Lingua publica

The good and the bad...

web posted August 27, 2001

"Yet, there is something to be said for the compulsions of the fathers. Men, as has been frequently noted, have their failings. The urge to make things right is their counter-failing, their allegory to women's urge to nurture. The male urge is of course ridiculous. Who can fix the world, even for one child? But its ridiculousness makes it great. In every life, there should be someone who believes that whatever goes wrong must be fixed, and if not fixed, must at least be made to go away." -- Michael Kelly

"The Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom must not depend on the whims of IRS bureaucrats. Religious institutions cannot freely preach their beliefs if they must fear that the government will accuse them of 'politics.' We cannot allow churches to be silenced any more than we can allow political dissent in general to be silenced. Free societies always have strong, independent institutions that are not afraid to challenge and criticize the government." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"Freedom is such a precious commodity. Yet sometimes the freest of people devalue it the most." -- Ward Connerly

"The worst thing in the world that could happen for the Coalition for the Homeless is for the homeless problem to be wiped out." -- Rush Limbaugh

"The tax cut does not get into the Medicare and Social Security trust funds, as some protest. What would eat into them is hog-wild spending on other items. That's where a problem could arise." -- Sen. Zell Miller (D) on why Bush's budget is still solid

"No event over the past quarter century has had a more profound impact on the U.S. economy and the prosperity of the 1980s and '90s than the Reagan tax cut of 1981." -- Stephen Moore

"Liberty. It depends on fighters who understand that just because something is popular doesn't make it correct. ...We struggle forever on slippery slopes to preserve what makes us unique as a nation." -- Paul M. Rodriguez

"Every dollar absconded by the burgeoning beast of government weakens personal freedom and builds the fetters that will eventually choke the life out of any republic." -- Chuck Baldwin

"...[B]lame, and complicity in murder, attaches to all those who willfully refuse to recognize the limits of diplomacy and the duty of active self-defense." -- George Will

"Evil cannot co-exist with good, anymore than sickness and wellness can. An individual inclines toward good or evil, and so does a culture." -- Cal Thomas

"Third-party liability is all the rage in a nation in headlong flight from personal responsibility and convinced that every ill can be cured by punitive damages." -- Don Feder

"Men are still biting the apple every chance they get, still blaming the temptress for their fall from grace." -- Kathleen Parker

"Bush's willingness to spend $250 million of taxpayers' money for embryonic stem-cell research reflects a statist, collectivist view of government." -- Larry Elder

"One is more admired for claiming to do good than for proving to be right." -- R. Emmett Tyrrell

"Maybe history is its own reward. Those who cherish and study the past for its own sake will find it full of surprises -- some of them heartbreaking." -- Joseph Sobran

"This is the justification for totalitarian government. The reasoning is that government, not individuals, know best." -- Diane Alden

"In avoiding the Star Chamber, America has recreated it: a star chamber of rules and rights, not privy councillors this time. But despotic nonetheless." -- Amity Shlaes

"Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong." -- Time magazine's Jack White on a recent poll showing French disapproval of Bush foreign policy

"Jackson, the charismatic national symbol of human rights...." -- Connie Chung on Jesse Jackson

"In a time that we no longer have a Cold War, there is no real threat to American security. I think the question is, what is this obsession that we are seeing that comes out of Washington where we are gearing up toward a threat that is not there, towards some real fantasy that is looming?" -- Rev. Al Sharpton on forming an exploratory committee for a presidential bid in 2004

"Animals eat other animals. So long as they do so, there is no rational justification for human beings not to eat animals as well. Humanity faces a moral decision: imprison all predators, or pass the hamburgers." -- David Dieteman

"...[A] teacher who is too ignorant to spell her subject, and too lazy to use a dictionary, ought to be flipping burgers. Simple burgers, with no moving parts." -- Fred Reed

"Gary Condit is what our soggy therapy culture calls 'a work in progress.' On the other hand, the work may be finished. The California congressman is interesting politically not because he's been working without either zipper or conscience -- the town is full of between-the-sheets artists working without a net -- but because he's the test of whether Bill Clinton can be successfully cloned." -- Wesley Pruden

"Publicly announcing a strategy on reshaping a presidential image, even the right strategy, has two ill effects. It warns the punters to be on their guard against your advertised manipulation, and it suggests that the president may be a potted plant moved around the political spectrum at the whim of others." -- John O'Sullivan

