Say What? February 6th, 2012 Edition [Reader Post]

Liberals:

President Obama, for about the 100th time: “We can’t go back to the policies that led to the recession.”

President Obama at the annual prayer breakfast: “When I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren’t discriminating against those who are already sick, or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren’t taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it’ll make the economy stronger for everybody.  But I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God’s command to love thy neighbor as thyself…And when I talk about shared responsibility, it’s because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income, or young people with student loans, or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone. And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense.  But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’ It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others.”

The name of President Obama‘s first budget: “A New Era of Responsibility.” It has a deficit of a little over a trillion dollars.

President Obama: “Lenders sold loans to families who couldn’t afford them. Banks packaged those mortgages up and traded them for phony profits. It drove up prices and created an unsustainable bubble that burst – and left millions of families who did everything right in a world of hurt.”  It is against the law for a mutual fund, for instance, to tell you they invest in one set of investment products, but to actually invest in a different set of products.   If banks could do this, then why?  What legislation allowed them to do this?  If this is really what happened, at what point are these people arrested?

President Obama: “Right now, there are more than 10 million homeowners in this country who, because of a decline in home prices that is no fault of their own, owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Now, it is wrong for anyone to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. I don’t accept that. None of us should.”  Investments go up and down.  At what time should investments involve no risk?

Lyrics by Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) and Terisa Griffin, with “apologies to Al Green.”  This is written to President Obama, the man they adore.

“We’re . We’re so in love with you .
We’re going to help you make it through .
By turning the red states blue .

You make us feel so darn proud .
We want to shout it out loud .
Let’s bring the country together .
Supporting you whether . whether times are good or bad . happy or sad
Let’s bring the country together .
Supporting you whether . whether times are good or bad . happy or sad
Let’s . Let’s stay together.”

Michelle Obama: “And when our kids get older and they graduate from school, we all know how hard it is for them to find jobs, let alone jobs with insurance.  And that’s why, as part of health reform, kids can now stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26 years old.”

President Obama, following a meeting with Georgia’s President Saakashvili, to reporters: “[O]ne of the first things that I did was express my appreciation for the institution-building that’s been taking place in Russia – in Georgia.”  Georgia is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary of independence from Russia.

President Obama: “We’re starting to see some signs that the economy is picking up. We’ve created 22 million jobs over the last—or 3 million jobs over the last 22 months.”

Michelle Obama: “We are blessed to have someone not just of his intellectual caliber but with such a strong grounding of values that all of us identify with – these basic American values that have made our country great and will continue to make us the strongest country in the world.”

Michelle Obama: “In the last 3 years, we’ve worked hard to get out of this mess and we’ve made some remarkable progress.”

Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “[President Obama is] going to run on his remarkable record of accomplishment.”

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “You know why I’m not enjoying it [the Republican primary]?  I’ll tell you.  As a Floridian, and I’m here in the state of Florida as we speak, as a Floridian their extremism, their callous disregard for undocumented immigrants.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: “We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year – it’s done, we don’t need to do it.”  I believe this is the 3rd year without a formal budget in Congress.  The House did pass a budget last year that was voted down by the Senate.  The claim is, the agreement to raise the debt ceiling functions as a budget.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: “I’ve done earmarks all my career, and I’m happy I’ve done earmarks all my career. They’ve helped my state, and they’ve helped different projects around the country.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer when it appeared that the breast cancer awareness group Susan G. Komen to pull funding grants from Planned Parenthood: “I was not born yesterday, as most of your viewers can tell, and the fact is, I’m reminded of the McCarthy era.”

Senator Barbara Boxer on the Komen’s Foundation changing their minds and continuing giving grants to Planned Parenthood: “women’s health triumphed over right-wing politics…health care for our people should never, ever be politicized from any side.”  To reinforce that politics should not be a part of healthcare, Boxer and 25 other liberal U.S. senators made the issue political with their letter to Komen.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi: “It was an unfortunate situation but it was dealt with in a short period of time, [and] I commend the Susan G. Komen foundation for seeing the light on this…[It] just goes to show you, when women speak out, women win. Women’s health has a big victory this morning.”

