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web posted May 28, 2007

"A ‘comprehensive' plan doesn't mean much if the government can't accomplish one of its most basic responsibilities for its citizens -- securing its borders. A nation without secure borders will not long be a sovereign nation." -- Fred Thompson

"When we pass a bill that gives people the impression that there are new benefits to be had in the United States... you will have a stampede for the U.S. border that will overwhelm our border forces." -- Duncan Hunter

"Our country is unique because it opens its arms to immigrants from everywhere and gives them the chance to become citizens. If we start allowing ethnic groups to make claims on the Treasury because of where they were born, we'll quickly lose the unity that makes our nation work." -- Ed Feulner

"Today, all too many Americans feel like aliens in our own country -- strangers in a strange land... They're the second and third-generation Americans -- whose ancestors came here legally, and learned our language, identified with our history and heritage, and were proud and grateful to call themselves Americans -- who are now asked to press one if they wish to continue in English." -- Don Feder

"The key question for Congress is whether or not Iraq has become the primary battleground against the same radical Islamists who declared war on the U.S. in the 1990s and who have carried out a series of terrorist operations including 9/11. The answer is emphatically, ‘yes'." -- Former Democrat Sen. Bob Kerrey

"Without much notice and even less discussion, ‘civil war' has become the new abracadabra phrase for American foreign policy... The assumption behind this gambit is obvious: Declaring it a civil war is like blowing a whistle at the end of the game. There's nothing left to do but pack up the equipment and go home." -- Jonah Goldberg

"Every politician in America is opposed to amnesty -- if not the concept, then at least the word. That's why the visa starts with the letter that's furthest away from the one ‘amnesty' begins with." -- Mark Steyn ++ "There's an old rule in Washington that in dealing with any tough issue, half the politicians hope that citizens don't understand it, while the other half fear that people actually do." -- John Fund

"Sen. Hillary Clinton has been endorsed by porn star Jenna Jameson. Jameson's exact quote was, ‘I'm endorsing Hillary so tell Bill to stop bothering me'." -- Conan O'Brien

"The next time you're [Michael Moore] down in Cuba... you might ask them about another documentary maker. His name was Nicolas Guillen. He did something Castro didn't like, and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatments. A mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about." -- Fred Thompson

"Porcine propagandist Michael Moore has a new movie coming out, ‘Sicko.' No, it's not an autobiography but a hit piece on American health care, which extols communist Cuba's health-care system for wealthy foreigners." -- James Taranto

"Most fair-minded readers will no doubt take me at my word when I say that a majority of Democrats in this country are out of their gourds." -- Jonah Goldberg

"Democrats announced that they are going to have six debates in six different cities all around the country. The good news: Hillary Clinton will use a different accent for each city." -- Jay Leno

"Naturally I hope the new immigration bill fails. It is less a bill than a big dirty ball of mischief, malfeasance and mendacity, with a touch of class malice, and it's being pushed by a White House that is at once cynical and inept. The bill's Capitol Hill supporters have a great vain popinjay's pride in their own higher compassion. They are inclusive and you're not, you cur, you gun-totin' truckdriver's-hat-wearin' yahoo. It's all so complex, and you'd understand this if you weren't sort of dumb." -- Peggy Noonan

"The family of three of the men, arrested last week for allegedly plotting to kill American military personnel at Fort Dix, New Jersey, entered the U.S. illegally more than 20 years ago; filed for asylum back in 1989, but fell off the government's radar screen when federal bureaucrats essentially lost track of the paperwork. Wonder how many times that's been replicated?" -- Fred Thompson

web posted May 21, 2007

"When America is willing to lead the way, when we meet our commitments and stand with our allies even in troubling times, when we prepare for threats that are on the horizon and beyond the horizon, and when we make the necessary sacrifices and take the necessary risks to defend our values and our interests, then great things are possible, and even probable, for our country and the world." -- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

"Hillary Clinton is twisting herself into a pretzel on Iraq. Her latest effort to find some way to appease the Democratic Party's anti-war base is a proposal for a vote to ‘deauthorize' the war. Her proposal is unserious -- and consciously so. There has never been such a vote in all of recorded history, and there won't be one now." -- John Podhoretz

"Does it make sense to risk the lives of Americans fighting terrorist elements in Baghdad while letting them slip across our border without so much as a challenge?" -- Alan Keyes

"Is it the nothing-can-be-done crowd's assumption that the fellows who run armies of the ‘undocumented' from Mexico into America are just kindhearted human smugglers who'd have nothing to do with jihad even if the price was right?" -- Mark Steyn

"Sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down." -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair

"The goals [of No Child Left Behind] are great, but it is not the federal government's role to tell the states what to do... There is no constitutional role of the federal government to have the Department of Education. I don't believe we should have the U.S. Department of Education." -- Rep. Tom Tancredo