"Jen Crawford has assumed an elevated position on the governor's staff." -- Brian Lee of the Montgomery Journal in a story about the advancement of Maryland Governor Parris Glendening's rumored paramour, Ms. Crawford, in his administration

"According to the White House, doctors say that George Bush has the lowest heartbeat ever recorded by someone in the White House. Well, second lowest -- Dick Cheney got his down to zero, didn't he?" -- Jay Leno

"The New York Times predicted that Al Gore will face competition for the 2004 nomination from Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. The debates should be thrilling with these five guys. If they were cards, you'd fold." -- Argus Hamilton

web posted August 20, 2001

"We are foolishly escalating our ongoing 11 year war with the Iraqi government. Bombing raids are acts of war, and the Constitution requires a congressional declaration of war before such strikes legally can be commenced. In (the airstrikes launched by U.S. and British forces on Friday) the commander did not even bother to get presidential authorization for the mission, nor is there any indication that the action was done at the behest of NATO or the UN. It's time for Congress to put an end to these unilateral and unconstitutional acts of aggression." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"If the purpose of our armed forces is to defend, not spend, why are there more credit cards than active-duty rifles?" -- David Hackworth on the "New Army"

"Now here is the secret: despite the softening of the rhetoric, the liberal project remained the same. Americans would no longer be citizens exercising sovereign control over their government, but a mass of raw materials to be worked upon by the government." -- Glenn Ellmers

"Be alert to the beginnings of evil. It never comes under the appearance of evil, but always under the appearance of the beautiful, the promising, the idealistic, the pleasant." -- Michael Novak

"No public-school system, which employs armed guards, barbed wire fences and metal detectors can be called even an acceptable system, much less successful." -- Charley Reese

"The republic was not established by cowards, and cowards will not preserve it." -- Elmer Davis

"Two-thirds to three-quarters of next year's $2 trillion federal budget represents legalized plunder, where Congress makes it possible for one American to live at the expense of another." -- Walter Williams

"The hypocrite recognizes the honest man as his deadly enemy." -- Joseph Sobran

"Compromise with evil is still evil; a lesser evil wears no better face than the larger evil." -- Diane Alden

"You don't have followers if you don't lead. You don't lead if you don't stand up for things worth standing up for. You don't win if you aren't prepared to sacrifice yourself for what you believe -- whether you think you can win or not." -- John L. Perry

"...[O]nly a liberal would equate prosperity with government largesse." -- David Limbaugh

"Property rights are one of the most misunderstood things in law and one of the most disregarded things in politics." -- Thomas Sowell

"Bipartisan reform commissions usually pair Democratic conmen with Republican chumps." -- Don Feder

"The longer a politician stays in Washington, the more likely he is to contract Potomac Fever, a condition that results in people trying to fix things that ain't broke." -- Jonah Goldberg

"Government schools will teach children that government is wonderful." -- Neal Boortz

"Well, certainly the weather has been the headline, but what's troubled me is that the press hasn't gone beyond the headline very much. This was such a great opportunity to talk about global warming and climate change." -- Pat Mitchell, PBS chief executive, on when summer becomes "newsworthy."

"I remember the great thing on Saturday Night Live where the fellow who does President Clinton said, 'You're going to miss me.' And indeed people miss him, he's still a fascinating man even six months out of the White House." -- ABC's Charles Gibson, on his affectionate admiration of Bill Clinton

"From his voice I could feel that he was a president I could do business with." -- China's Jiang Zemin on his first contact with George W. Bush

"He's an honorable man." -- Rep. Jack Kingston on Gary Condit

"He's a great man, and I love the guy!" -- Rep. Christopher Shays on Gary Condit

"Yes, and that the bad guys were winning, you know, that men could decide that it was alright to, everyone to have guns because they get to make money and own the gun companies and kill all the innocent kids and children...." -- Rosie O'Donnell responding to a query from Diane Sawyer

"They are missing opportunities to show how extreme this administration is and how beholden they are to a special interest." -- Joe Sudbay, public policy director of the Violence Policy Center, on the DNC's failure to vilify Bush on the gun issue

"President Bush is going to help build a Habit for Humanity house on his vacation. The man will do anything to get on Jimmy Carter's good side." -- Lyn Nofziger

"Democracy did sound better if you didn't think about it too much. Of course, most people didn't. Maybe that was the secret." -- Fred Reed

