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The good and the bad...

web posted February 21, 2005

"It used to be, people were afraid to talk about Social Security. Now, I think people should be afraid not to talk about Social Security and start coming up with some solutions." -- U.S. President George W. Bush

"Too many people -- some of them judges -- seem to think that freedom of speech means freedom from consequences for what you have said. If you believe that, try insulting your boss when you go to work tomorrow. Better yet, try insulting your spouse before going to bed tonight." -- Thomas Sowell

"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here." -- Howard Dean to the Democrat Black Caucus

"Charity is reaching into one's own pockets to assist his fellow man in need. Reaching into someone else's pocket to assist one's fellow man hardly qualifies as charity. When done privately, we deem it theft, and the individual risks jail time." -- Walter Williams

"[T]he only time the party of plunder has managed to elect a president in the last 40 years is when it nominated political chameleons -- Carter in 1976, Clinton in '92 and '96. When Democrats speak candidly to voters about their fundamental values and the direction in which they want to take the nation (McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis) Americans run screaming in the opposite direction." -- Don Feder

"Letting Americans own some of their Social Security would be too risky, [Democrats] argue -- another way of saying that Americans are too dumb to be entrusted with their own money. Much better to continue entrusting it to Washington, which has managed Social Security so skillfully that workers younger than 50 know they will never get back in benefits what they are paying into the system now." -- Jeff Jacoby

"The Western front is the important one in this war -- the intersection between Islam and a liberal democratic tradition so mired in self-loathing it would rather destroy our civilization just to demonstrate its multicultural bona fides." -- Mark Steyn

"The Democrats' current crudeness is a function of their desperation, and the imminent ratification of Howard Dean, the least charming presidential candidate in recent memory, as their party chairman only serves to punctuate the problem." -- Joe Klein, Time Magazine

"Realizing that they're losing the political battle, the Democrats have fallen back on their last resort: weeping." -- Ben Shapiro

"A new al-Qa'ida tape is out, purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's No. 2 man. 'The new al-Qa'ida tape argued that U.S. allies in the region were the problem not the solution,' according to Agence France-Presse -- or, as [Ted Kennedy] put it recently, 'The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.' Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment." -- James Taranto

"Sara Lee Foods announced Tuesday it will sell its recently-purchased Playtex Company after a vote of the board of directors. There were financial pressures. The girdle division was going broke trying to keep up with the cheesecake division." -- Argus Hamilton

"During the recent DNC winter meeting everyone kept saying what a swell job outgoing chairman Terry McAuliffe had done running the organization because he raised so much money. This, despite the fact that he led the party to losing the Presidential election; not gaining any ground in the US House; and moving from absolute parity to a 10-seat deficit in the US Senate. Terr-EE! Terr-EE!" -- Rich Galen

"[Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid looks and talks like a small-town undertaker whom you want to trust but wonder about, especially when he says the deceased would love the brass handles." -- Peggy Noonan

"A lot of American companies are now moving into Iraq. Iraq now has Pizza Hut, Subway, Taco Bell and Popeye's fried chicken. So, great, instead of oil for food, we're giving them oil in food." -- Jay Leno

web posted February 14, 2005

"[I]n 1848, Karl Marx said, a progressive income tax is needed to transfer wealth and power to the state. Thus, Marx's Communist Manifesto had as its major economic tenet a progressive income tax. ... I say it is time to replace the progressive income tax with a national retail sales tax, and it is time to abolish the IRS." -- Rep. James Traficant, Jr.

"President Bush...release[d] his 2006 budget, requesting slightly more than $2.5 trillion in spending. That's $2,500,000,000,000. If a Democrat proposed a budget this big, Republican fiscal hawks would squawk to the top of the Capitol dome." -- Stephen Moore

"A Republican president sits in the White House. The GOP enjoys clear majorities in both houses of Congress. If now isn't the time to control federal spending, when will it be?" -- John Fund

"Social Security should be phased out and ended altogether. ... Social Security in any form is morally irredeemable. We should be debating, not how to save Social Security, but how to end it -- how to phase it out so as to best protect both the rights of those who have paid into it, and those who are forced to pay for it today. This will be a painful task. But it will make possible a world in which Americans enjoy far greater freedom to secure their own futures." -- Alex Epstein

"Social Security is simply a tax. Like all taxes, the money collected is spent immediately as general revenues to fund the federal government. The Social Security trust fund does not exist, and Social Security 'surpluses' are nothing more than an accounting ledger showing that contributions exceeded benefits paid for a given calendar year -- not that the excess was put aside. ... Allowing people to opt out of Social Security would force the federal government to admit it has been stealing money from Social Security for decades. ... No matter what politicians promise, Social Security reform will not change the fact that your money is taken from your paycheck and sent to Washington, where it will be spent." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"My financial adviser Ric Edelman...thinks the time to start educating people about money is when they are children. He's set up a retirement plan called the RIC-E-Trust that can provide retirement security. A $5,000 one-time tax-deferred investment at birth, with an average interest rate of ten percent compounded, means that a child would have $2.4 million when he or she is 65 years old. Who needs Social Security with that kind of nest egg?" -- Cal Thomas