Attorney General Eric Holder: “ATF‘s ability to stem the flow of guns from the United States into Mexico suffers from a lack of effective enforcement tools.  Unfortunately, in 2011, a majority of House Members – including all members of the majority on this Committee – voted to keep law enforcement in the dark when individuals purchase multiple semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and long guns – like AK-47s – in gun shops in four southwest-border states.”  So, the ATF’s Fast & Furious Operation, where guns were allowed to walk, without being tracked, into Mexico, is ultimately a problem of weak gun control laws?  Am I understanding the AG correctly?

White House spokesman Jay Carney: “[The President] absolutely stands by the attorney general [Eric Holder] and thinks he’s doing an excellent job.”

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: “The Obama administration has undertaken the most serious and sustained actions to secure our borders in our nation’s history.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg: “You’d think that if a congresswoman got shot in the head, that would have changed Congress’ views [about gun legislation]…This past, this week, even though the murder rate in New York is so much lower than almost every big city, we still had a cop shot last week with a gun that somebody had even though the federal laws prohibited that person from having a gun.”

Representative Barney Frank: “Yes, we have a deficit. It is a very large deficit. Much of it incurred because of the policies of President Bush. Supported by Republican majorities in Congress.  I’m told, I didn’t read it…the bill we passed yesterday said the tax cuts under George Bush did not add to the deficit. Um, that is Marxist Reasoning—Chico Marxist reasoning. It reminds me of the time in one of the movies where Groucho caught Chico red-handed and Chico denying that he had done it said  ‘Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?’ ” The same could be said about today’s Obama economy; who are you going to believe?  Barney Frank or your own eyes?

Rosa Brooks, formerly a “Counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy” in the Obama administration: “Any honest diplomat will tell you that American power and global influence is waning, and if we shy away from acknowledging that fact, we’ll only speed up the process.  By many measures, we’ve hollowed out the American dream: American life expectancy ranks well below that of other industrialized democracies, and the same is true for infant mortality rates and elementary school enrollment rates. We have the highest documented per capita incarceration rate in the world. And as the Occupy Wall Street movement has helped point out, we have greater income inequality in this country than in any other state in the developed world – and most states in the developing world.” Interestingly enough, in this piece that she wrote, she was not identified as having any connection with the Obama administration.

From the UN:

Milos Koterec, President of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations: “No one should live below a certain income level.  Everyone should be able to access at least basic health services, primary education, housing, water, sanitation and other essential services.”

Jens Wandel, Deputy Director of the United Nations Development Program: “We will need a modest but long-term way to finance this transformation.  One idea which we could consider is a minimal financial transaction tax (of .005 percent). This will create $40 billion in revenue.”

Liberals “It’s all about race…”

FoxNews’s Juan Williams: “The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the speaker to deny any responsibility for the racial content of his message. The code words in this game are ‘entitlement society’ – as used by Mitt Romney – and ‘poor work ethic’ and ‘food stamp president’ – as used by Newt Gingrich. References to a lack of respect for the ‘Founding Fathers’ and the ‘Constitution’ also make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core ‘old-fashioned American values.’ ”

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver: “In the last few days, both Gov. Romney and Speaker Gingrich have been guilty of saying things that are not helpful to a society begging for racial inclusion.  Whether they are intentional or not, I’m not 100 percent certain; I do know that it doesn’t matter in many cases. It’s just unfortunate and it tends to divide.”

MSNBC anchor Rev. Al Sharpton on Newt Gingrich: “He’s going after a southern mentality, and racial allusions, always wrapped around when he refers to the president, when he talks about this food stamp stuff.”

Charles Rangel: “The government doesn’t have the racism and discrimination that the private sector enjoys.”

Piers Morgan to Jerry Springer, asking him to run for political office “It is time you did your duty for your country.”

MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow: “Newt Gingrich brought back the food stamps president thing – and then tonight, he went to `President Obama ought to stop singing, ought to stop being the Entertainer-in-Chief.’ Sort of caricaturing him in a way that calls out to minstrelsy.”

