Say What? June 13th, 2011 Edition [Reader Post]

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I will admit that, this week, I worried I would only have a few quotes, and many of them by Chris Matthews and Bill Maher (always dependable for saying stupid things).  However, there was a lot said this past week, but we did not see much of it because of the Weiner scandal.

Liberals:

Concerning the looming Social Security and Medicare crisis, 71 year old Harry Reid said: “Two decades from now, I’m willing to take a look at it.”

Bill Maher, “speaking” to Newt Gingrich: “Let me put your unpopularity in context for you – you’re a Republican and you’re polling behind a black guy [Herman Cain].”  Not racist; of course not.

Thomas Friedman: “…the consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less.”  Friedman’s house is the photograph below:

Newsman Chris Matthews: on Newt Gingrich: “I don’t know what his constituency is, I don’t know what led him to believe he was a candidate except he’s good on television, he does make provocative comments now and then. But people don’t like him, and he looks like the devil. I mean, that may not be fair but I always say on this program that he can’t be the devil because he looks like him, and everybody knows the devil is going to look like Marilyn Monroe. . .”

Chris Matthews, after Mitt Romney said he believed in global warming: “”He [Romney] believes in science. Republicans on the right hate science, remember?  Certainly Rush does.  That’s ahead.  The battle between the college guys and the rubes. ”

Chris Matthews, who is becoming almost a parody of himself: “If [Weiner] stays, [Democrats] never get the leadership [in the House] back. They never get the speakership back. Because the people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian, conservative, culturally – you can say `backward’ if you want – they don’t like this stuff.”

Charles Rangel, in support of Anthony Weiner, “[he] wasn’t going with prostitutes. He wasn’t going out with little boys.”

Alec Baldwin: “My thought on Weiner is that he is a very busy man. Like most, although not all, politicians, he probably spends a great deal of time going to meetings, raising campaign funds and seizing upon every opportunity to remind people of how great he is as a public servant and a human being. It’s exhausting. He exists under a constant pressure cooker of self-analysis and public appraisal. Like other politicians, he needs something to take the edge off.”

NPR’s Nina Totenberg: “If his name weren’t Weiner, would we still be talking about this?”

Rachel Maddow: “Why is that ]the John Ensign affair] less of a scandal than Anthony Weiner has bad manners on Facebook.”

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Vegas-based cyber mistress, Lisa Weiss, to Weiner’s wife: “[I ant to express my] deepest apologies for conversing with your husband Congressman Anthony Weiner.  I honestly meant no harm and I hope that you and Anthony can work through this.”

Before signing off, Weiss added, “I still remain a huge supporter!”

Janeane Garofalo: “Anthony Weiner deserves to be supported and hopefully he will be mayor of New York one day. I’m serious. He is a Democrat [who] actually fights for the things liberals and progressive and rational people care about.  I don’t know why he’s being thrown under the bus. He hasn’t done any – he hasn’t broke any laws…everyone lies about sex.”

Janeane Garofalo: “Either way, that doesn’t, if the media and the hypocrite Republicans didn’t keep this going pretending the American people want it, it wouldn’t be something you have to discuss with, and I’m sure you don’t discuss Anthony Weiner with your kids at the table anyway, even before this.”

Bill Maher: “I’m not one of those who believes in American exceptionalism…”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “The world’s capitalists, through intensifying excessive consumption and even the creation of false demands with the aim of maximum profits, disrupt the balance of nature.   The capitalist establishment and the world’s major capitalists, the US in particular, only seek maximum profits and to further reduce the cost of their products, they built production lines that are not compatible with the environment.”

Akerson, GM CEO, on raising money via higher gasoline taxes: “You know what I’d rather have them do – this will make my Republican friends puke – as gas is going to go down here now, we ought to just sl ap a 50-cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas.”

General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson (with regards to government involvement in GM): “I have nothing but good things to say about them…It’s kind of like your in-laws: It was a nice long weekend.”

Shaun McCarthy, chairman of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, was unhappy that the 2012 Olympic torch is not low carbon: “The promise of a low-carbon torch was made in 2007 and so the excuse of `we ran out of time’ is not acceptable.”

Liberals from the past:

Barack Obama, on July 14, 2009, in Warren, Michigan: “Now, my administration has a job to do as well, and that job is to get this economy back on its feet.  That’s my job, and it’s a job I gladly accept. I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama’s economy. That’s fine. Give it to me.”

