the use of the budget reconciliation process to pass legislation in 2005.
I think Michele Bachmann summed it up very well earlier today. She suggested that maybe the beer summit was more productive and fruitful than what we saw today coming out of the health care summit.
— Sarah Palin, in an interview on Fox News.
If you think it’s a socialist plot, then please drop out of the federal employees health program.
— Sen.Richard Durbin (D-IL), to Republican lawmakers at yesterday’s health care reform summit.
You are full of shit. You are. You really are.
— Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R), to a KLAS-TV reporter, denying he was with a woman on a flight before video proved he was lying.