Al Sharpton added: “These are – Newt Gingrich is many things, stupid is not one of them. He knows exactly what he’s saying, he knows exactly who he’s playing to, when you look at that map, when you deal with the northern border of Florida, which is southern Alabama and all of those states where they [sic] headed he knows what card he’s playing.”

Celebrities:

Economist Barbara Streisand: “Barack Obama has not put anyone on food stamps.  The grossly irresponsible and greedy practices of those on Wall Street, which led to the subsequent crash of the housing market, created the most severe recession our country has experienced since the Great Depression (which Obama inherited from George W. Bush when he entered office).  These events, along with the continuous deregulation of our financial sector, conspired to make a record number of people eligible for government food assistance. ”

The Compliant Obama Press Corps:

NBC chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson on Nightly News with anchor Brian Williams: “Add to that a world warming because of climate change and it stacks the deck, Dr. Meehl says, against a traditional winter.”  On the bottom of the screen was the headline “Where’s Winter?”

Thompson, on another NBC show: “Now scientists are unwilling to pin any one weather event on climate change but they say there’s no question that our warming world is shifting the odds against a traditional winter, winters as we have known them.”  The record cold winter occurring in Europe apparently has not reached their desk yet.

In the report that followed, added to the alarmism as she declared: “This most unusual January ending on a remarkably mild note across the country….2,890 daily high temperature records broken or tied.” She later cited climatologist and global warming proponent Dr. Gerald Meehl of the National Center for Atmospheric Research

“Financial expert” Suze Orman on HBO: “I think he not only should run on his record, so he can run on his record, but let’s take a look at this. We have jobs. You can’t do anything without a job. In 2010, we averaged about a million jobs. Okay?”
Bill Maher, Host: “A million jobs?”
Orman: “A million jobs that were created. In 2011, it was 1.8 million jobs. Now, in 2012, we are average 200,000 jobs a month that are being created. So he can run on his record. The jobs are coming up. And he’s done so much in the past four years I can’t even tell you.”

Bill Maher: “The numbers that came out today, government lost 14,000 jobs. We’ve added private sector jobs, 270,000. We’ve lost 500,000 public sector jobs since Obama took office and added 3.7 million private sector jobs.”  Perhaps this is based upon Martin Bashir claiming that Obama has created 3 million jobs and Bill added on the .7 because it sounds more real and official.  However, when Obama took office, there were 110,985,000 private sector workers. As announced by the Labor Department Friday, that number currently stands at 110,436,000, a decline of 549,000.

This chart may not be fully comprehensible at first, because we are used to red and blue standing for Republicans and Democrats.  However, the Red represents “the Obama recovery” and the Blue represents the results of preceding recoveries. Although this is very important stuff, have you seen any news service actually report this?
FoxNews Alan Colmes: “The next day you have Trump endorsing him [Romney], one of the most notorious billionaires.”  Trump is a notorious billionaire; are you kidding me?

CNN’s John King: “Let’s just look at one more as we come down the line here. If you look here among faith, obviously Governor Mormon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He’s a Mormon, and he won big among Mormons. He won 9 out of every 10 votes among Mormons.”

MSNBC’s Bill Burton: “Reagan wouldn’t have a chance in this Republican primary right now.”
Alex Wagner: “I think he’d be a Democrat probably.”  After castigating Reagan for decades, liberals have found that he continues to be popular; so, why not just claim that he is one of them?  That’s not any more dishonest than anything else that they say.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: “Rick Santorum says that he would like states to be able to make contraception illegal.”  Not even close to being true.

MSNBC newsman Chris Matthews takes a look back in recent history and rewrites it somewhat: “There is a real level of national hatred of the president that I hadn’t seen before, certainly not under Clinton, or under Dubya.  The hatred, the Hitler mustaches, all that stuff. I haven’t seen that before.”  Google “Bush Hitler” under images.

