Lingua publica
The
good and the bad...presented with permission from The Patriot E-Journal
web posted October 23, 2006
"If voters are unhappy with Republicans, it's because the party hasn't lived up to its own principles... A few Supreme Court appointments and tax cuts aside, Republicans have largely abandoned the reform agenda that swept them to power in 1994. Their zeal has instead been directed at retaining power, which explains the earmarking epidemic and the Abramoff corruption that followed. Reform of Medicare and Social Security, the death tax, immigration, health care -- all fell off the map." -- Kim Strassel
"The problem for Republicans is that they seem to have run out of ideas. They now ask for votes on two levels, neither of which is appealing. The first is that the Democrats would do a worse job than Republicans, which is like choosing which of two ugly sisters to take on a date. The second is they crave power for its own sake. Republicans have failed to give voters sufficient reason to vote for them, except for one that trumps all the rest -- they can better defend the country." -- Cal Thomas
"Being seen not to run... should be the indispensable objective of U.S. foreign policy. Were these colors to run from Iraq, it would be the end of the American era -- for why would Russia, China, or even Belgium ever again take seriously a superpower that runs screaming for home at the first pinprick." -- Mark Steyn
"As the possibility of a nuclear bomb becomes probability, thoughtful voters are likely to be more concerned about nuclear weapons available to the axis of evil than about who treated the House of Representatives as a bordello. Kim Jong-il may be the October surprise." -- Wesley Pruden
"That's the ticket. Give [North Korea] the respect they crave, find the magic combination of carrots and sticks -- which is what most of that country relies on for supper, after all -- and they wouldn't be acting out. Iran's state-run radio said as much: ‘Not only did the United States not lift the sanctions it had imposed on North Korea, it even increased the diplomatic pressure. Such pressure finally led North Korea to conduct its nuclear test.' Poor dears, under such beastly stress." -- James Lileks
"The liberal media's 10-year allergic reaction to Fox News is triggered by any remotely positive exposure to American values on American airwaves. Well, here's to the next ten years of giving establishment journalism the hives. Keep Old Glory flying high. It's driving Ted Turner mad." -- Michelle Malkin
"John Kerry was interviewed by Bob Woodward while Kerry was in -- wait for it -- New Hampshire giving a political speech. Kerry. New Hampshire. Speech. Politics. Now, that's being delusional." -- Rich Galen
"The Democrats love taxes, and want to share that love with taxpayers." -- Wesley Pruden
"The FDA blamed tainted California cow manure for the bad spinach Friday. Cow manure has three uses in California. It's used in farms for fertilizer, it's used in L.A. to promote movies, and it's used in San Francisco to cover for Barry Bonds." -- Argus Hamilton
"Bill Clinton came out in support of the estate tax last week. Clinton said that some people think he should leave all his money to his daughter when he's gone, but he doesn't think he should. He said he should spend it now on other people's daughters when he's still alive." -- Jay Leno
web posted October 16, 2006
"Small-government conservatives are ready to conclude that their attempt to curb Washington's appetite through a majority that was supposed to be ideologically congenial -- that is, entirely Republican -- has failed... Who knows? A time in the wilderness may give the GOP a chance to come up with an agenda other than self-preservation." -- W. James Antle III
"Republicans are panicking because the toxicity of the [Foley] scandal is affecting them all. Democrats are salivating because they feel regaining the House is within their grasp. And the press is hyping because, well, this is just too good a story, a most unlikely election-eve dramatization of Edwin Edwards's immortal line: ‘The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy'." -- Charles Krauthammer
"One thing members of Congress need to realize is how much their reliance on staffers is hurting the institution and helping make it unaccountable." -- John Fund
"The Clinton-Kim 1994 Agreement, mid-wifed by Jummy Carter, bears its fruit. How long until the gangster regime sells its wares to jihadists?" -- Hugh Hewitt
