home > archive > 2006 > this article

Lingua publica

The good and the bad...

web posted May 1, 2006

"If there is anything worse than partisan demagoguery, it is bipartisan demagoguery." -- Thomas Sowell

"Nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another disaster." -- Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore

"Few things are less becoming in a political party than desperation, as Republicans are now demonstrating as they panic over rising oil and gas prices. If blaming private industry for Congress's own energy mistakes is the best the GOP can do, no wonder its voters may sit out the November election. A decent portion of the latest run-up in gas prices -- and the entire cause of recent spot shortages -- is the direct result of the energy bill Congress passed last summer... Republicans can blame business all they want for high prices, but sounding like liberal Democrats won't save them in November." -- The Wall Street Journal

"Instead of haranguing the oil companies, one would have expected the Republican leadership and the president to unite in blaming the Democratic environmentalists while calling for wider oil exploration, more refineries and the development of a real alternative to fossil fuels, namely nuclear. Instead the Republicans have continued to forsake their principles. Yet what do they expect to get for this abandonment?" -- Emmett Tyrrell

web posted April 24, 2006

"I wanted to do a tour like I did during the Vietnam War, a tour of the country. But then Cindy Sheehan filled in the gap, and she is better at this than I am. I carry too much baggage." -- Jane Fonda

"The more they claim they've gone nuclear, the more U.S. intelligence experts -- oops, where are my quote marks? -- the more U.S. intelligence 'experts' insist no, no, it won't be for another 10 years yet. The more they conclusively demonstrate their non-compliance with the IAEA, the more the international community warns sternly that, if it were proved that Iran were in non-compliance, that could have very grave consequences. But, fortunately, no matter how thoroughly the Iranians non-comply it's never quite non-compliant enough to rise to the level of grave consequences." -- Mark Steyn

"Rumsfeld was right in believing that the war itself could be won with a much smaller force than was used in the first Gulf War of 1991, not least because the Iraqi army had halved in size. He was right effectively to send Tommy Franks away with a flea in his ear when the then US commander presented the original war plans, as General Franks has conceded... This was no McNamara-style micromanagement of targeting when Pentagon 'whiz-kids' constantly encroached upon professional military prerogatives. Rather, Mr. Rumsfeld's big picture approach is exactly what civilian control of the military is supposed to be all about: in other words, asking what would be the price in blood and treasure of a particular plan?" -- Dean Godson, Research Director for Policy Exchange

"Al Gore addressed a Democrat fundraiser Monday in New York City where they raised millions of dollars. He's in an extremely awkward position to criticize the Bush administration's policies. Without oil, Al could never move his arms and legs." -- Argus Hamilton

"Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote an editorial in The Wall Street Journal on immigration reform. In it Arnold complains that too many immigrants are sneaking into the country and becoming governors." -- Conan O'Brien

"Oh, so that is what the First Amendment means: Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech unless speech annoys politicians." -- George Will

"San Francisco is in a time warp. I know what you're thinking: San Franciscans still think Marx and Lenin were onto something..." -- Rich Galen

"There's a huge controversy here in California over a state senate bill that would require all students to study [homosexual] history. Proponents cite an alarming survey showing that 80% of kids don't know which one is Siegfried and which one is Roy. I had no idea it was that bad." -- Jay Leno

web posted April 17, 2006

"[I]f Congress fails to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, we'll actually suffer large tax increases... [T]he economy would shed more than 1 million jobs each year between 2011 and 2014. We'd lose more than $100 billion in economic output per year and suffer slower wage and salary growth and slower savings growth. America simply can't afford that." -- Ed Feulner

"Like it or not, the pressure to raise your taxes will be enormous in coming years no matter who controls Congress. The amount of money government spends, borrows, and prints simply cannot be sustained." -- Ron Paul

"Memo to the GOP in Congress, the White House and the Statehouse: We (the United States) didn't cut taxes, we didn't cut tax revenues, we didn't pass tax relief for the rich; we lowered the tax rate on labor and capital, and that is why the economy and revenues have surged since 2003." -- Jack Kemp

"The American people long for Congress to reaffirm our commitment to fiscal discipline and reform and House conservatives are ready to stand with our leadership to do just that." -- Rep. Mike Pence

"It is ironic that some women, in the name of feminism, are attempting to emasculate the God of Western religious morality. For if their goal is achieved, it is women who will suffer most from lawless males. We have too many absent fathers on earth to begin to even entertain the thought of having no Father in heaven." -- Dennis Prager

"Whatever is said or done in the immigration debate, no one should insult the American people's intelligence by talking or acting as if this is a question about the movement of abstract people across an abstract line." -- Thomas Sowell

