ESR | Lingua publica

"Economic ignorance, misconceptions and superstition drive us toward totalitarianism because they make us more willing to hand over greater control of our lives to politicians. That results in a diminution of our liberties." -- Walter Williams

"Because investors and companies base investment plans on future prospects, policies that improve the long-term outlook promise immediate gains for the economy's weakest links -- the stock market and business investment." -- Alan Reynolds

"The Terrell Owenization of the Democrat Party is pretty much complete. Selfish, media-hogging, and utterly unconcerned about the impact of what they are doing to their team, the Dean-Reid-Pelosi Party has thrown its ongoing collective temper tantrum for months now." -- Jay Bryant

"Why, pray tell, are liberals who want everyone to be liberal considered moral and moderate, but Christians who want everyone to be Christian considered 'zealots' and 'bigots'?" -- Dennis Prager

"Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. Spare me the diversity lecture." -- William Donohue

"[T]here is one benchmark that is always left unspoken: We cannot leave until Saddam is dead, executed for his crimes. No one will say it but everyone knows it: As long as he is alive and well-dressed, every Iraqi will have to wonder what will happen to him and his family if Saddam returns. Only Saddam's death will assure them that he will not return." -- Charles Krauthammer

"It seems from their most recent words and actions, that some on the left still do not understand that most of the troops in Iraq want to be there and that all have volunteered for military service. The next time your liberal friends shed crocodile tears over the deaths of 19 and 20 year-olds in Iraq, ask them: Did these heroes join up before or after the war started?" -- Lisa Fabrizio

"To this day, Democrats have yet to offer a coherent strategy for winning the war in Iraq, and it is clear that they have none. Their attacks on Bush's 'failed' strategy have rung hollow all these years because they never had anything better to offer. And now their top leaders have revealed that their real goal all along was not to win, but to cut and run. They only waited this long to announce it because they have concluded that the poll numbers finally are in their favor. While Americans disapprove of the Bush administration's execution of the Iraq war effort, will they really embrace surrender as the alternative? Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi think so. We don't. The American people, rightly disturbed by serious administration mistakes, still want America to win this war. Unfortunately, the Democrats are quickly removing themselves as a serious foreign policy alternative to the Republicans, and that is damaging not only to them, but to the republic." -- New Hampshire Union Leader

"We are not safer because of Iraq. The region is in greater turmoil... A lot of people don't want to do business with us. That hurts our economy." -- John Kerry, apparently ignorant of the latest economic growth statistics and low unemployment numbers

"In the expert analysis of [CNN's Bill] Schneider, it was 'not good' for [Tom] DeLay to have charges thrown out because it would have been even better if all the charges had been thrown out. It also would have been better if the judge had dismissed the conspiracy charges and given DeLay an ice cream cone." -- Ann Coulter

"I doubt [President] Bush would need to use weapons to thwart an ET invasion. All he'd have to do is give the ET leader a vacation home in the Middle East or set up a lunch date with Ted Kennedy. I'm confident they'd leave us alone after that." -- Tom Purcell

"I do not think anything can be done to cheer [Democrats] up. Certainly improvement in the economy is not going to cheer them up. What could be done? If growth were to rise from 4 percent to 5 percent they would only fret about inflation... And do not try to cheer them up with a hearty Merry Christmas. They suffer some bugaboo about that too. The best course is to avoid all serious discussion with them." -- Emmett Tyrrell

"It is significant that the ACLU's position is that pornography is protected under the Constitution, while the Christmas tree is not. So, if this bunch were successful, the only way you could see a Christmas tree is if you visit a porn shop that had one." -- Jackie Mason and Raoul Felder

"Christians believe Jesus came down to Earth and made himself human in order to encourage: (a)Consumer confidence (b)Season's greetings (c)A festive period between bowl games (d)His birth scene to be surrounded by plastic reindeer, elves and court-pleasing woodland creatures (e)Frenzied end-of-year gift giving (f)Religious songs that are easily converted into weather songs in Wisconsin (g)The ACLU Christmas-erasure desk." -- John Leo

"The big controversy this year is about calling Christmas trees holiday trees and trying to take religion out of the holidays. I was watching one of these cable news shows about this and they had on an atheist who said they were against "organized" religion. And while they were talking, they had on the screen the name of the atheist organization. So they were against organized religion but organized atheism is apparently ok... " -- Jay Leno

"I want to congratulate the Iraqi citizens for being courageous and in defying the terrorists and refusing to be cowed into not voting. I believe freedom is universal. I believe the Iraqi citizen cares just as much about freedom and living a free life as the American citizen does." -- U.S. President George W. Bush

"Every purple finger is a bullet in the heart of terrorism." -- Iraqi woman after voting in parliamentary elections

"Some people think the government must decide everything. But when government decides, minorities, even large minorities, lose rights." -- John Stossel