"Weak-kneed members of both parties have been calling for a timetable to be announced for withdrawal from Iraq. No other war in thousands of years of history has ever had such a timetable announced to their enemies. Even if we intended to get out by a given date, there is not the slightest reason to tell the terrorists that. It is frivolous politics at its worst." -- Thomas Sowell
"For all of their promises to do a better job of fighting this war, Democrats have no plan, other than retreat. That is the plan the terrorists have for us." -- Cal Thomas
"News on the economy and job front tonight, it's a bit of a mixed picture. While the U.S. job market grew by only 51,000 jobs across the whole country last month, the previous two months were revised upward, and the unemployment rate did tick down a notch to 4.6 percent." -- NBC's Brian Williams spinning good news as bad news
"I do [think Bill Clinton was a great president]. I think -- I have a lot of problems with some of his, his, his personal issues. I said at the time, ‘I think he's been a great leader, but I don't want my daughter near him'." -- Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill
"Obviously, I don't like to see nuclear proliferation, and I'm very upset about [the test]." -- Ted Turner, formerly "absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere" about not developing nuclear weapons
"With 29 days until the election, evil mastermind Karl Rove has arranged for a distraction from the Democrats' positive agenda of protecting America's boys from perverted Republican electronic messages. North Korea ‘announced it had detonated an atomic weapon in an underground test,' the Associated Press reports. As Mark Foley might say, you can't hug a child with nuclear arms." -- James Taranto
"This [Foley fiasco] was a honey trap... designed to leverage one peripheral figure's squalid fantasies into political opportunity. It's as predictable as the leaves falling from the trees, except that it only occurs every other autumn. I take my hat off to the media and Democratic Party. Indeed, in the spirit of Bill Clinton, I take my pants off to them." -- Mark Steyn
"In July 2000, the New York Times ‘ethicist' Randy Cohen advised a reader that pulling her son out of the Cub Scouts because they exclude gay scoutmasters was ‘the ethical thing to do.' The ‘ethicist' explained: ‘Just as one is honor bound to quit an organization that excludes African-Americans, so you should withdraw from scouting as long as it rejects homosexuals.' We need to get a rulebook from the Democrats: *Boy Scouts: As gay as you want to be. *Priests: No gays! *Democratic politicians: Proud gay Americans. *Republican politicians: Presumed guilty. *White House press corps: No gays, unless they hate Bush. *Active-duty U.S. military: As gay as possible. *Men who date Liza Minelli: Do I have to draw you a picture, Miss Thing?" -- Ann Coulter
"House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate GOP leaders for covering up Mark Foley's e-mails. She spoke very carefully. The North American Man/Boy Love Association is headquartered in her district." -- Argus Hamilton
web posted October 9, 2006
"It was a stunning, blatant confession... that as President, Mr. Clinton sanctioned the assassination of Osama bin Laden. To put this little piece of braggadocio in context it should be noted that no other American Head of State -- sitting or former - has ever before admitted to such a serious violation of law. Though assassination is specifically forbidden as a course of action open to U.S. officials -- including Presidents -- no one seems to have taken notice -- perhaps because they were so caught up with the theater of what was happening on the screen -- and not listening to the words being said." -- Oliver North
"Bottom line: This war will be won or lost on the battlefront at home -- and right now the Democratic Party is a big part of the problem." -- David Horowitz
"[T]he United States has suffered a substantial defeat in the war against radical Islam. Three weeks ago, Pakistan signed the terms of the Waziristan Accord with the northern region of its country called North Waziristan. It was, effectively, the terms of surrender by Pakistan to the Taliban and al Qaeda, which dominate North Waziristan. Pakistan has negotiated a separate peace -- the eternal danger to any wartime alliance." -- Tony Blankley
"We have arrived at the present unhappy situation not so much because we challenged those with a different worldview, but because we ceased to assert our own values and advance our world view." -- Michael Ledeen
"There is already evidence from Guantanamo that the prisoners there are abusing the guards far worse than any guards have abused these prisoners. Yet our media have no interest in that and have been willing to believe every allegation by these professional terrorists, including the physical absurdity of trying to flush the Koran -- or any other book -- down a toilet." -- Thomas Sowell