"[I]f the party of gloom is ever to regain its footing, it will have to start by understanding that those who defeated them are not a bunch of ignorant yahoos looking forward to Armageddon." -- Mona Charen

"Iraq's real Minutemen in the vanguard of popular revolt are the Iraqi voters whose actions said 'give me liberty,' despite the threats of reactionary thugs who promised to give them death." -- Austin Bay

"This President well understands the war for Iraq, and for the Middle East, is fought not just in Iraq and Afghanistan but here, on the home front. This is a war not just for Iraqi freedom but for American opinion." -- Paul Greenberg

"Now I remember President Bush saying he wanted to be a uniter not a divider. This has division written all over it." -- NBC's Matt Lauer recasting the plans to salvage Social Security for all as "divisive"

"Personally, I've decided to stop evolving." -- Maureen Dowd

"The inked fingers and the position of them, which is gonna be a 'Daily Show' photo already, of them signaling in this [Nazi salute] manner, as if they have solidarity with the Iraqis who braved physical threats against their lives to vote as if somehow these inked-fingered Republicans have something to do with that." -- Janeane Garofalo

"[N]o Republican urged Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Margaritaville) to give a speech denouncing America's military presence in Iraq as 'part of the problem, not the solution.' No GOP speechwriter conned Kennedy into calling for a withdrawal of American forces just 72 hours before 8 million Iraqis defied bombs and bullets to pack polling places protected by our soldiers. Ted Kennedy did that all by himself. And, thanks to the Democrat-leaning national media, he did it on millions of TV screens across the nation." -- Michael Graham

"The more Democrats speak -- the more they attempt to win over the middle class by slamming the president -- the more certain I am that they are drinking too much. I beg of them to join me this February and swear off adult beverages of every kind. This may not only help them set off on a better course, it will stop them from driving the rest of America to drink." -- Tom Purcell

"It boggles the mind that 36 Democrats would vote against the first Hispanic attorney general out of tender concern for the well-being of terrorists, but there you are." -- James Taranto

"Contemporary Democrats are people who can't stand the idea that someone, somewhere is experiencing good news." -- Rich Lowry

web posted February 7, 2005

"[T]he people of Iraq have spoken to the world, and the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East." -- U.S. President George W. Bush

"Anti-Bush partisans -- both Democrats and Leftist ideologues -- understand that if the elections are seen as a triumph, they will be seen as Bush's triumph, and they cannot stomach it." -- John Podhoretz

"So how about this: Turnout in the Kurdish north and Shi'ite south probably was higher than in the last U.S., British or Canadian elections. Legitimate enough for ya?" -- Mark Steyn

"[S]ince their candidate lost, many [Democrats] have allowed their hatred of George W. Bush to put them in the tragic position to be cheering for the same result in Iraq as Osama Bin Laden and al Zarqawi." -- Joe Scarborough

"[Sunday] was a great day to be an American, and an even better day to be an Iraqi. Notwithstanding the best efforts of Osama bin Laden, Barbara Boxer, Jacques Chirac, Ted Kennedy, Saddam Hussein and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, millions of Iraqis cast their first free ballots. The scenes of joyous Iraqis embracing freedom were as moving as watching Germans dance on the Berlin Wall 15 years ago -- and all the more impressive given that Iraqi voters faced real physical danger from terrorists seeking a return to tyranny." -- James Taranto

"Self-governed nations do not often go to war with each other or actively sponsor terrorist networks. Those who wish for our failure in Iraq know this well." -- Lisa Fabrizio

"That is the crux of modern conservatism -- government taking strong measures to foster the attitudes and aptitudes necessary for increased individual independence." -- George F. Will

"The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide whether states may offer license plates that read 'Choose Life.' The idea hit one little snag. Asking convicts to make a license plate inscribed 'Choose Life' is a violation of the Geneva Convention." -- Argus Hamilton

"'It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and don't vote,' Kerry told Russert. But what election was he referring to? Was it the one that was stolen from him or the one that was apparently being stolen from the Sunnis? The rhetoric is virtually interchangeable. Just switch the words 'Democrats' and 'Sunnis' around and he'll have enough material to go on for sometime." -- Shawn Macomber

"To see a Republican president topple a fascist dictator and do it increasingly in terms of the spread of justice and rights has to be irritating [to the Left]. What is left to do except cavil and whine? And so the Democrats progressively lose their capacity for hope. Come on guys, can't you muster a little Utopian dreaming, for old time's sake if nothing else?" -- Rich Lowry