CNN headline: Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres show off their guns (this is a reference to their strong arms, not their weapons)

MSNBC‘s Martin Bashir: “Many Republicans will say didn’t democrats attack George Bush in exactly the same way. what’s your response to that?”
DNC spokesman Brad Woodlouse: “I don’t remember anything that equates from official Democratic Party. I mean, of course there are interest groups and people have their say, but I don’t remember anything coming from Democratic Party about George W. Bush being equated to a terrorist or George W. Bush being equated to somebody who has been accused of manslaughter. I don’t remember anybody questioning some of the things about George W. Bush that have been questioned about the president. I don’t remember an opposing Governor wagging his or her finger in president George W. Bush’s face.”
And Bashir’s follow up question was….?  In liberal television, one rarely questions preposterous lies.

MSNBC Contributor Karen Hunter questions author of The Obamas: “I haven’t read the book . . . don’t plan on reading it. . . What was your motivation for doing it?”

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton carefully avoiding the “A” word: “And I don’t think people understand how vile towards women’s right to choose, women’s right to deal with their own options, that the right wing has become in this day.”

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry shows how a masterful pro can talk about abortion without ever saying the “A” word: “Well look: this would have been a masterful strategy, had it worked, right?  Because what it did was to separate out good girls from bad girls, which has always been an effective way to limit some women from having having the same freedoms and opportunities, right? So if breast cancer is separated out completely from Planned Parenthood; if Planned Parenthood can’t provide breast-cancer screenings, cervical-cancer screenings.  If all they’re doing is providing reproductive choice opportunities like birth control and pregnancy terminations, then you can after them because those are the bad girls, those are the people who have done bad things.”

Occupy Oakland spokesperson at a press conference about the police: “I want to believe underneath those ridiculous war suits you are human.”

Another occupy Oakland:”To these monster with this riot gear, they don’t even look human, with this look in their eyes. Who cares if some windows are broken.”

Polk Award-Winning Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings: “Most journalists I know are liberal…Any journalist worth his salt often has a real moralistic kind of righteousness to them somewhere in their soul.”  Could I suggest that this is code for being a liberal bleeding heart?

Liberal civility:

Mike Malloy, former CNN employee, currently a leftist radio person when he heard that the Komen Foundation would not be giving money the Planned Parenthood: “So the fact the people are reacting to the Nazis that took over the Susan G. Komen Foundation, especially this Karen Handel freak that comes right out of Georgia…She is the type that would take every Jew in America and crucify `em. She is the type that would take, uh, every Muslim in America and execute ’em.”

Politico’s Jonathan Martin on MSNBC as a part of their Florida election coverage: “Chuck, a lot of the counties in the Panhandle, in north Florida, the cracker counties, if you will . . . more resemble Georgia and Alabama than they do Florida.”

Eric Holder to a Puerto Rican Congressman during Fast and Furious hearing: “Maybe This is the way you do things in Idaho or wherever you are from.”  At least he didn’t call him a cracker.

MSNBC’s Ed Schultz: “This is America being transformed right in front of our eyes…You don’t have to go very far to find your school district being gutted by the righties. You don’t have to go very far before you better be packing iron ’cause we ain’t got any cops left.”

Black radio host Thaddeus Matthews to Black GOP candidate: “Get your stupid ignorant ass outta my studio.  Another token-ass Negro that asks white folks to approve you.  Take your stupid ass on out my damn building…I don’t need to shake your hand…I’m scared because some of your whiteness might rub off on me.”

Crazy Muslims:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “Why did they [the western powers] install the Zionist regime (Israel)?  To gain control over oil, as well as the popular and revolutionary uprisings in the Middle East…It is clear that this was a historical scheme.”

Egyptian cleric Sheik Abdallah Kamal: “I mentioned yesterday that the Prophet Muhammad married Aisha when she was six years old, and had sexual intercourse with her when she was nine years old. People might raise an eyebrow and ask how such a thing could be…In warm places, girls reach puberty at a very early age – generally at the age of 8 years. In cold places, girls’ puberty is delayed until the age of 21 years – as is the case in some cold countries.”