Liberals being civil:

Comedian Christopher Titus:  “You know what man? I am going to literally – if she [Sarah Palin] gets elected president, I am going to hang out on the grassy knoll all the time, just loaded and ready – because you know what? It’s for my country. It’s for my country. If I got to sacrifice myself, it’s for my country.”

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and – and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally – and very transparently – block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it’s nothing short of that blatant.”

Jon Stewart, after playing a clip of Cain promising to limit congressional bills to just three pages, Stewart attempted to impersonate Cain and then threw up a mock billboard that read: “HERMAN CAIN 2012 – I DON’T LIKE TO READ.”  Not racist; of course not.

Liberals making sense:

Departing Obama economic advisor Austan Goolsbee: “Our effort now as a government should be to get the private sector, to help them stand up and lead the recovery. The government is not the central driver of recovery.”

Senator Al Franken (who ever thought I would list him here?): “I should note that President Obama could nominate a new [FBI] director who would be there for ten years. And by extending you for two years–he is uh–in two years, he may not be the president, so I think that–um–that there’s, ah, just a mention.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.): “[Medicare is] hurtling toward its demise.”

Crosstalk:

The women of The View were discussing the photo that reportedly shows Weiner’s penis.  Joy Behar said she was skeptical it was actually Weiner, since his face could not be seen.

Barbara Walters: “Anthony Weiner has not denied it.”

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: “Then it must be a flattering photo.”

Walters: “Let me tell you something, It is.”

____________________________________________________

Jacob Goodwin (of Government Security News): “You said earlier in your remarks that there’s no single portrait of a would-be terrorist, and that the administration has no interest in profiling, and that not only are those policies — the profiling policies — illegal, but they are also ineffective. Common sense tells me that in most of the cases since 9-11 that we’ve made arrests, it wouldn’t be profiling to discover that most of the suspects or the convicted parties have been men, typically under 30 or under 35, often Muslim.  It’s not — so my question is, is it — I guess my question is, how do you square what most people would say if they’re just talking to you, that common sense would suggest those are appropriate parties to at least focus more attention on, given that those were the parties that most often are arrested? Not to say that all men under 35 who are Muslim are suspect — not at all — but I guess my question is, why wouldn’t the department focus more of its attention on that category of individual who’s turned up most often as the suspect?”

Janet Napolitano: “Well, because you’re not using good logic there. You’ve got to use actual intelligence that you receive. And so you might, you know — all you’ve given me is kind of status. You haven’t given me a technique, a tactic, a behavior, something that would suggest that somebody is not — not a Muslim, but is Islamist, and is actually — has moved into the category of a violent extremist.”

___________________________________________________

Statement from U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee: “Given its radical and violent ideology, it is deeply disturbing that the Muslim Brotherhood would be recognized in any way as a legitimate political entity.  The Muslim Brotherhood is committed to violence and extremism. Neither freedom nor justice will be advanced by any political party established by the Muslim Brotherhood.”

George Soros-funded Think Progress responded with: “Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairperson of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, reacted quickly to the Egyptian government’s recognition of the Muslim Brotherhood‘s political party.  In an alarmist statement, she denounced the recognition and called for the U.S. to isolate the Brotherhood…Of course, as actual experts will tell you, the Muslim Brotherhood is not “committed to violence” (“Since the 1970s, the group has not engaged in violent activity.”); they are not “radical” (“[T]his is a very conservative movement.”); and the U.S. should not be afraid of Brotherhood.”

______________________________________________________

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid: “I know Congressman Weiner and I wish there was some way I can defend him, but I can’t. OK?”

Reporter: “You didn’t say whether you thought Congressman Weiner should resign.”

Reid: “I’m not here to defend Weiner.”

Reporter: “What do you think he should do?”

Reid: “That’s all I’m going to say.”

Reporter: “Senator Reid, what advice would you give him if he asked you?”

Reid: “Call somebody else.”

Moderates:

ABC legal correspondent Jan Crawford: “at the end of the day this email release may say a lot more about the press and its views than it does about Palin.”  [I actually have no idea where Jan Crawford falls, politically speaking]

Conservatives:

Walter E. Williams: “[T]he welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery could not have done, the harshest Jim Crow laws and racism could not have done, namely break up the black family.  That is, today, just slightly over 30 percent of black kids live in two parent families. Historically, from 1870s on up to about 1940s, and depending on the city, 75 to 90 percent of black kids lived in two parent families. Illegitimacy rate is 70 percent among blacks where that is unprecedented in our history.”

