Liberals:
Report from the People’s Republic of China on their New York website: “The United States prioritizes the right to keep and bear arms over the protection of citizens' lives and personal security and exercises lax firearm possession control, causing rampant gun ownership. The U.S. people hold between 35 percent and 50 percent of the world's civilian-owned guns, with every 100 people having 90 guns [and] 47 percent of American adults reported that they had a gun.”
Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison tweet: “ALEC movement to push gov't issued ID bills was done w/ malice aforethought.” ALEC supports voter ID laws.
Liberals on the economy:
President Obama blames gas prices, Europe and Congress for dismal jobs report: “As we learned in today's jobs report, we're still not creating them as fast as we want. We had high gas prices, a month two months ago, and then, most prominently, most recently, we've had a crisis in Europe's economy that is having an impact worldwide; and it's starting to cast a shadow on our own [economy] as well. We can't fully control what happens in other parts of the world…[for instance] what's going on in Europe.”
Obama then blamed Congress for failing to pass his jobs bill. “Congress should've passed a bill a long time ago to put thousands of construction workers back on the job,”
Vice President Biden: “I'm here to tell you, some time in the next couple of months, we're going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “So we've got the growth part of it figured out – if we can get the green part of it actually figured out as well.”
President Obama: “If you got $3000 a year extra…maybe someone will be replacing some thingamajig for their furnace.”
Alan B. Krueger, chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisors: “It is critical that we continue the President's economic policies that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession.”
Representative Barney Frank: “The American economy today, of all the economies in the advanced nations in the world. . . we're doing the best and we're doing the best because we're mixing policies. Now, we've been retarded by conservative opposition.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: “If Republicans worked with us, we could pass legislation immediately to cut taxes for small businesses, prevent student loan rates from doubling and ensure women get paid the same amount as men for performing the same work. We could provide incentives to companies to create manufacturing jobs here at home, instead of overseas.” Although “cutting taxes for small businesses” sounds good, what Reid means is, if a small business jumps through this or that hoop, then the government will give them some money. Student loans are not doubling; but the interest might. Ensuring women get paid the same money as men is a job for lawyers, but will end up reducing jobs that women have.
The Liberal agenda:
First lady Michelle Obama on her support of gay marriage: “In a country where we teach our children that everyone is equal under the law, discriminating against same-sex couples just isn't right. It's as simple as that…For Barack and me it really comes down to the values of fairness and equality that we want to pass down to our girls. I mean, these are basic values that kids learn at a very young age and that we encourage them to apply in all areas of their lives.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: “We may not know exactly what Mother Nature will bring this year, but we are leaning forward in our preparations, utilizing the `Whole Community Approach. As part of this approach, we are engaging the broadest possible set of partners in our preparedness efforts – integrating planning across federal, state, local, tribal and territorial governments as well as with private sector, community, non-governmental, and faith-based partners.” Notice again who said this.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, explaining the rationale behind banning large soft drinks: “We're not taking away anybody's right to do things, we're simply forcing you to understand that you have to make the conscious decision to go from one cup to another cup.”
Bloomberg, defending his ban of extra-large sodas: “I look across this country, and people are obese, and everybody wrings their hands, and nobody's willing to do something about it. I would criticize the federal government for not doing anything.”
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, defending his controversial proposal to limit the soda size in restaurants: “We're not banning you from getting the stuff. It's just if you want 32 ounces, the restaurant has to serve it in two glasses. That is not exactly taking away your freedoms. It is not something the Founding Fathers fought for.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Republicans who criticize President Obama's support for the failed solar firm Solyndra: “[Republicans are] the ones who say they're risk takers. Now, all of a sudden, they're saying, `Don't take risks.' ”
Blame Bush…
President Obama, at the unveiling of the Bush portrait at the White House: “The months before I took the oath of office were a chaotic time. We knew our economy was in trouble, our fellow Americans were in pain, but we wouldn't know until later just how breathtaking the financial crisis had been.” He later thanked Bush for making his transition seamless. But he needed to point out one more time that all this bad stuff happened in the previous administration.
Government Spending:
Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter defended President Obama's investment in green energy companies like Solyndra: “The president was making investments for the country, because he's not going to cede an entire industry to China and India. And as a result the company – country is prospering.”