"It is unclear what role, if any, religion played in the attack [the ‘Fort Dix Six'] are charged with planning." -- New York Times reporter Alan Feuer

"[Don Imus'] words did hurt these girls [on the Rutgers women's basketball team]. Until you, Reverend Al, got involved, they probably never would have heard of it. They would have probably never, quote unquote, got scarred for life, until you got involved for your own self-serving interests." -- Bernard McGuirk, Imus' former producer

"Well, do you know what a pole dancer is?... ['Moderate' Republicans] are poll dancers: P-O-L-L. They have demeaned themselves for polls." -- Rush Limbaugh

"Congress is spending money like John Edwards at a beauty shop." -- former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

"I thought that Mitt Romney needed to knock a little polish off his performance [in the GOP debate last night]: His answers continue to make him sound like Hermione Granger in Potions class at Hogwarts." -- Rich Galen

"Washington, DC, madam Debbie Palfrey vowed Monday to expose all her powerful sex clients. It's of little national interest. When most Americans heard a madam was running a house of ill repute in Washington, DC, they just assumed it was Nancy Pelosi." -- Argus Hamilton

"With Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive victory as the new president of France, the French have produced their first pro-American ruler since Louis XVI." -- Ann Coulter

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that he's stepping down. I have great respect for Tony Blair. He helped bring peace to Northern Ireland. If you can get the Protestants and Catholics to work things out, you can solve anything... even the ultimate challenge: Rosie and Trump." -- Craig Ferguson

"The President said today he would go along with Congress' request to establish benchmarks regarding Iraq. For example, the Iraqi government would have to show results by certain dates before they are given any more money. Forget Iraq. Why don't we try that here?" -- Jay Leno

"Nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking. This mental paralysis -- gratitude decaying into idolatry -- is sterile: Neither the man nor his moment will recur. Conservatives should face the fact that Reaganism cannot define conservatism." -- George Will

web posted May 14, 2007

"Listening to the messages of al-Qaida's leaders, you understand that they see their old defeats in very personal and contemporary terms. They are in a ‘long war' against us, even if we don't know it. And they're committed to winning it." -- former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson

"The hard truth is that progress in Iraq (and there has been some since the surge began) is painstakingly slow. It will require patience and grit to prevail. But to suggest that diplomacy can solve this problem now is pure fantasy." -- Mona Charen

"With the defeat of Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, the Conservatives have a unique opportunity to show France and the world that they can not only solve their economic problems, but also do something about the immigration invasion that has put their nation -- and all of Europe -- in jeopardy." -- Cal Thomas

"Let us suppose, just for the sake of argument, that these names [given by the ‘DC Madam'] include Karl Rove and Ted Kennedy. Are both names equally likely to be revealed? And, if only one of these names is revealed, do you have any serious doubt which one the liberal media will reveal?" -- Thomas Sowell

"Sometimes politicians get things upside down. They ignore problems that are plainly staring them in the face, while they focus on dangers that are at best speculative." -- Michael Barone

"Criminalizing even the vilest hateful thoughts -- as opposed to willful criminal acts -- is inconsistent with a free society." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"We intend to force our colleagues in the Senate and House to take vote after vote until we overcome [President Bush's] veto... We all have to work diligently to make sure we get the votes." -- Barack Obama

"Humans are presently acting upon this body in the same manner as an invasive virus with the result that we are eroding the ecological immune system. A virus kills its host and that is exactly what we are doing with our planet's life support system. We are killing our host the planet Earth." -- Paul Watson, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

"Queen Elizabeth took a tour of Colonial Williamsburg in a horse-drawn carriage Thursday. The restored town is an exact replica of America 300 years ago. It's the only place in the United States where you don't have to press two for English."  -- Argus Hamilton

"The not-visibly-insane Democrats all claim they'll get rough with the terrorists, but they can't even face Brit Hume. In case you missed this profile in Democrat machismo, the Democratic presidential candidates are refusing to participate in a debate hosted by Fox News Channel because the hosts are ‘biased.' But they'll face down Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!" -- Ann Coulter

"[Democrat presidential candidate] Dennis Kucinich sees himself as an astronaut, of all things. He may not look like he's made of the right stuff, but you only have to listen to him talk for five minutes to know he's already a space cadet."  -- Burt Prelutsky

"The Washington Post reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton is trying to win the Democratic nomination by reaching out to women. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, ‘Oh sure, when she does it, it's OK'." -- Conan O'Brien

"Hillary Clinton used three private jets in a single day in a campaign swing through South Carolina. Today she was officially named a Hollywood environmentalist." -- Jay Leno