"The government reported today 211,000 jobs were added to the nation's payrolls last month. The unemployment rate ticked down a tenth of a point to 4.7 percent. That matches its lowest reading in 4 and a half years time... But as NBC News chief financial correspondent Anne Thompson tells us tonight, the economic picture is a bit more complicated." -- NBC's Brian Williams. Of course it is

"The Republican Party is now principally moderate, if not liberal [on spending]." -- Senator Arlen Specter

"The skeptics [of biblical record] sound like those disclaimers for certain drugs sold on TV: Side effects may include vomiting, hair loss, bleeding, dizziness and disorientation. The side effects of believing in Jesus may include loss of friends, disrespect by the academic and journalistic communities and damage to one's career..." -- Cal Thomas

"The only proven method for a Republican to avoid having his name turned into a liberal malediction is to be completely ineffective. You'll notice there's no 'Stop Lamar Alexander Before It's Too Late' Web site." -- Ann Coulter

"You know we've come a long way when our idea of racism has moved from fire hoses and segregation to a black congresswoman's outrage at not being recognized by a Capitol Hill policeman." -- Star Parker

"Seventy-three percent of Americans say that immigration is a serious problem. The other 27 percent said, 'No habla Ingles'." -- Conan O'Brien

"Republicans are split between amnesty for illegal aliens and a border wall while Democrats are split between anti-immigration unions and pro-immigration unions. By the time the bill gets through Congress, it'll be a dam in West Virginia." -- Argus Hamilton

"Democratic protocols get pretty elusive these days. In an attempt to sort it all out, we hovered for a moment on a wild idea. Why not send the illegals to France?" -- William Buckley

"Here's my immigration 'compromise': We need to regularize the situation of the 298 million non-undocumented residents of the United States. Right now, we get a lousy deal compared with the 15 million fine upstanding members of the Undocumented American community. I think the 298 million of us in the overdocumented segment of the population should get the chance to be undocumented. You know when President Bush talks about all those undocumented people 'living in the shadows'? Doesn't that sound kinda nice? Living in the shadows, no government agencies harassing you for taxes and numbers and paperwork." -- Mark Steyn

"The Capitol was recently evacuated after the electrical power went out. People said it was the quickest loss of power in Washington since Al Gore." -- Jay Leno

web posted April 10, 2006

"More to the heart of most Americans' concerns, how can a nation fighting a war on terror NOT seal its borders?" -- Kathleen Parker

"Because we do not communicate to our immigrants, legal and illegal, that they have joined something special, some of them, understandably, get the impression they've joined not a great enterprise but a big box store. A big box store on the highway where you can get anything cheap. It's a good place. But it has no legends, no meaning, and it imparts no spirit." -- Peggy Noonan

"America has now produced at least two generations of post-WWII children who have grown up with a sense of entitlement to perpetual adolescence. There are vast wellsprings of immaturity, irresponsibility and selfishness in these generations, and their children are the proof." -- Laura Hirschfeld Hollis

"What is a moderate interpretation of [the Constitution]? Halfway between what it says and halfway between what you want it to say?" -- Justice Antonin Scalia

"[T]he more left one goes, the more one is likely to encounter people who substitute 'social justice' for personal morality." -- Dennis Prager

"The line here is 'respect.' Everybody's busy professing their 'respect': We all 'respect' Islam; presidents and prime ministers and foreign ministers, lapsing so routinely into the deep-respect-for-the-religion-of-peace routine they forget that cumulatively it begins to sound less like 'Let's roll!' and too often like 'Let's roll over!' -- Mark Steyn

"It has always been my belief that what really determines peoples' perceptions about the state of the economy is what they see in their lives, neighborhoods and workplaces. They don't pay any attention to the gross domestic product numbers or any of the lesser figures released on almost a daily basis." -- Bruce Bartlett

"I am one of the least partisan members of the United States Senate by all accounts." -- Russ Feingold

"I don't think there's 100 percent support in my caucus for what time of the day it is." -- Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid

"Here's what I think about the immigration issue: I don't know what I think. I agree with the last person I hear speaking about it." -- Rich Galen

"Hollywood has a lot of credibility when it comes to lecturing us on tyranny -- about as much as Ted Kennedy does on drunk driving, Bill Clinton on marital fidelity, and Robert Downey Jr. on a drug-free America." -- Don Feder

"President Bush declared he backs a guest-worker program that allows illegal aliens to attain citizenship. His office was flooded with angry calls. It didn't calm anyone down when the phone system required them to press one for English." -- Argus Hamilton