"We're in a war. Something always goes wrong in a war, and our military leaders have made mistakes in Iraq. But quitting and leaving would amount to defeat for the U.S. in the global war on terrorism and create chaos. Quitters never win. Here's the problem: America needs two strong, sound political parties. As far as domestic policy is concerned, it really doesn't make much difference if Democrats or Republicans are in power. Ours is a free, entrepreneurial society where anyone can do anything he or she wants if they have a positive attitude and the desire to work, learn and achieve. Ambitious people come from all over the world to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity. This is one reason our economy is so resilient, continually bouncing back from periodic setbacks, driven by new inventions and achievements. However, when it comes to which party has proved more capable in acting to defend and protect Americans from foreign enemies, there is only one choice. From Johnson to Carter to Clinton, virtually all the defense policies and decisions made by Democratic administrations have been unsuccessful. And in many cases, they have unintentionally but materially increased the danger to our national security and the safety of all Americans." -- Investor's Business Daily
"You just gotta make the judgment... which I'm pretty much feeling, I'm saying that I have something to say, I have some unfinished business from the last round, I don't like what they did, I don't like how they framed it, and I don't like what they're doing for the country today, and I think we can do better." -- John Kerry
"Let me be the first to welcome Chris Wallace to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy! If the son of Mike Wallace is a member, can Chelsea be far behind?" -- Ann Coulter
"Yes, I'm sure that if Clinton were still president he would get to the bottom of it all. He would have killed bin Laden. He would have rooted out terror around the globe. He would have established a lasting peace in the Middle East... If the vast right-wing conspiracy didn't thwart him at every turn, that is." -- Greg Crosby
"As for being emaciated, [Gitmo is] the only death camp in history where the soi-disant torture victims put on weight... The average gain at Gitmo is 18 pounds. The Afghan detainees were the chunkiest Afghans I've ever seen. If they ever make it home, their old comrades -- the lean wiry warriors of the Hindu Kush -- will wonder why a party of Florida retirees has suddenly shown up." -- Mark Steyn
"Congressional Democrats are pretending that they are outraged about the Foley-Page business, but they know perfectly well that there are Members on their side who are but one phone call to a local news bureau away from having their careers come to a screeching halt because they, too, have been ‘pursuing' Pages or young staffers. In fact, back in 1982 there was a Republican male Member of Congress who got caught having sex with a female page. He was not re-elected. At the same time there was a Democrat male Member of Congress who got caught having sex with a male page. He was (a) from Massachusetts and therefore (b) was re-elected several times." -- Rich Galen
"Al Gore says that smoking is a major factor in global warming. Cigarettes are a major factor. Unfortunately when Al Gore gives a speech most people leave the room for a cigarette." -- Jay Leno
web posted October 2, 2006
"[S]ervicemen who've made the ultimate sacrifice... volunteered to do a dangerous job, knowing that it might cost them their lives. They deserve to be remembered as heroes, not victims like the civilians who were murdered on 9/11." -- James Taranto
"The bottom line is that Bill Clinton, the commander-in-chief, could not find the will to order the military into action against al Qaeda, and Bill Clinton, the head of the executive branch, could not find the will to order the CIA and FBI to act. No matter what the former president says on Fox, or anywhere else, that is his legacy in the war on terror." -- Byron York
"There's nothing commendable about being so impartial between truth and falsity that we split the difference between the two and call it objectivity." -- Paul Greenberg
"As for the [Bush] administration, it is so in the habit of asserting, defending and repeating, it barely remembers how to persuade and appeal. It speaks starkly and carries a big stick. It feels so beleaguered on a daily basis, and so snakebit, that even its mildest players have taken refuge in gritting their teeth and tunneling on." -- Peggy Noonan