The campaign:
White House press secretary Jay Carney: “We're not focused on any politician's job or any politician who is trying to win a job in November.”
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt in an email: “Mitt Romney has made his tenure as a corporate buyout specialist the central premise of his candidacy and claimed it is what credentials him to be a job creator as President. But Governor Romney's goal wasn't job creation, as he claims, it was profit maximization for himself and his partners – he profited off of bankrupting companies and outsourcing jobs.” Which is true of pretty much every business that has ever been created. No one starts a business with the idea of, “I am going to do this to create jobs.”
Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod: “There was a report this morning that the Republican Super PACs, apart from Romney and apart from his own super PAC, intend to spend a billion dollars in this campaign setting up shadow state organizations-district-wide organizations-as well as running media. So a handful of plutocrats of billionaires with a special interest agenda are going to try and buy this government in this election, and the stakes of that are pretty profound.”
From President Obama’s Saturday message, after 6 fund-raising events the day before: “So my message to Congress is, get to work.”
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “Marco Rubio is a nice guy, but not someone who, I think, belongs on a national ticket – for a lot of reasons.”
Nancy Pelosi: “Let me say about President Obama, he was a job creator from Day One.” Yes, she has said this many times before. It is like there is this little string at the back of her neck…
Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, when being shouted down by hecklers: “You can't handle the truth my friends. If you could handle the truth then quiet down.”
Supporter in a crowd of hundreds for speaker Bill Clinton: “This guy is 65-years old and he's getting hit on by porn stars.”
Another rally goer, anticipating Clinton’s arrival: “This guy is a god.” This rally is in support of Tom Barrett, who is running against Scott Walker in Wisconsin in a recall election.
Elizabeth Warren, running against Scott Brown in Massachusetts: “In the 1930s, when my parents got married, these were hard issues [interracial marriage]. My father's family so objected to my mother's Native American heritage that my mother told me they had to elope.” Her mother would have been 1/16th Cherokee, something which is apparently a part of Warren family lore. It appears that this so-called elopement was a big church wedding?
Elizabeth Warren, answering a question: “I would be their first senator insofar as I know who has native American heritage.”
James Carville, in an email asking for money: “We've gotta wake up…We're being attacked by Republicans from every which way. Americans see the President out there fighting for the middle class, but they've got the Koch Brothers' Super PAC hollerin' in one ear and Karl Rove's Super PAC squawkin' in the other.” It’s good he can include his accent in an email.
Email from the prezy for money: “It appears that my opponent has no problem hosting campaign events with someone who is questioning whether I was born in America. They know it's nonsense. But they've decided that the radical fringe of their party will do more to elect Mitt Romney than the truth will…Aloha, Barack.”
Letter from the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund:
“Dear Registered Voter:
Who votes is public record!
Why do so many people fail to vote? We've been talking about the problem for years, but it only seems to get worse. This year, we're taking a new approach. We're sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to publicize who does and doesn't vote.
We need to pull together. The chart shows the names of some of your neighbors, showing which voted in the past.
After the June 5th election, public records will tell everyone who voted and who didn't.
Do your civic duty – vote.”
He’s not a socialist…
Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban head of state Raul Castro: “I believe that Obama is a fair man and Obama needs greater support to be able to take this decision. If Obama counted on the full support of the American people, then we can normalize the relationships; we can have better relations than what we had under President Carter…As a citizen of the world, I would like him to win.”
Liberal predictions:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, on how the Supreme Court will rule on Obamacare: “6-3. That's it. 6-3.”
When asked why she was so confident about her prediction: “Because I know the Constitution. This bill is ironclad. It is ironclad.”
It’s all about racism…
Attorney General Eric Holder: “I've heard a consistent drumbeat of concern from citizens, who – often for the first time in their lives – now have reason to believe that . . . some of the achievements that defined the civil rights movement could now hang in the balance.”
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, second vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus: “There is a right-wing conspiracy that is alive and well in this country that is trying to take us back to 1900, and even before…Trust us: when the Congressional Black Caucus tells you that a voter ID law will be detrimental to black empowerment – black political empowerment – we know what we are talking about and it is for real. What they want to do is not take away the right to vote, but if black voter participation can be diminished even by ten percent it will make that critical difference all across the country. President Obama won my state, in the last election, by 14,000 votes. Had we had a voter ID law in North Carolina he would not have won the state of NC and probably could not have won the presidency.”