"American actors like Gary Busey and Billy Zane appear in anti-U.S. movies for Turkish audiences; piercing intellects like George Clooney spend their time reminding us how the corpse of Joe McCarthy is the real threat to democracy; Western 'peace' activists rescued by Spec-Ops from a sword-assisted skull removal couldn't bring themselves to thank the troops, lest anyone suspect that guns might be occasionally useful after all. You'd call them useful idiots, but it's hard to see the 'useful' part." -- James Lileks

"In France, rioters looted stores. Actually to be politically correct you cannot call them looters anymore. You now have to call them 'undocumented shoppers.'" -- Jay Leno

"Capitalism 'laughs at frontiers,' wrote historian Fernand Braudel. The dynamic American economy has attracted illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries to work in construction, hotels and restaurants, meatpacking, gardening and landscaping. We talk as if our immigration laws can structure our labor markets, but in practice, Congress' task now is to get our immigration laws working in tandem with labor markets. We are not going to expel a population the size of the state of Ohio. But we shouldn't simply acquiesce to violation of the law. We need to legalize and regularize the flow of immigrants the labor market demands." -- Michael Barone

"Every day thousands of people violate our frontiers. We don't know who they are and, quite often, we can't stop them. In January, officials discovered a massive tunnel stretching nearly a half mile from Tijuana to San Diego. We don't know how many, or who, snuck in through this tunnel. We don't know what materials came into our country, or when, through this tunnel. When people break our laws and come through our borders, we do know that mixed in with families looking for a better life are drug dealers, human traffickers, terrorists and common criminals. Increasing our border security reduces that threat to our country and our citizens." -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist

"Observing the pro-immigration demonstrations in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta and elsewhere in recent days, I wondered: whose country is this? Why are many illegal aliens who broke our laws to get here and who continue to break our laws to stay here demanding that the United States not only allow them to remain, but support them with the taxes of law-abiding citizens? Have we gone mad?" -- Cal Thomas

web posted April 3, 2006

"War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts. Give me a break." -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia re Gitmo "detainees"

"What about those British and American soldiers who gave their limbs and lives for the freedom of others? Are such lives worth so little that we believe we can quit before the task is done? Do we think that by leaving now before the Iraqis are fully capable of repelling the terrorist insurgents we will have done ourselves -- or Iraq -- a favor? Are we so self-deceived that we think they won't come after us should we stop going after them?" -- Cal Thomas

"The question we all must answer is whether, like our parent's and grandparent's generation, we have the patience to wage a long war against an ideological enemy as evil as the former Soviet Union?" -- Alan Caruba

"One reason Bush is down in the polls is that he's giving the impression that he's trying to change the subject from 'our mistaken invasion' to 'building democracy in Iraq.' Building democracy in Iraq is vital... But he would serve himself and the county better if he simply explained that he's been right all along." -- Jonah Goldberg

"However things gets hashed...the single operative word in the [immigration] debate for most Americans is 'illegal'..." -- Kathleen Parker

"Do American citizens go around carrying documents with them when they work or apply for work? Most Americans are undocumented workers but they are not illegal immigrants. There is a difference." -- Thomas Sowell

"It's 'too soon' for Hillary Clinton to run for president because she still has sexual power. This may sound odd, but a woman should be past her sexuality when she runs. Hillary still has sexual power and I don't think people will accept that. It's too threatening." -- Actress Sharon Stone

"If [Democrats] are competent to fight this war, then I ought to be singing on American Idol." -- Vice President Dick Cheney

"The media are constantly telling Americans what they believe: You are dissatisfied... You are getting more dissatisfied... You are slowly becoming utterly dissatisfied... Your dissatisfaction is now reaching a fever pitch!" -- Ann Coulter

"Phoenix was the site of a massive march by illegal aliens who walked off the job Friday to protest immigration reform. President Bush is dismayed. He hadn't figured on Americans getting a chance to take the jobs illegal aliens refuse to do." -- Argus Hamilton

"For most of the three years of the Iraq war, the Democrats have been trying to beat something with nothing. Lately, they have been reduced to a fate even worse: trying to beat something with [John] Murtha." -- Rich Lowry

"'A small Easter display was removed from the City Hall lobby on Wednesday out of concern that it would offend non-Christians,' the Associated Press reports from St. Paul, Minn... Well, this certainly makes sense. After all, everyone knows the Easter Bunny is a Christian symbol, which has no place in the public square in St. Paul, a city named after -- uh, we've forgotten. Does anyone know where St. Paul got its name?" -- James Taranto