"Americans have never been against sin in and of itself. Rather, we've always believed in sinning the right way. Racism, for example, is utterly evil, unless it involves denying slots at Ivy League schools to people who've made the tragic lifestyle decision of being white, Asian or Jewish -- in which case, racism becomes the Lord's work." -- Michael Graham

"It's just about acceptable in polite society to disagree with [Rep. John] Murtha, but only if you do it after a big 20-minute tongue bath about what 'a fine man' he is... Nobody says that about [Sen. Joe] Lieberman, especially on his own side. And, while the media were eager to promote Murtha as the most incisively insightful military expert on the planet, this guy Lieberman's evidently some nobody no one need pay any attention to." -- Mark Steyn

"One place there is not total cooperation is in reality. More than a language barrier separates the Western and Islamic definitions of terrorism, and no amount of happy talk about 'inclusion' or conferences about 'cooperation' changes that." -- Diana West

"To be responsible, one needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence of terrorist attacks... [There is a] jarring contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people." -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

"Words without action, of course, are empty and foolish...Just as small dreams have no power to inspire men, no soldier will follow the leader who sounds the call to battle with a sigh into an uncertain trumpet." -- Wesley Pruden

"If the current tone of debate in Washington wins out, future generations will wonder how the United States collapsed upon its war effort. They will ask: Where did the defeatism arise? Was it a crisis of will? Was it a political game? They will compare it unfavorably to the relative resilience of World War II, Korea and possibly even Vietnam. We don't yet know whether Washington is in the process of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But certainly the jaws of defeat are not agape, except among Washington naysayers." -- The Washington Times

"So what you're saying here is it is more dangerous to the American people to leave the troops there than to begin drawing them down? Is that what I take from your answer?" -- CBS's Bob Schieffer to John Kerry

"The idea that we're going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong." -- Howard Dean

"This game must not continue, if you want Saddam Hussein's neck, you can have it! I have exercised my constitutional prerogatives after I had been the target of an armed attack. I am not afraid of execution... I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for Iraq. I'm not defending myself. But I am defending you." -- Saddam Hussein on trial

"I know people who hate Wal-Mart. I've interviewed the founders of anti-Wal-Mart web sites and leaders of protests... And whenever possible I try to interrupt their petition gathering and sign waving and protest marching to get them to answer the same question: 'Why not just shop somewhere else?' The simplicity of the question seems to startle them. They act as though I've asked a starving Ethiopian family why they don't just send out for pizza." -- Michael Graham

"When does a girl become a woman? Not when she turns 18 or 21, according to The New York Times, but rather when she has an abortion... This got us to thinking: Since people of the male variety are unable to have abortions, is there any way for boys to become men? We guess not, which is why anti-Iraq left-wingers always talk about soldiers as if they were toddlers." -- James Taranto

"[Rep. John Murtha claimed] the United States Army is 'broken,' 'worn out' and 'living hand to mouth.' If the reaction to Murtha's remarks by my military readers is anything to go by, he ought to be grateful they're still bogged down in Iraq and not in the congressional parking lot." -- Mark Steyn

"Oprah Winfrey appeared on Dave Letterman's show Thursday. She courageously sat down next to a comedian who's been making fun of her for sixteen years. It may not seem like much now but in fifty years she'll be lying in honor at the U.S. Capitol." -- Argus Hamilton

"A recent poll indicates seven of 10 Americans think Democrats' attacks on our illegal, incompetent, Halliburton torture-rama oil war depress the morale of troops. The survey, reported by that wild-eyed intemperate rag The Washington Post, also found the majority of Americans think the Dems' 24/7 gloom-gab isn't intended to win the war, but to 'gain a partisan political advantage.' Power over principle? In Washington? Clutch your heart and find a fainting couch." -- James Lileks

"Saddam Hussien was back in court. They said that Hussein remained defiant and acted as if he was still in power. Kind of like the Democrats here." -- Jay Leno

"In case you were wondering what that giant 'whoosh' emanating from Washington was, it was the sound of the people on the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform swinging and missing at the easy underhand toss that George W. Bush sent their way... This was a chance to scrap the Internal Revenue Code -- the five-million-word monstrosity that costs American businesses and families billions of dollars and billions of hours to comply with -- once and for all. The President gave the panel a golden opportunity to bring about vital, comprehensive reforms. Instead, it proposed an array of incremental policy tweaks of the kind that one might expect to be presented in the President's annual budget." -- Rep. Tom DeLay

"Terrorists are...winning the psychological warfare, partly because the jihadists are unified behind a goal and we often are not. They want territory and they want to kill 'infidels.' American leftists want 'peace,' without realizing that peace is a byproduct of defeating evil. The left also wants to use the war for partisan political gain and will seek to deprive President Bush of any credit for victory because it could benefit him politically. How sick is that?" -- Cal Thomas

"Do not measure compassion by government. Measure it by what you are willing to do for the least of your brothers." -- House Budget Committee Chairman, Jim Nussle