Sheik Bassam Al-Kayed, head of the Palestinian Islamic Scholars Association in Lebanon: “The Jew is a satan in human form. Allah inflicted the Jews upon humanity in its entirety, and especially upon the nation of Islam, including the early prophets and the Prophet Muhammad. The Jew is a satan in human form.”

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: “Threatening Iran and attacking Iran will harm America … Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course … In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time…I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime (Israel).”  In the same speech, he referred to Israel as a “cancer” which “will be cut.”

Ayatollah Khamenei: “In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated.”

Majid Qadiri, head of the toy department at the Iranian Center for Early Childhood Development: “[Toys] have an evident influence on children. [It is harmful] to dress dolls in the best clothes of the best quality, in keeping with the culture that children see in cartoons and in the cinema. But if these are in keeping with our national and Islamic ideology, [our children] will not be subject to a cultural invasion.  This is what the Islamic world is dealing with today. It has been invaded by foreign dolls and toys, like Barbie dolls and others, which are sold to children. These dolls should not be bought, because they have an impact on the mentality of children, and when these children reach adolescence and can choose for themselves, they will find themselves in a situation where the invading culture is dominant.”

Ayatollah Khomeini: “There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam.”

Sunni scholar Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: “I think [the shari’a] should be implemented gradually. This is a law of the shari’a and a law of nature…I think that in the first five years, there should be no chopping off of hands.  This period should be dedicated to teaching things.  A transitional phase.”

Moderates/Affiliation Unknown:

Josephine Terry, the mother of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, on Facebook: “Mr. Holder, how come you never say my son’s name? You never have. I’m actually tired of hearing your double talk in answering questions. What a joke you are. You know my son was a real AMERICAN, a WARRIOR, and a HERO, who was also protecting COWARD POLITICIANS like you.”

In a commercial for a Samsung tablet which features an agent of the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, one person says: “What? Another mysterious explosion in Iran?”  A large explosion is seen in the background.

Vice Prime Minister of Israel and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon: “Any [nuclear] facility protected by humans can be infiltrated by humans. It’s possible to strike all Iran’s facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “We could be fighting a land war in Korea, and suddenly Iran moves to close the Straits of Hormuz.  We’ve got to have the capability to be able to confront each adversary, to not only deter them, but defeat them. And we can do that with the force that we’ve put in place.”

Crosstalk:

President Obama: “So I want to send a clear message to Congress: Do not slow down the recovery that we’re on. Don’t muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction.”

Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner: “With the president having ‘mucked up’ the economy pretty well over the last three years, we appreciate his perspective.”
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Bill O’Reilly asked what President Obama needed to do in order to get reelected.

Alan Colmes: “He has to get out there and explain in simple language what he has done and how he has helped the American people. And he has to get the progressives to vote.”

Bill O’Reilly:  “He’s got to get out there??  Those are the dumbest words I’ve heard in months!  Has he been cloistered in the basement for three years?  Did you even think about this segment at all, Colmes?”
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NBC’s David Gregory: Well, religious institutions, churches and the like, would be exempted, and there are states that have very similar rules to ensure the health and safety of, of women that they get covered in their workplace, whether it be a Catholic hospital or other kind of institution.

Newt Gingrich: Well, I mean, you, you just managed to precisely repeat the Obama administration’s line, which is also the American Civil Liberties Union line. The fact is what you’re saying is there cannot be a genuinely Catholic university, there cannot be a genuinely Catholic hospital, that in fact it will have to be subordinated to the rules of a secular government. I mean, I happen to oppose rules that, that have, for example, forced Catholic Adoption Services to be closed because they’re only willing to have adoptions for marriages between a man and a woman. There are states that now close that. I think that is a tremendous infringement of religious liberty. And I think you’re saying the same thing. You’re saying basically, “Oh, you can have the name on it, but you can’t actually be a Catholic institution. You can’t actually be an evangelical Christian institution. You can’t actually be an orthodox Jewish institution because we the secular government are going to impose on you.” I think that’s–I think this is a very profound moment for Americans to decide…

Gregory: And you predict a political cost for the president.