"It's spring, and the French are rioting again. This time, it's students and labor unions protesting a minor reform of the country's employment laws that was imposed to help solve the problems that spurred last fall's riots. If the protesters get what they want and the law is rescinded, the result will be continued high youth unemployment -- which will doubtless spur more riots. And that, Simba, is the Circle of Life in French politics." -- Los Angeles Times

"Wal-Mart is now hiring 150,000 people to work in their stores in China. Illegal immigrants thought the Rio Grande was tough to swim across. Wait until they try the Pacific Ocean." -- Jay Leno

web posted March 27, 2006

"I believe it is fair to say most Republicans did not think George W. Bush was motivated to run for the presidency for the primary reason of cutting or controlling spending. But it is also fair to say that they did not think he was Lyndon B. Johnson. And that's what he's turned into." -- Peggy Noonan

"The Senate vote increased the debt ceiling for the fourth time in five years. The statutory debt limit has now risen by more than $3 trillion since President Bush took office. That any Republican majority could preside over such fiscally irresponsible spending ought to be grounds for revoking their party membership." -- Cal Thomas

"[L]obbyists are not the main problem. After all, they don't get to vote on the legislation. The main problem is lawmakers passing bills they haven't read, and pretending they don't know about the pork that gets slipped in when they pretend they're not looking." -- Paul Jacob

"Enough generations of socialist policies have now passed for us to judge their effects. They are bleak. Socialism undermines the character of a nation and of its citizens. In simpler words, socialism makes people worse." -- Dennis Prager

"The Bush Doctrine is the plinth on which American national security is built. It is the monument that tells the rest of the planet that September 10th is over. It is what warns those who would threaten us that we are serious about Islamist terrorism -- that we understand our enemies are not rational, are not corrigible, cannot be bargained with, and need, as circumstances dictate, to be bombed, bled or squeezed wherever we find them." -- Andrew McCarthy

"If blacks come to embrace triumph, rather than grievance, the wound to liberal Democrats would be mortal. It wouldn't take much of a desertion of the black vote to make Democrat hopes of recapturing Washington a permanent pipe dream." -- Walter Williams

"You think everyone over there is a college graduate? They're 19 and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job... You know, the soldiers are not scholars, they're not war experts... They're not the best people to ask about the war because they're gonna die any second." -- Actor Richard Belzer, formerly a favourite actor of ESR's editor

"Hamas now wishes to consolidate its political gains, maintain domestic order and stability, and refrain from contacts with Israel. It will be a tragedy if it promotes or condones terrorism." -- Jimmy Carter on terrorist group Hamas

"We voted for Bush not because we liked him, but because we knew it would really agitate boomers. Boy, has he turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving." -- Tom Purcell

"Let me be the first to say: Congratulations, Mr. [Claude] Allen! The New York Times really hates you. Welcome to my world. We're so happy to have you in our club." -- Ann Coulter

"'V for Vendetta'...combines all of the celluloid left's paranoid fantasies -- Christian conservatives in charge of a brutal regime, the war-on-terrorism as an excuse for the suppression of civil liberties, homosexuals harassed and killed by conservative Christians, a pedophile priest (who works miter-in-had with the regime) and an attack blamed on terrorists that's really a right-wing conspiracy. All that's missing is a Halliburton connection." -- Don Feder

"Should you be worried about bird flu? Yes. No. And maybe; it depends. Like the creatures who might bring the plague, it's all up in the air." -- James Lileks

"Mexican president Vicente Fox climbed on top of an offshore rig Thursday and announced a ten-billion-barrel oil strike in the Gulf of Mexico. You can already imagine the gasoline commercials. Your SUV will look years younger with Oil of Ole." -- Argus Hamilton

"[O]ur new national debt is $9 trillion, not million, not billion. To put $9 trillion in perspective, that is more than Oprah makes in a week." -- Jimmy Kimmel

Saddam Hussein took the witness stand for the first time in his trial. He spent most of his testimony ignoring all the evidence and insisting he was the real president of Iraq. Among legal experts, this is known as the Al Gore strategy." -- Jay Leno

"Violent extremists plan and design their headline-grabbing attacks using every means of communication to intimidate and break the collective will of free people. [The most crucial battles in OIF are being fought in] newsrooms in places like New York and London and Cairo." -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

"What should Democrats do? They ought to stand up and say the tools we're using to protect the American people shouldn't be used. They ought to take their message to the people -- and say 'Vote for me, I promise we're not going to have a terrorist-surveillance program'." -- U.S. President Bush, calling the Democrats' bluff on their anti-surveillance complaints

"I am not an infidel or a fugitive. I am a Christian." -- Abdul Rahman, an Afghani man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity

Home

Site Map

Email ESR

Home