"Is there a more execrable, horrid parody of an American statesman alive today than Ted Kennedy?" -- Jonah Goldberg

"[Senate Minority leader] Harry Reid is so boring he makes Rosalyn Carter look like Auntie Mame." -- Rich Galen

"I guess you heard, Hillary Clinton has a new campaign slogan: "I've fallen and I can't get up!" -- Jay Leno

"There may have been better State of the Union speeches, but last night's was the best I can remember. In fact, it was the only one that didn't bore me, that didn't make me pinch myself to stay awake. ... All in all, it was a first-class speech, subject to some criticism, to be sure, and denigrated by leading Democrats who continue to carry on with their campaign to belittle and besmirch him. But, forget them. If this speech is an example of what this President and his second term are all about, they are doomed to failure." -- Lyn Nofziger, longtime adviser to our beloved mentor, President Ronald Reagan

web posted January 31, 2005

"[E]ncouraging the Muslim world, and particularly the Arab Muslim world, which is the heart of the global terrorist threat -- to adopt democratic ways and to shine the light of liberty into its culture of medieval darkness is a pragmatic necessity for the future security of the civilized world. That is the reality behind the President's address. Only people in serious denial can be blind to this fact. Only liberals." -- David Horowitz

"Bet your bottom dollar that, for all the harsh attacks on Gonzales, most will vote to give him the job. See, it's a mark of the Dems' sophisticated and nuanced thinking that they can talk one way and act the other. It's only stupid little people who insist on leaders who say and do the same thing." -- Michael Goodwin

"What a difference between the first and second Inaugurals of this President. And not just because of the difference in the popular vote. But because of September 11, 2001. If it did not change everything, it changed George W. Bush." -- Paul Greenberg

"For a possible Inauguration Day story on ABC News, we are trying to find out if there any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20. If you know of a funeral and whether the family might be willing to talk to ABC News, please fill out the form below." -- ABCNews.com

"There is no contradiction between support for faith-based initiatives and upholding our constitutional principles. I've always been a praying person. [Religious people should be free] to live out their faith in the public square." -- Hillary Rodham-Clinton-Rodham

"Hollywood liberals could not be reached for comment on the cost of the inauguration because they were being fitted for gowns and jewelry worth millions of dollars in anticipation of Oscar night." -- Ann Coulter

"[T]he two [California] counties with the lowest 'mental health scores' are Alameda, which includes Berkeley, and San Francisco, which is coterminous with the city. What else do these counties have in common? They are the California counties where John Kerry did best: 83% of the vote in San Francisco and 75% in Alameda. You don't have to be crazy to oppose President Bush, but it doesn't hurt." -- James Taranto

"Senate Dems badgered the incoming secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice -- culminating in the decision of West Virginia porkmeister Robert C. Byrd to delay the incoming thereof. Don't ask me why. Byrd, the former Klu Klux Klan Kleagle, is taking a stand over states' rights, or his rights over State, or some such. Whatever the reason, the sight of an old Klansman blocking a little colored girl from Birmingham from getting into her office contributed to the general retro vibe that hangs around the Democratic Party these days." -- Mark Steyn

"The White House braced itself for reaction in European capitals to President Bush's Inaugural Address. In the Berlin newspapers his speech was described by Germans as chilling and grandiose and warlike. In other words, he had them at hello."-- Argus Hamilton

"Republicans are saying that John Kerry has developed a 'sore loser' complex. Or did they mean a 'Gore loser' complex." -- Lyn Nofziger

"Having had their fill of post-election introspection, the 447 Democratic Party luminaries who on Feb. 12 will elect their new chairman surely now yearn for stronger wine and madder music. Many yearn for Howard Dean, the highly carbonated tribune of 'the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.' Dean is fun -- a scream, you might say." -- George Will

"Here's some exciting news -- according to The New York Post, both Al Gore and John Kerry are thinking of running for president in 2008. Gore and Kerry again! Political experts say it's too early to tell who would lose bigger!" -- Jay Leno

"Since terrorists are pouring into Iraq in response to calls from international terrorist networks, the number of those who are killed is especially important, for these are people who will no longer be around to launch more attacks on American soil. Iraq has become a magnet for enemies of the United States, a place where they can be killed wholesale, thousands of miles away." -- Thomas Sowell

"In a world that has gone global, we no longer have a choice. If we don't export freedom, we risk importing the viruses which have corrupted other nations. ... Some critics complained that President Bush was arrogant when he suggested America can and should export freedom to other countries. This implies the people of unfree countries may not wish to be free. Which is the greater arrogance?" -- Cal Thomas

"Because he's hiding" -- U.S. President George W. Bush's response to a Washington Times reporter's question as to why Osama bin Laden hadn't been captured yet

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