"Bill Clinton is going to get more than ten million bucks for his memoirs. Pretty good for a work of fiction. The publisher says Clinton's memoirs will be nonfiction. Which is interesting because nonfiction is supposed to contain at least a grain of truth. The publisher says Clinton's book will be a thorough and candid telling of his life. Anyone wanna bet? .. Hillary's memoirs are due out about the same time as Bill's. It's gonna be fun comparing their lies." -- Lyn Nofziger

"It was first reported that Bill Clinton would be getting $10 million for his book. He's really getting $12 million. See, the $10 million is just what he told Hillary." -- Jay Leno

"Hillary Clinton, our junior senator from New York, has passed a bill for a ban on cock fighting. And who said she wouldn't listen to the concerns of New Yorkers? .... So now that cock fighting has been outlawed, there is just nothing to do. Like today, I saw two guys in Central Park trying to get two pigeons to wrestle." -- David Letterman

"Bill Clinton agreed Tuesday to take a $10 million advance to write a book in which he promises to tell everything. He's getting nowhere. Didn't he just pay $10 million in legal fees so he wouldn't have to tell anything?" -- Argus Hamilton

web posted August 13, 2001

"Our schools are totally controlled by a faceless bureaucracy in Washington, DC. The result are fourth-graders who know nothing of the nation's history, nor are capable of competing with children in other nations; unable to master of the most fundamental skills necessary for an educated citizenry. Blame the schools, not the children." -- Alan Caruba

"...An unnamed state department official told The Washington Post the games will give Beijing a 'powerful but intangible incentive' to improve its human-rights record and foreign policy. Apparently, he's never heard of Adolf Hitler. Hosting the 1936 Olympics didn't humanize Hitler, but gave him a propaganda coup. 'Foreign visitors are departing almost fulsome in their praise of German organization and German hospitality,' wrote The New York Times. Three years later, much of Europe had a chance to experience Teutonic organization firsthand. Far from improving human rights, the Olympics will occasion more persecution." -- Don Feder

"...[We] can think of ourselves as free, but only relative to the rest of the world. In terms of the Founders' vision of freedom, we're little more than serfs." -- Walter Williams

"The power to subsidize is the power to destroy." -- Paul Greenberg

"It is time to stop seeking national safety behind parchment barriers such as the unverifiable and unenforceable 1972 Biological Weapons Convention." -- George Will

"The canard of 'American isolation' is popular mainly with Americans who would like our own policies aligned more with policies deeply inferior to ours -- with no clear payback in sight." -- Bill Murchison

"Like all fathers and daughters, there was a unique bond between them. Maureen had his gift of communication, his love of politics, and when she believed in a cause, she was not afraid to fight hard for it. ... Ronnie and I loved Mermie very much. We will miss her terribly." -- Nancy Reagan on the loss of Maureen Reagan, oldest daughter of President Ronald Reagan, from melanoma

"Being a White House reporter is one of the most intoxicating job assignments in journalism, a seat in the front row of history. So why do some privileged correspondents seem so desperate to be rebellious and abuse what should rightfully be seen as an honor?" -- Brent Bozell

"During the height of World War II, the tax collection from individuals was 9.4 percent of gross domestic product. Today income tax collection from individuals is an astounding 10.2 percent of GDP, nearly a full percentage point above World War II. More importantly, not just a little bit above World War II, but we have seen a 50-percent increase in individual tax collections in the last 6 years, from about just a little over 7 percent of gross national product to 10.2 percent now." -- Sen. Charles Grassley

"Half-truths can be as deceptive as outright lies." -- David Limbaugh

"As the state's steady growth over the last 70 years indicates, once the government becomes the supplier of people's needs, there is no limit to the needs that will be claimed as a basic right...." -- Lawrence Auster

"A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party and, of course, in the United Nations. ...Must one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?" -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Legislators consistently put the political imperative before the national interest." -- Doug Bandow

"Consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, but law, morality and leadership demand it. Without consistency, there is privilege." -- Paul Craig Roberts

"It really doesn't have to do with any other network. It wasn't some programming strategy or our relationship with Fox or anything like that...." -- CNN's new chief Walter Isaacson on why he has been calling on House Republican leaders in an effort to attract more conservative viewers to CNN

"Good evening. He's been out of office six months now, but Bill Clinton is just as fascinating as ever." -- ABC's Charles Gibson

"It was that she never saw a defective product, she only saw defective parents. She could find a reason for every injury other than the product at hand." -- CNN's Margaret Carlson on Capitol Gang on her opposition to Mary Sheila Gall's appointment to the Consumer Product Safety Commission