Gingrich: …do you really want to have a government impose on them?

Gregory: Do you predict a political cost for the president because of this?

Gingrich: What? Very substantial, yes. Because, because every American who cares about religious liberty, and I’ve been talking, for example, with evangelicals here in Nevada, every American who cares about religious liberty recognizes that from, from, from judges who say you, you can’t say a prayer in high school, you can’t–the New York City decision recently–you, you can’t rent an empty school building on Sunday morning–every time you turn around, secular government is closing in on and shrinking the right of religious liberty in America, and I think there are millions of people who are very disturbed by it.

Entire conversation and video here.
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The Daily Caller: “Do you think thought at this point, Harry Reid, yourself and President Obama should take ownership for the current state of the economy?”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (with a very long and rambling answer that has been edited here): “President Obama was a job creator by, on day one. I’ve probably said this to you before but just in case I think it bears repeating, a job creator from day one. In his inaugural address, he called for swift, bold action now; and one week and one day after his speech, the House of Representatives passed the economic Recovery Act, which even the CBO says has saved or created over 3 million jobs…We are in a very, very deep hole and that’s what we have to come out of. It’s not cyclical. It’s systemic. It’s structural, it’s very big and that’s why it was really important for us to have more job creation but as you know, once we didn’t have the 60th vote in the Senate, that was hard to do, even with the Democratic majority in the House and now of course, with the Republican majority in the House, [there’s] no job agenda…Up until, I think, his last day in office, President Reagan was blaming his economic woes on President Jimmy Carter, who hadn’t been president for 8 years already. It’s not about – again, this president has been so professional, and by that I mean he understands the role that he has to play and the responsibility that he has.  So, with the given that he [Obama] got he has I think tried very hard to take us down the right path. . Blame it on the do-nothing Congress because they have obstructed so much in addition to the policies that that he inherited.”  Perhaps a little historic revisionism going on here?
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Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz tweeted, after hearing that Donald Trump would support Mitt Romney:  “Next up: Who is Snooki going to endorse?”

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, star of MTV reality show “Jersey Shore” later tweeted herself:  “I will not be voting for Chris Christie.”

Later Polizzi Tweeted. “I DEF don’t want a judgmental president who has NEVER met me in person . I’ll stick w Obama.”

Conservatives:

Senator Orin Hatch: “Mr. President, our nation faces grave challenges.  We are looking at our fourth straight trillion dollar deficit.  Our credit rating has been downgraded.  Public spending is out of control.  The nation demands leadership.  At some moments in our nation’s history, at moments of crisis, leaders have emerged, put partisanship aside, and worked to solve our greatest challenges.  Though our current President has compared himself to both Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, his leadership is falling well short of their examples.  Instead of taking the reins and making tough choices, when presented with our current fiscal crisis, he has decided to put politics first.  He always puts politics first.  Just this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast the President took what has always been a non-partisan opportunity for national unity and used it to promote his political agenda.  He suggested to the attendees that Jesus would have supported his latest tax-the-rich schemes.  With due respect to the President, he should stick to public policy.  I think most Americans would agree that the Gospels are concerned with weightier matters than effective tax rates.   As long as the President has decided to assume the role of theologian-in-chief, he would do well to put tax policy aside and consider the impact of one of his latest Obamacare mandates.  Secretary Sebelius‘ decision to force religious institutions – over the strong objections of churches and universities representing millions and millions of Americans – to provide insurance coverage for abortifacient drugs and contraceptives to their employees will require these groups to violate their deepest held religious beliefs.  The President’s comments this morning share more with political strategy than they do the religious beliefs of most Americans.  In 2008, the President declared that his nomination was the world historical moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.  Someone needs to remind the President that there was only one person who walked on water.  And he did not occupy the Oval Office.”

Charles Krauthammer: “Romney is late to his new ideology [conservatism] and he obviously doesn’t speak it very well.”

FoxNews commentator James Freeman of Romney: “We’ve learned he’s not an instinctive conservative.”