Sarah Palin: “President Obama wants to give Russia our missile defense secrets because he believes that we can buy their friendship and cooperation with this taxpayer-funded gift. But giving military secrets and technologies to a rival or competitor like Russia is just plain dumb. You can’t buy off Russia. And giving them advanced military technology will not create stability”

Stephen Bannon, Palin movie director: “The reason that she [Palin] draws this kind of fire is, she’s an existential threat to the establishment—the vested interests in our country are scared to death of her.”

Stephen Bannon: “We need to have a fight in the Republican party for the soul of the conservative movement.”

Charles Krauthammer on newspapers dissecting Palin’s email: “Unprecedented and it’s a disgrace.  The Times and the Washington Post are actually asking readers to go through this…you don’t send this out to strangers to look for gotcha stuff in this, and that’s exactly what the mainstream media are doing and think this is utterly egregious.”

Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty: “We have a president whose policies have failed, and he won’t tell the people of the United States of America the truth of what it’s really going to take to fix these problems.”

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain: “Engage the people. Don’t try to pass a 2,700 page bill – and even they didn’t read it! You and I didn’t have time to read it. We’re too busy trying to live – send our kids to school. That’s why I am only going to allow small bills – three pages. You’ll have time to read that one over the dinner table.”  Mr. Cain has since clarified that he will sign some bills that might be longer than 3 pages.

Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and former chief economic policy adviser to U.S. Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign: “I think you have to cut discretionary spending. I think you have to get the deficit under control quickly. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Congress cut so aggressively that it endangers the economy. I live for that moment.”

Martin Regalia, of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “This administration has tried to boost this economy in fits and starts by addressing a pinpoint here and a pinpoint there. The fact of the matter is, the economy is broad and diverse.  And what this government has to do is get out of its way.   And if it gets out of its way, the business confidence will return.”

Neil Cavuto on government spending to stimulate the economy: “If spending trillions of dollars hasn’t worked, then maybe we should put down the shovels and try something else.”  [quoted from  memory]

Rush Limbaugh: “The media now loves Mitt Romney over his climate change comment. This is quite instructive, ladies and gentlemen. Apparently, folks, believing in one of the most preposterous hoaxes in the history of the planet — manmade global warming — is all that it takes to convince the state control media that you are ‘serious’ candidate.”

Rush Limbaugh: “I don’t care if 9 out of 10 scientists agree on something that is true. The fact that they agree is not what makes it true! Scientists agreeing on something cannot make something true that is false.”

Rush: “The government cannot create jobs. The government can only destroy wealth. The government cannot create it. The government doesn’t produce diddly-squat.”

Rush: “If you think that Barack Obama might be change his mind about his own policies because of what’s happening to the US economy, forget it. He’s doubling down on the damage.”

Rush: “Name one thing this regime has done that in a reelection campaign they could promise more of, that people would support? What have they done that you want more of? You can’t name anything! Not one thing. In other words, Obama cannot run on his record. He can’t run on his achievements.”

Rush: “We sit here, we let the media destroy one of our candidates and we move on to somebody the media hasn’t destroyed?  Somehow that just doesn’t sit well with me.”

Rush: “Failed liberals in government go back to their overpriced universities to teach liberalism to young skulls full of mush who don’t know squat about the real world.  These failed intellectual idiots are running what’s called higher learning.  Yes, Snerdley, I mean exactly that. Goolsbee is fleeing his abject failure and is being welcomed with open arms back into the American academy.”

Rush: “I’ve had so many people tell me they think Sarah Palin’s stupid.  But the only reason they think that is because of what they’re being told by these pompous asses in the media who hold themselves out as the arbiters of smart and who themselves are brain-dead ignoramuses when it comes to basic facts.”

Conservatives not making any sense:

Jeff Holmstead, a former Bush EPA air pollution official and Romney supporter: “He realizes it’s an issue [global warming]. It’s an issue that’s real; but I think he’s not convinced that the ideas that the environmental community are putting forward is a sensible way of dealing with it.”

From the Conservative Review #182 (HTML)  (PDF)

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Ironic that Chris M. said it was

”the people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian, conservative, culturally – you can say `backward’ if you want – they don’t like this stuff.”

Actually, when gay marriage was on the ballot along with Obama in ’08 in CA, it wasn’t the rural voters who turned the tide against gay marriage, it was the URBAN BLACKS who turned out in record numbers for Obama AND ALSO voted against gay marriage!

HERMAIN CAIN, HAS IT RIGHT ON THE DOT,
3 pages is enough to figure the scam or the truth