"We've got to go back and look at the Bush tax cut, which I think ... [is] one of the most serious mistakes the federal government [has ever made]." -- Sen. Joe Lieberman, who joined Tom Daschle in blaming the current economic downturn on the tax cut, a downturn that began in March 2000

"I continue to support [Condit] because of his personal touch with his constituents." -- Mary Schalz, a retired medical technician from Chandra Levy's hometown of Modesto, at a recent Condit support rally

"We feel perfectly comfortable. If we're audited, we'll face the music and show them what we've done." -- John Hiatt, general counsel for the AFL-CIO, on reports that unions failed to report political contributions to the IRS

"I really believe that inside me there is just this big black person that keeps trying to get out. There is so much soul in R&B, and soul for me is just the most important thing. And I relate to people who have a lot of it." -- Denise Rich

"My process has been, frankly, unusually deliberative for my administration." -- George W. Bush on deciding about federal funds for embryonic stem cell research

"In my humble opinion, Orrin Hatch is spinning his wheels trying to convince Teddy Kennedy it is not variety, but sobriety, that is the spice of life." -- Norman Liebmann

"The extra-economic resentment [of Clinton's $10 million 'memoirs' book deal] has to do with a wobbly extension of the federal rule that you are not allowed to profit from a crime." -- Wm. F. Buckley

"...China has announced that...it will hold the beach volleyball contest at the site of the 1989 massacre. Even Hitler didn't have the chutzpah to stage the 100-yard dash at Dachau." -- Don Feder

"As a journalism professional I am always interested in new ways to make things burst into flame. (All guys are. That's why we have a Defense Department.)" -- Dave Barry on the research practices of the conservative journalism professional

"Clinton has moved to Harlem. I guess that's one way to stay away from Republicans. He says he's always liked Harlem -- because he has a view of the office in Manhattan he wanted. He's trying to be environmental, so he's asking for people to carpool with. Yeah, I'm really sure there are lots of people that work in Harlem that live in Chappaqua. It is reported that Clinton keeps $1 million in his checking account at all times. Just like the typical Harlem resident!" -- Jay Leno

"Clinton is in his new office in Harlem -- a nice office, the best equipment, a good staff, and great security. Now all he needs is a job. He's having problems with the new phone system, though. Today by accident he called Hillary! His office has a 360 degree view of the city. This way he can see Hillary coming from any direction." -- Jay Leno

"First Lady Laura Bush visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy Friday. Historians say the tower began to tilt back in the year 1173. Of course, if it had been married to Laura Bush, it would have straightened up 15 years ago." -- Argus Hamilton

"Amazingly, a Bush appointee with good credentials ... has a lower probability of getting the highest ABA rating than a Clinton appointee who has none of these credentials." -- Prof. James Lindgren of Northwestern University

"I just don't see bias." -- ABA President-elect Robert Hirshon replied

web posted August 6, 2001

"The American culture is journeying through muck and smut, looking for lower ground, not of necessity but of depravity. Unless we change course, and soon, our destination is either moral anarchy and social chaos, or the surrender of all our freedoms to Big Brother in exchange for his promise to protect us from ourselves." -- Linda Bowles

"All of Washington is wringing its hands over the allegedly dwindling budget surplus. ... The Left is on the political warpath armed with these new budget numbers. The strategy of Tom Daschle et al., is to run spending through the roof (with the complicit aid of a lot of big spending congressional Republicans), then to blame George W. Bush for imperiling Social Security with his 'giant tax cut.' Hold on here. How can the tax cut be blamed for slow economic growth and shrinking surpluses when we haven't even gotten a dime of tax cuts yet? This is like blaming rain on umbrellas." -- Stephen Moore

"What worth is all the confession and apology in this world or the next if it evaporates when confronted by evil? It has been observed before: The evils that befall the world are not nearly so often the product of bad people as they are the result of good people remaining silent when they should speak out." -- Paul Greenberg

"All too often, those demanding their rights are visible, while those whose rights may be abridged must be imagined. Fairness demands a balancing of conflicting rights. To achieve this requires the recognition that a balance is necessary, plus a bit of imagination. That is, fairness requires effort, not merely unthinking sympathy for those who are shown to us on TV. This is especially true when those who are invisible include children, crime victims, the elderly, and others less able to ask for their own rights. The invisible are not insignificant, and they too have rights." -- David C. Stolinsky