First Lady Michelle Obama: “You know, racism is still an issue in this country. But I'll tell you right now, Barack Obama is president of the United States. And he's done a phenomenal job. And this country put him in office.” The correct answer, by the way, is, “My husband, who is a Black man, was elected as the President of the United States. I think that speaks well of the people of the United States, and suggests that race was not an issue to them. And in this next election, my husband will run for reelection on the basis of his record and not on some false notion of racism.”
The War on Women continues…
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, of Republican bill to ban gender abortive selection: “I think the next act be dragging women out of patient rooms into the streets and screaming over their bodies as they get dragged out of getting access to women's health care. That's what I feel like is occurring today with the legislation that is on the floor.”
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Republicans have been unrelenting on their attacks on the District of Columbia. The attacks have tended to be in mainly four areas: reproductive choices, gun safety, marriage equality, and HIV/AID prevention. We will never stop fighting the unequal treatment of the low-income women of the District of Columbia.”
The Compliant Obama Press Corps:
NY Times political editor Richard Stevenson: “Since the very first stirrings of the 2008 campaign, The Times has exhaustively and aggressively covered nearly every aspect of Barack Obama's story. To suggest that we've pulled our punches or tilted coverage in his favor or against his opponents just is not supported by the facts.”
MSNBC’s Martin Bashir: “Majority Leader Eric Cantor…who's opposed everything that the president has tried to do from raising the debt ceiling to pass the American Jobs Act, is rarely seen these days apart from when he stands up to celebrate his latest achievement…Mr. Cantor is part of the leadership of this country. He's the Majority Leader in the House. I'm certain the word “leader” is on his business card. But Leader Cantor has done absolutely everything in his power to ensure that not one of the President's policies on job creation has ever seen the light of day. Even when an independent analytics firm like Moody's estimates that the American Jobs Act would create almost two million new jobs and raise GDP by a full two percentage points, Mr. Cantor prefers his own form of leadership which is designed to crush job creation.” I guess that 2 years when Democrats could pass any bill that they wanted does not factor into today’s jobs situation?
New York Magazine's national affairs editor John Heileman: “Mitt Romney is never going to be likable”
CBS This Morning’s Gayle King on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed ban of soft drinks over 16 ounces in size: “I'm all for anything that's going to make us healthy.”
NBC chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman, on the Bloomberg ban: “A very famous doctor, Dr. David Lustig at UC San Francisco says that sugar is toxic and should be regulated like tobacco. It's rewiring the brain. It is not necessary for anything in the human diet. I think it's a very bold, big move, but I have no problem with it.”
Guest Jonathan Waxman, a chef in the Big Apple, also endorsed the Bloomberg plan: “I'm kind of happy that someone's making a stand here, because I think that it's empty calories.”
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria to boxer Manny Pacquiao: “You know, there are reports, your Forbes magazine, other places say you make tens maybe more millions of dollars, $40 million one year. Philippines is a very poor country. Do you think that there is some, there is something wrong with somebody, with somebody in the Philippines making that much money when people are starving in your country?”
MSNBC’s Martin Bashir: “Why is the Sunshine State in the midst of a purge that even Joseph Stalin would admire?” He is speaking of the attempt to rid the Florida voter rolls of those thought to be noncitizens (2600 notices were sent out by Florida, which amounts to 0.023% of the Florida voters).
CNN’s Candy Crowley to Governor Bob McDonnell: “Don't you credit President Obama at all for the good fortune that Virginia has?”
MSNBC's Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski defending New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to ban sugary drinks larger than 16 oz. from restaurants: “I think it's a great idea. Does anyone want to challenge me on that?” She said this as sipping from a huge Starbuck’s cup of coffee.
Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, on why conservatives are making a mistake to oppose gender-selection abortions: “Republicans long ago lost African American voters. They are well on their way to losing Latinos. And if Trent Franks prevails, they may lose Asian Americans, too.”