"Moderates believe in splitting the differences. The mean-spirited conservatives don't want a federal program designed to guarantee that small children never again get splinters. The impractical liberals want to implement the program, costing billions, right away. The moderate splits the difference and carries on as if he's incredibly brave for introducing legislation that will make a ‘fiscally responsible down payment' on this much-needed program. It should come as no surprise that these are the politicians I despise the most." -- Jonah Goldberg

"The disease is partisanship, and the lack of civility is one of the symptoms of the disease... American politics has always been rough and tumble right from the beginning...[and there is] a danger of being too civil." -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman

"The unfettered free market has been the most radically destructive force in... the last generation." -- Hillary Clinton

web posted May 7, 2007

"The Defeaticrats are being opportunist: They think they can calibrate the precise degree of U.S. defeat in Mesopotamia that will bring victory for them in Ohio and Florida." -- Mark Steyn

"For months, Iraq War defeatists led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have provided our enemies with invaluable propaganda." -- Henry Mark Holzer

"Senator John McCain, adamantly supporting the current ‘surge' in Iraq says he would rather lose a presidential campaign than a war. Democrats, all smiles, prefer to lose the war and win the campaign. They're not alone. In Iraq, Al Qaeda is smiling, too." -- Jeff Jacoby

"Citing polls as proof you're on the right side of an argument is often a symptom of intellectual cowardice. If the crowd says two plus two equals seven, that's no reason to invoke the authority of the crowd. But pundits and pols know that if they align themselves with the latest Gallup findings, they don't have to defend their position on the merits because ‘the people' are always right." -- Jonah Goldberg

"Conservatives and liberals approach almost every issue with completely different philosophies, underlying assumptions, and methods. That's why it's so hard to find genuine compromise between conservatism and liberalism -- because not only are liberals almost always wrong, their solutions almost always make things worse." -- John Hawkins

"I voted for this war, and I was wrong to vote for this war. I should never have voted for this war. I am speaking out with every fiber of my being to get America out of Iraq. We need to be leaving Iraq, and we ought to start today, not two months from now." -- John Edwards

"If you just want to look at it in terms of purely American national interest, if U.S. troops leave now, you're giving Iraq to Iran... and al-Qa'ida. That's who will own it... You can't leave, or it's going to come and blow back on America." -- CNN correspondent Michael Ware recently back from Iraq

"Yesterday's May Day immigration demonstrations dominated cable TV, but they were more sound than substance. The bigger news is the recent Wall Street Journal report that illegal border crossings have slowed by more than 10% this year. The Bush Administration credits stepped-up enforcement, but our guess is that the cause is mostly labor supply and demand. A slump in the housing market has resulted in fewer jobs in the building trades, which are increasingly filled by Latino immigrants. With fewer jobs available, fewer immigrants are headed north. It's another example of the market's ability to determine how much foreign labor our economy needs. It also indicates that immigrants come here primarily to work, not to idle and collect welfare. We'd like to think these economic realities will inform any legislation produced this year... Given that illegal immigration is caused above all by a worker shortage for certain types of jobs in the U.S. , any reform that doesn't take into account labor-market needs won't solve the problem and risks making matters worse. Unfortunately, the immigration draft proposal recently circulated by the Bush Administration all but ignores the economic factors that drive illegal immigration. Aside from that, the proposal is unduly restrictive and thus probably unworkable... We hope a compromise is still possible, and we think a realistic guest worker program would make sense both for the U.S. economy and the needs of post-9/11 security. But any policy overhaul that provides little incentive for illegals in the U.S. to acknowledge their status, and then prices legal entry out of reach for most future workers, is likely to increase illegal immigration. Which is to say that any reform failing to recognize labor market realities is worse than no reform at all." -- The Wall Street Journal

"Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign office stopped using her maiden name last week and now simply refers to her as Hillary Clinton. She's completely dropped the name Rodham. It's a sure sign that one of her brothers is about to get indicted again." -- Argus Hamilton

"It is clear Hillary surrounds herself with fearful sycophants... who don't have the guts to tell her to put her awful blackface voice in a lockbox and throw away the key. Now, it may be too late. People of every color who hear the cringe-worthy condescension of the increasingly clownish Hillary Clinton are coming to the same conclusion: You be trippin', girl." -- Michelle Malkin

"Today thousands of immigrant students cut class to protest how tough our immigration polices are. If our immigration polices are so tough, how come we have thousands of immigrant students? I don t quite understand how that works." -- Jay Leno

"The Left...views the world not as a conflict between good and evil but between white and black, male and female, and rich and poor... As a general proposition, subject to exceptions that accompany all generalizations, the Left has considerably more compassion for groups (racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and sexual groups it favors) than for individuals." -- Dennis Prager

web posted April 30, 2007

"I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required." -- singer Sheryl Crow, proposing a way to wipe out global warming

