Read ‘em and weep

27 October 2006 |permalink | email article

President Bush assuring the body politic that he is inflexible in his willingness to be flexible on the Iraq war: “Our goals are unchanging. We are flexible in our methods of achieving those goals.” 

Former President Clinton: “’Stop and think’ is not the same as ‘cut-and-run.’”

Vice President Cheney, in a conservative radio interview about whether he would agree a dunk in the water is a no-brainer if it can save lives: “Well, it’s a no-brainer for me,” adding that for a while there, I was criticized for being the vice president for torture. We don’t torture.”

White House spokesman Tony Snow: “No brainier No. 3: the vice president doesn’t give away questioning techniques.”

Conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer:  “Now that every columnist in the country has given him (Barack Obama) advice, here’s mine: “He should run in ’08. He will lose in ’08. And the loss will put him irrevocably on a path toward the presidency.”

American Conservative Union chairman David Keene, describing the glooming outlook among conservative leaders about who’s to blame for potential Republican losses this fall: “It is one of those rare defeats which will have many fathers. And they will all be somebody else.”

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, making no apologies for how she has come to be within striking distance of becoming the first woman speaker of the House: “This is not for the faint of heart…. This is very tough. I’m conditioned for it. I’m battle-tested.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding to a question from Tom Brokaw about why the front-running former conservative Republican is tilting center-left this time: “I’ve learned to be more patient.” 

Los Angeles Times editor Dean Baquet encouraging other editors to push back against newspaper owners when they propose more cuts: “We need to be a feistier bunch. We understand the business model is changing and we have to do some cutting, but don’t understand it too much.”

 

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