MSNBC contributor Karen Hunter of Mitt Romney ad: “Did he say, `This time we'll get it white'?” This was a joke, referring to Romney saying that “this time, we'll get it right.” How in the world does this even pass for political commentary?
MSNBC contributor Karen Hunter of Mitt Romney ad: “Maybe he's not running for the presidency of the United States, maybe he's running for the presidency of `Caucasia-stan' or some place that doesn't have anyone of color in it.”
Former newsman Dan Rather, off his meds and, apparently, with breaking news: “I know what – it's widely believed that CBS, NBC, ABC – chocked full of liberals. Not true. What it is chock full of is people who wanted to give honest news, straightforward news and voted both ways in many elections. I'm not saying that nobody in the newsroom was liberal any more than I would say nobody was conservative. Frequently what has happened is people who described as conservatives want to say, `I work at CBS News, and almost everybody there was liberal.' What they really mean is not everybody there agreed with him all the time. This is a sham. It's a camouflage.”
Liberal Celebrities:
Lesbian leftist comedian Margaret Cho, apparently a routine: “My period comes like twice a month. My eggs are jumping ship. Seriously, they're like, `the last one out's a retard…I get worried about that, as an older woman, I don't necessarily want to have a retard.”
Liberals from the past:
The New York Times declared that “the electric car “has long been recognized as the ideal solution” because it “is cleaner and quieter” and “much more economical.” (Nov. 2, 1911)
Liberal civility:
Here are a few comments by liberals about soldiers on Memorial Day. Language warning.
From a month ago (I missed this one). Oklahoma Democrat Party Chairman Wallace Collins: “Is he (OKGOP Chairman Pinnell) forgetting the fact that the bombing was done by somebody of his bent – in other words a right-winger? If Timothy McVeigh were alive today, he most likely would be a Tea Partier.”
Muslims:
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast: “Any crime committed (in Syria) can be traced back to the (Israeli) regime's hirelings.”
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan: “I'm warning you, America, if you bomb Iran, I'm looking at San Diego, I'm looking at your beautiful cities – the God that I represent is going to take out some of your cities with earthquakes. You live in the city, I live in the city, but some of us are going to die, because we agree with them, agree with evil. So the God of judgement and justice, he's going to kill a lot.”
Liberals making sense:
NBC Today’s co-host Matt Lauer to Mayor Bloomberg on banning large sodas: “You announced this on a Thursday. Today is Friday and it's….National Donut Day – and your administration has come out in support of National Donut Day….It sounds ridiculous.”
MSNBC's Ed Schultz: “Maybe I'm just too much of a jockstrap.”
The NY Times’ Maureen Doud: “But superheroes and mythic figures must boldly lead. Obama's caution – ingrained from a life of being deserted by his father and sometimes his mother, and of being, as he wrote to another girlfriend, “caught without a class, a structure, or tradition to support me” – has restrained him at times. In some ways, he's still finding himself, too absorbed to see what's not working.”
Liberals being honest:
President Bill Clinton about Mitt Romney's business record at Bain Capital: “I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say `This is bad work. This is good work.' The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold.”
Clinton clarification: “So today, because I didn't attack him personally and bash him, I wake up to read all these stories taking it out of context as if I had virtually endorsed him.”
Willie Brown: “The president's trip to the Bay Area last week made it painfully clear that the Barack Obama re-election campaign has lost its mojo.”
Former Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards: “I'm responsible for my sins.” That stuff sounded fine; but when he started talking about how much he loved his love child, I just did not buy it.
Moderates/Affiliation Unknown:
The Haaretz reports: “Obama . . . stressed he probably knows about Judaism more than any other president, because he read about it…[He] wondered how come no one asks Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner or Senate minority leader Mitch McConnel [sic] about their support to Israel.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusks, regarding Obama’s reference to “Polish death camps”: “We always react in the same way when ignorance, lack of knowledge, bad intentions lead to such a distortion of history, so painful for us here in Poland, in a country which suffered like no other in Europe during World War II. The words uttered yesterday by the President of the United States Barack Obama concerning `Polish death camps' touched all Poles.”