Mitt Romney: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair , I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich.. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”  The left has already been using Romney’s quote against him.

Mitt Romney: “My test is – is a program so critical that it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?”

Mitt Romney: “I happen to think it’s immoral for us to keep spending money we don’t have and passing on to our kids our obligations,”

Rep. Dan Burton on Fast&Furious documents that Eric Holder has not handed over to them: “I think you’re hiding behind something here that will not stand up. You ought to give us the documents.  There are 93,000 documents that you’re not giving this committee, you’re saying separation of power prevents you from doing that. That’s baloney. That’s just baloney.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions: “It’s been more than 1,000 days since Senate Democrats have offered a budget plan to the American people. Now, once again, the Senate’s ineffectual Democrat majority balks at the task of leadership.”

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum: “[Obama] made the claim that his policies of taxing the rich is authorized by the Bible, that he is doing what is biblically called for by taxing the rich, by having the government tax the rich.  Now, I’ve read the Bible, and I must have missed that passage.”

Greg Gutfeld on Komen withdrawing support for Planned Parenthood and then reinstating it: “It’s about political intimidation.”

Jen Kalaber, spokesman for Rep. Phil Gingrey who walked out of President Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast: “He was disturbed and offended by the president’s use of prayer and reflection time for partisan politics and class warfare.  Rep. Gingrey enjoyed listening to the keynote speaker and found the breakfast to be inspiring until President Obama began politicking.”

Rush Limbaugh: “Take any person in this country who’s totally absorbed in pop culture. The big thing in their life is watching Entertainment Tonight. They vote. If they vote, we’re screwed. You know damn well they haven’t the slightest idea what’s going on. But that’s always been the case.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The vast majority of people on the minimum wage are teenagers, young people. If the minimum wage gets too high and then they start cracking down on interns, what’s the next place business will go? Illegal aliens.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The safety net contributes to poverty. It does not solve it.”

Rush Limbaugh: “I feel bad for Rachel Maddow. She was a Jeopardy question recently, I think it was Jeopardy, some game show on TV, and nobody knew who she was. None of the contestants had ever heard of her. That’s gotta be a blow, particularly when you work at MSNBC and you end up thinking that gazillions watch you every night.”

Rush Limbaugh: “When the government’s sole source of revenue outside printing it or borrowing it from the ChiComs is taxing the output of the private sector, how does it make any sense to put $800 billion into the private sector that can only come from the private sector in the first place?”

Rush Limbaugh: “After the elections, after November, we can look forward to a 1% GDP. That’s a recession, folks. The New York Times called 3.5% GDP a recession under Bush.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The Republican Party is hell-bent on making sure that the Tea Party (i.e., conservatives) do not conquer this party and end up controlling it or running it.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The federal government doesn’t have a dime until it takes it from people who produce it and earn it.  Pure and simple.  The federal government produces nothing.  Absolutely nothing.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The Republican establishment wants spending. They want active government, they want to be in charge of it. They’ll tinker with it on the margins, but they want to be inside the entire power structure. They don’t want to be at odds with the power structure in New York, in Washington, in the whole Northeastern Corridor.”

Rush Limbaugh: “Contrary to what many of you might believe, I do not have an out-sized ego. I don’t have really much of an ego at all. I frankly wish I had a bigger ego than I do. I don’t think that my endorsement is gonna change a whole lot of opinions.”

Rush Limbaugh: “Have you seen any evidence of any Republican going after Obama the way Republicans are going after each other?  You haven’t.”

Rush Limbaugh: “I don’t care who’s telling lies in the Republican campaign, they are pikers compared to what’s gonna happen when the Democrat campaign begins.”

Rush Limbaugh: “I’ve long maintained that whoever can articulate conservatism the most consistently, the most confidently and the happiest, is going to win this thing.  And that pretty much could overcome any of the negatives.”

Conservatives not making any sense:

When asked if he still supported automatic increases in the federal minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, Mitt Romney answered: “I haven’t changed my thoughts on that.”

From Conservative Review #214  (HTML)  (PDF)