"The U.N. demonstrated this last week that it is utterly incapable of reform. Indeed, any reforms would be more likely to upgrade and enhance the cliques of thugs and despots than of the few states willing to stand up to them." -- Mark Steyn
"If anything, liberals are even more dangerous than Islamacists. The terrorist attacks with bombs and bullets. The liberal saps our will to resist. He rationalizes evil. In the name of civil liberties, he constantly seeks to undermine national security and make it impossible to safeguard our people from another 9/11." -- Don Feder
"I got closer to killing [Osama bin Laden] than anybody's gotten since... That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try... You did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me... You [sic] got that little smirk on your face; you think you're so clever." -- Bill Clinton
"The former President seems to be able to deny facts with impunity. Bin Laden is alive today because Mr. Clinton, Mr. Sandy Berger, and Mr. Richard Clarke refused to kill him." -- CBS News analyst Michael Scheuer
"The practice of politics is a peculiar form of juvenile delinquency." -- former House Majority Leader Dick Armey
"Our hopeful joy upon the 1994 takeover of Congress was like finding a new pony by the Christmas tree. Now it's more like finding it slumped over dead on top of the presents." -- Jonah Goldberg
"[Alan Dershowitz] thinks Iran should be expelled from the United Nations. Yeah, right. There's more chance of the Twelfth Imam eloping with Paris Hilton." -- Mark Steyn
"If a Republican Member of Congress doesn't hold the door for another member of the Republican Conference on their way into the Members' Dining Room it will be immediately reported as a ‘growing evidence of bad blood and the disintegration of any semblance of unity within the ranks of the GOP.' But... If two Democrats get into a knife fight on the west lawn of the Capitol, sandwiched between a Burr-Hamilton-like gun duel, and a tomahawk-tossing contest it will be reported -- if it is reported at all -- as ‘a frank exchange of views'." -- Rich Galen
"Never mind trusting liberals with national security. Never mind trusting them with raising kids. These people shouldn't even be allowed to own pets." -- Ann Coulter
"The leader of Hezbollah appeared in public today for the first time since the cease-fire with Israel. He told the Lebanese people, "I feel your pain." You know, that's Bill Clinton's line. You can't call us the ‘Great Satan' and then steal all of our president's lines." -- Jay Leno
"In the previous administration, we had an attack on the World Trade Center, on Khobar Towers. We had attacks on both embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, an attack on the USS Cole. Also, Osama bin Laden in February of 1998 made it clear that he not only intended to wage war on the United States, but he wanted to use Iraq as a central battleground. In short, there was a gathering threat. In those years, bin Laden noticed that the United States had, in fact, been cutting back dramatically on intelligence assets and on military assets." -- White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
"There's nothing wrong with getting angry if you're right, as Chris Matthews put it. But when Clinton went after Wallace, he inadvertently allowed his mask to slip. America got a glimpse not just of a former president who feels mischaracterized, but of a man filled with contempt for the lesser mortals who would seek to undo him. His inner Gollum was visible beneath a roiling rage... Experience tells us, too, that manipulators are always contemptuous of those they manipulate... Clinton's marmish scolding of Wallace was a telling moment, much like another time he wagged his finger on television." -- columnist Kathleen Parker
"So where did that poise go as Mr. Wallace asked a thoroughly mannerly question about the Clinton anti-terror record? The answer is revealed in the first words out of his presidential mouth. ‘First I want to talk about the context in which this arises. I'm being asked this on the Fox Network.' Huh? How in the world does that matter? Is there something otherworldly about fielding a question from someone who might not share your politics? Ask Ronald Reagan or either President Bush about any interview conducted over the years by CNN, ABC, CBS or NBC, to say nothing of the agenda-setting major newspapers. Can you imagine a Republican president angrily obsessing about the questioner to the questioner's face before attempting an answer?" -- Dallas Morning News columnist Mark Davis