"Americans need to be especially on guard against moves against free speech and their right to keep and bear arms. The purpose of passing hate-crime legislation is simply to lay the predicate for passing hate-speech laws. ...Freedom and compulsion are contradictions. ..What the present generation must do is guard against the growing trend toward more authoritarian government. Government is never static. Its tendency is always to move toward more power that means less freedom. But to do that, the present generation must have more faith in itself than it does in government. You can't have a free society unless you trust the people." -- Charley Reese

"...[O]nly when the intolerant forces of tolerance turn on their own does the strategy of the authoritarian left become clear: They don't want a debate -- they just want to shut you down, whether you're the Scouts or an iconoclastic gay columnist, Dr. Laura or a black conservative judge. 'Identity politics' is left-wing apartheid -- a way of dividing the citizenry into competing interest groups, beholden to a strong central government as an arbiter of largesse." -- Mark Steyn

"...[I]f we're willing to educate ourselves and become involved, we can win the culture war -- one child, one school, one city at a time." -- Charles Colson

"There is no difference between an income tax and slavery. A slave does not own the fruits of his labor, and neither does anyone who is subject to income tax." -- Paul Craig Roberts

"Politicians exploit rational ignorance by conferring large benefits on certain constituents whose costs are widely dispersed and borne by the general population." -- Walter Williams

"Hypocrisy, greed, and arrogance are not traits we should tolerate in leaders but we do, don't we?" -- Michael Peirce

"...[T]he Democrats seem to define 'isolationism' as not allowing our domestic and international policy to be determined by the European Union or the United Nations." -- Sterling Rome

"We must remember that government-managed trade always means political favoritism." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"Attack is something Republicans don't do well; they think politics should be a gentleman's game." -- Lyn Nofziger

"The dollar, standing atop the globe, reflects the victory of American values -- not only a free-market economy, but also political freedom and democracy." -- Larry Kudlow

"Maybe it would be a worthwhile tradeoff to sacrifice some lives today to avoid climate change later. But we could do all this and still not make any appreciable contribution to preventing global warming. Though for anyone lying in a grave, the world will certainly seem colder." -- Steve Chapman

"Political debate today is impoverished, but not by too much spending." -- Doug Bandow

"Pop culture shortens historical memory while trivializing it, paving the way for sloppily reasoned analogies." -- Suzanne Fields

"You've been completely nonpartisan in covering the news." -- Diane Sawyer on her assessment of the reportorial "objectivity" of George Stephanopoulus

"The one who loves glamour, the one who wants to make the world a better place....Today, by public relations design, he becomes an honorary homeboy." -- ABC's Robin Roberts at Bill Clinton's formal office opening ceremony in Harlem

"I am concerned that the nomination of Mary Sheila Gall as chair of the CPSC shows a willingness on the part of the Bush Administration to place corporate interests over consumer safety. This continues a pattern of disinterest by this administration in the productive role government can play in the daily lives of Americans." -- DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe on the appointment of an official originally appointed by the Clinton administration

"Must be some imagery in there somewhere suitable for the Alachua County Reagan namesake, particularly since it's no longer serving any public purpose." -- Alachua County, Florida's Democrat Commissioner Mike Byler on his proposal to name a county landfill after Ronald Reagan

"[Personhole] is not an acceptable de-sexed word." -- Berkeley City Councilmember Shirley Dean, explaining a council language change reverting to use of the term "manhole cover"

"In my humble opinion, Bill Clinton's effort to be a disgrace to humanity is running well ahead of schedule." -- Norman Liebmann

"Newsweek magazine reports that as many as 87 congressmen might be cheating on their wives. Well, I guess we know why it's always hard to find a hotel room in Washington." -- Jay Leno

web posted July 30, 2001

"A dangerous theme runs through Western thinking. We believe that if enough people can see our goodness and the benefits of democracy and free enterprise they will reject evil, perhaps even overthrowing their dictators. We are so convinced that our way of life is superior to all others that we think we only have to expose people to that way of life and they will embrace our beliefs. ...Americans used to care most about freedom, our own and the freedom of others. Now, we care most about commerce. The material has replaced the spiritual. Nothing China does to suppress its people seems to sufficiently outrage enough politicians or corporations to change their attitude about doing business with this regime. Would the world have stood for awarding the Olympic Games to South Africa when apartheid was in force? Couldn't it have been argued that the Olympics might have opened South Africa to racial tolerance and diversity? Why would that argument have been rejected in the case of South Africa but accepted when it comes to China?" -- Cal Thomas