"America is, essentially, a conservative nation on most issues. Liberalism is an attempt to change the nation's culture more than an attempt to accurately represent it." -- Mac Johnson

"Now is the time for midcourse corrections to ensure the success of the conservative movement, as well as the American experiment." -- Sen. Rick Santorum

"Congress can no more repeal the law of supply and demand than physicists can repeal the law of gravity. If you restrict the profits you can make for something, you'll get less of that something. If you restrict prices, you'll get less conservation." -- Jerry Taylor

"Republicans have a majority...so why can't Republicans do something about immigration or spending or taxes or energy or missile defense or marriage or right-to-life? I have a two-word answer: liberal Republicans. The media calls them 'moderate Republicans.' There is nothing 'moderate' about them." -- Paul Weyrich

"In recent weeks most Democrats seem to have concluded that the war effort is a sinking ship, the American people have already jumped overboard, and if Democrat politicians follow them off the side, the people will reward them by putting them in charge of the life rafts." -- James Taranto

"Terrorists are also winning the psychological warfare, partly because the jihadists are unified behind a goal and we often are not. They want territory and they want to kill 'infidels.' American leftists want 'peace,' without realizing that peace is a byproduct of defeating evil. The left also wants to use the war for partisan political gain and will seek to deprive President Bush of any credit for victory because it could benefit him politically. How sick is that?" -- Cal Thomas

"Like bellbottoms and disco, all kinds of bad ideas from the 1970s are coming back with the surge in energy prices. Arguably the worst is a 'windfall' profits tax on oil companies... A new report from the Tax Foundation finds that the biggest profiteers from oil aren't the companies that produce and deliver it to gas tanks, but are the federal and state governments that tax it. Between 1977 and 2004, total taxes on gasoline sales have been $1.34 trillion -- thanks to average taxes at the pump of about 40 cents a gallon -- or more than double the $640 billion of oil company profits -- and that's not including the taxes the companies also paid on their profits." -- The Wall Street Journal

"A clarification about a report that we aired last night in our coverage of the ongoing debate about the original case for war and the Democratic [sic] allegations that the White House misled the American public. We reported that the President was calling such charges 'irresponsible' and 'unpatriotic.' He did say they are 'irresponsible.' He did not call them 'unpatriotic'." -- CNN's Judy Woodruff

"We did it just to make a point. Tell them to stop lying, Bush and Cheney... Was it not freedom of speech? Yes or No? If you don't like it, don't watch." -- CNN switchboard operator, later fired, to a caller complaining about the "X" placed over VP Dick Cheney's face during a live speech

"Bob Woodward. A name which is spoken by other reporters in the hushed tones generally reserved for recently deceased Popes by Catholic priests and nuns: Bob Woooodwaaaard. I'll bet 75 percent of senior writers, editors, and reporters working in Washington, DC today are doing what they do because of Bob Woodward. Because they wanted to be just like Bob Woodward. Woooodwaaaard. Watergate. Whew." -- Rich Galen

"Our college campuses have become the last safe haven of Marxists, largely because its adherents have never had to survive in the real world, much less in a communist dictatorship. Indeed, there are more communists teaching in the State of North Carolina than there are in the former Soviet Union." -- Mike Adams

"In early 2009 [Hillary Clinton] could become not only the first woman president, but the first president to bring White House furniture in with her." -- Joseph Sobran

"Thanks to [Democrats], Iraq is a quagmire -- not in the Sunni Triangle, where U.S. armed forces are confident and effective, but on the home front, where soft-spined national legislators have turned the war into one almighty Linguini Triangle." -- Mark Steyn

"Fed up with being endlessly told 'the American people' have turned against the war in Iraq, Republicans asked the Democrats to show what they had in their hand and vote on a resolution to withdraw the troops. By a vote of 403-3, the House of Representatives wasn't willing to bet that 'the American people' want to pull out of Iraq. (This vote also marked the first time in recent history that the Democrats did not respond to getting their butts kicked by demanding a recount.)" -- Ann Coulter

"John Kerry has been picked for jury duty. He was elected foreman. Well, after two weeks of campaigning and spending $12 million of his wife's money, he got it! ... Imagine John Kerry on [a] jury? How long are those deliberations going to take? I voted guilty before I voted not guilty." -- John Kerry

"Before our mission in Iraq is accomplished, there will be tough days ahead. A time of war is a time of sacrifice, and we've lost some very fine men and women in this war on terror. We pray for the military families who mourn the loss of loves ones. We hold them in our hearts -- and we honor the memory of every fallen soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman, and Marine... There is only one way to honor the sacrifice of [these Patriots] and that is to take up their mantle, carry on their fight, and complete their mission." -- U.S. President George W. Bush

"I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere." -- Ted Turner, who travelled to North Korea to, among other initiatives, convince both sides to turn the DMZ into an international "peace park"