"You know what concerns me? How many Supreme Court judges are Catholic?... Five. How about separation of church and state in America?" -- Rosie O'Donnell

"Peace cannot be achieved through pretending that war does not exist." -- Steven Plaut

"The main problem with pacifism is that it doesn't work in all situations. The main problem with pacifists is that they're convinced it does." -- Burt Prelutsky

"If the war in Iraq is such an unnecessary and futile expenditure of blood and treasure as Pelosi et al. have been saying, why not put an end to it? But to do that would mean taking responsibility for the consequences -- and those consequences would be disastrous and lasting. They would probably still be lasting when the 2008 elections come around. The Democrats cannot risk that." -- Thomas Sowell

"We can't play nice with [the Left]. They go for the throat, and they don't let go. Unless we fight back, we will not only lose elections, we will lose this country in the process." -- Bobby Eberle

"There is a time for everything, and the immediate aftermath of a ghastly mass murder is a time for tears and silence and prayer -- not for exploiting the dead to advance a political agenda. -- Jeff Jacoby

"Can you conceivably wrap your arms around the perverted concept that a woman can't be a real woman unless she has the complete autonomy to direct a doctor to partially deliver her baby for the purpose of killing it? My purpose isn't to offend here, but, truly, I just don't get it." -- David Limbaugh

"It is patently absurd to judge sane, normal people as being incompetent and untrustworthy to bear arms while blithely ignoring the obvious truth of the old saying that when good people are legally disarmed, only bad people will have guns." -- Michael Reagan

"Earth Day brought me into activism in the first place -- and I still find it empowering because it's not a day for the politicians, it's a day that began to pressure the politicians -- a day that was built from the ground up." -- John Kerry, who forgot that it was the Vietnam War which last caused him to become an activist

"I think we have a problem in our culture... with being realistic about reality... [T]he administration [at Virginia Tech] has created a ‘Gun-Free School Zone.' Or, to be more accurate, they've created a sign that says ‘Gun-Free School Zone.' And, like a loopy medieval sultan, they thought that simply declaring it to be so would make it so." -- Mark Steyn

"Three weeks after I wrote that I thought John Edwards might be going someplace in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, I found out where he was heading: to the barber shop." -- Richard Reeves

"It's not against the law to be crazy -- in some jurisdictions it actually makes you more viable as a candidate for public office." -- Ann Coulter

"Why do we let politicians name buildings after each other? I understand building monuments to honor leaders like Washington and Jefferson. But monuments to current members of Congress? Haven't we lowered the bar too far¿‘ -- John Stossel

"Chicago was chosen over Los Angeles to make America's bid to host the Summer Olympics in nine years. It's easy to see how Los Angeles lost out. What's the point of having the games in the United States if nobody knows you're in America¿‘ -- Argus Hamilton

"Those seeking the perfect politician seem to have forgotten that we'd have better luck finding a Sasquatch living in downtown Manhattan." -- J.B. Williams

"FEMA told Congress this week that a revised emergency response plan it was ordered to develop after Hurricane Katrina will not be ready by hurricane season. Well, there's a shock. It's only been two years. I'm surprised FEMA even knows when hurricane season is." -- Jay Leno

"One thing that [Iraqi war theater commander Gen. David Petraeus] reminded us was, this [war] is a test of wills, and he admonished us... that what we say to the world, to our adversaries and our allies, is listened to by the other side... It must come as a shock to al-Qa'ida leaders to have an aide come into their safe house and tell them that Senator [Harry] Reid has declared that, in fact, they are winning and the war is lost. I think it's highly irresponsible for the leader of the U.S. Senate to have said that and, just speaking for myself as the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, I think that the leader of the Senate should step down from that position." -- Congressman Duncan Hunter, California Republican, on Wednesday, after Gen. Petraeus' closed-door congressional briefing sessions

"Senator Reid has taken many positions on Iraq. He has threatened that if the President vetoes the current pending supplemental legislation... he will send up Senator Russ Feingold's bill to de-fund Iraq operations altogether. Yet only last November, Senator Reid said there would be no cutoff of funds for the military in Iraq. So in less than six months' time, Senator Reid has gone from pledging full funding for the military, then full funding but with conditions, and then a cutoff of funding -- three positions in five months on the most important foreign-policy question facing the nation and our troops...Senator Reid said the troop surge was against the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. That is plainly false. The Iraq Study Group report was explicitly favorable toward a troop surge to secure Baghdad. Senator Reid said there should be a regional conference on Iraq. Apparently, he doesn't know that there is going to be one next week... What's most troubling about Senator Reid's comments... is his defeatism. Indeed, last week, he said the war is already lost." -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney

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