"Those of you on the Pollyannaish side better wake up. The gun-control extremists see no redeeming value in individual gun ownership, but rather positive harm. They therefore refuse to recognize a constitutional right guaranteeing it. I think it's reasonable to infer that they will not be satisfied until the citizenry is disarmed. They say we should be afraid of weapons. Perhaps we should be afraid of them." -- David Limbaugh

"Will the American people submit eventually and finally to the authority of Big Brother and big nanny government that dictates their daily actions and runs their daily lives or one day, while they still have their guns, will they rise up as they did 225 years ago and begin again the fight for liberty and justice for all?" -- Lyn Nofziger

"If all Mr. Bush wants is summer vacation, he should sign the compromise [education] bill if it comes out of committee before summer recess. If he indeed wants to leave no child behind, he has only one choice: Veto." -- The Washington Times

"Democracy gives an aura of legitimacy to acts that would otherwise be deemed tyranny. That is precisely why the Framers gave us a Constitution that sought to protect us against the abuses of majorities. That's what our Bill of Rights is all about, those congressional shalt-nots. It's just too bad that Congress, acting on the will of the majority, have abrogated those protections." -- Walter Williams

"The carrot-and-stick approach to foreign policy never works; we only end up with dependent allies and increasingly hostile enemies (who resent our failure to fund them)." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"The real challenge in building a ballistic missile defense system isn't engineering -- it is political. And that's because from the administration to the leadership in the Congress, too few are willing to identify the true threats we face." -- Oliver North

"...[C]entral bankers, much like all other central planners, do not routinely possess better information than the market. Acting as if they do only makes things worse." -- J. Bradley Jansen

"Totalitarianism is American liberalism carried to its logical conclusion." -- Charley Reese

"The 1936 games didn't convert Hitler; the 2008 Olympics won't convert Zemin. It takes more than a bunch of people playing games to change a tyrant's heart." -- Chuck Baldwin

"Feminists always have the right to speak. But in all their current apathy and callousness, most feminists have no right to demand they be taken seriously as champions of exploited women." -- Brent Bozell

"A sales or excise tax is consistent with freedom because it establishes no claim to a person's labor. If a purchase tax becomes too onerous, black markets will emerge to curtail government's greed." -- Paul Craig Roberts

"If consistency is the rare jewel it's cracked up to be, we've got a diamond mine on Capitol Hill. Congress did not invent sleaze and sordid behavior, but it was refined and perfected on the Hill." -- Wesley Pruden

"...[W]hat went into the thinking was one, there's no criminal case. No criminal case." -- Dan Rather on his justification for not running a story on the Condit scandal

"I don't buy that we're known as the network of sleazy summer programming." -- NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker defending "summer reality" TV shows "Fear Factor," "Spy TV" and "Weakest Link" before the Television Critics Association in Pasadena

"I was just wondering when Strom Thurmond was going to die." -- Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and author of the commission report on "black disenfranchisement" in the Florida presidential election last year

"But there are probably others that are subject to blackmail as well." -- Senate Demo Leader Tom Daschle on Gary Condit's continuing service on the House Intelligence Committee and why Condit shouldn't take a leave from the committee

"I have said that I'm not running and I'm having a great time being pres ... being a first-term senator." -- Sen. Hillary Rodham-Clinton responding to a question on her presidential ambitions

"Let me tell you something. I'm glad we did what was right in '93 and I'll do it again because I believe in being fiscally responsible with the taxpayers' money." -- House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt on doing what they did in 1993 -- raise taxes

"In my humble opinion, political correctness has erased that fine line between people who have inferiority complexes and people who are genuinely inferior." -- Norman Libemann

"Horror of horrors! If we start exposing the peasantry to a broad range of opinion, there's no telling what these simpletons will fall for." -- Mark Steyn paraphrasing what Leftists really believe

"The Group of Eight Summit was besieged Friday by thousands of rioters who looted local stores. It was ugly. Store fronts were smashed and computers came flying out of several offices, but then no one's happy with the new Windows 2000." -- Argus Hamilton

"I love the idea that a mass exodus from the U.S. Congress would constitute some terrible tragedy. How could we ever replace these Titans!" -- Ann Coulter

"Hillary Clinton showed up at Bill's new office and gave him a kiss, they showed this on the news. She's so happy -- thanks to the Condit's they no longer have the most dysfunctional marriage in America." -- Jay Leno

"Reports say that Al Gore is slowly adjusting to public life. Why didn't he do this during the campaign? " -- David Letterman

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