Former Democrat Sheriff Waggoner, of Mississippi: “I'm a Christian, and my first allegiance is to Jesus Christ. God established marriage, and He established it between a man and a woman. Those are my beliefs. The Republican Party reflects my beliefs.”
Christopher Cerf, the award-winning composer of Sesame Street, was stunned to learn how his music was being exploited. Here, he speaks to Al Jazeera: “My first reaction was this just can't possibly be true…Of course I didn't really like the idea that I was helping break down prisoners, but it was much worse when I heard later that they were actually using the music in Guantanamo to actually do deep, long-term interrogations and obviously to inflict enough pain on prisoners so they would talk.”
Crossfire:
Reporter, asking to hear the difference between Obama investing in Solyndra and Romney investing in private companies: “How’s that different from the Romney argument of Bain Capital, which is that many succeeded and a few failed?”
Wh press secretary Jay Carney: “Look, there, there, there is the, the difference in that your overall view of what, uh, your responsibilities are as president, and what your view of the economic future is. And, and the president believes, as he's made clear, that a president's responsibility is not just to, uh, those who win, but those who, in- for an example, in a company where, uh, there have been layoffs or a company that has gone bankrupt, that that, you know, we have to, uh, make sure that, uh, those folks have, uh, the means to find other employment, that they have, uh, the ability to train for, uh, other kinds of, uh, work, and that's part of the overall responsibility the president has.”
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MSNBC host Chris Hayes said he felt “uncomfortable” calling fallen soldiers “heroes” – remarks for which he later apologized.
Rep. Allen West, who's served more than 20 years in the military: “The insidious words of MSNBC's Chris Hayes this past weekend evidences why NBC Management should force him to stand outside for 12 hours, 0600 – 1800, and greet each of these exceptional Men and Women, and address them as 'American Hero.' His apology statement is worthless.”
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Think Progress headline: “Disappointing Jobs Report Calls GOP’s Austerity policies into Question”
Weasel Zippers: “The fact that none of the GOP's policies are being implemented apparently hasn't dawned on them yet.”
Conservatives:
Andrea Leadsom, Conservative Member of British Parliament, Treasury Select Committee, to Paul Krugman’s idea that austerity doesn’t work and stimulus does: “I find his view reckless, frankly. I can't believe that somebody as, you know, incredibly highly regarded could honestly think that the answer is to go and borrow more money. I mean, it is very simple mathematics, isn't it? If you are in a hole, if you've overspent and overspent, spending more is simply not going to help.”
Mitt Romney: “If the President is going to have his people come into my rallies and heckling, why, we'll show them that we conservatives have the same kind of capacity he does.”
Paula Priesse: “What recession? Here at American University Corporation things are booming! Tuitions are skyrocketing, but with govt.-backed student loans going deep in hock has never been easier! AUC can't promise a job or marketable skills, but we can promise this: A 43% CHANCE OF GETTING AN A! That's right, 43% of all college grades now are As. In 1960 that figure was 15%. (below) Strange though that average SAT scores in 1960 and today are about the same. Oh well, as proud liberals AUC knows what's important. Your self-esteem (and of course your money). Ask about our Graduate Humanities programs. At AUC, your parents' basement is just a phone call away!”
Mia Love’s parents to Mia: “Mia, your mother and I never took a handout. You will not be a burden to society. You will give back.”
Mia Love: “It was supposed to be hope and change, but it’s been fear and blame.” [from memory]
House Speaker John Boehner, behind closed doors, about one of President Obama's recent policy pushes: “Let's call bulls___ bulls___. This election is about jobs, jobs, jobs.”
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney answering, “What grade would you give Obama?”: “Oh an 'F', there's no question about that…across the board.”
Jodi Miller: “The city of Los Angeles just pass a new law banning stores from using plastic grocery bags. We here in LA call it the, ‘Hey, let’s go shopping in Burbank instead’ law.”
Allen West, in response to questions about his past during a townhall meeting: “If you guys want to go back and talk about what happened nine years ago to me, lets talk about the President doing blow.”
Jodi Miller: “The number of Americans identifying as Pro-life has jumped to 50%—or, as the liberal media calls them, a small, radical minority.
Newt Gingrich: “This is the administration that went from ‘yes we can’ to ‘here’s why we couldn’t’.”
Snarky remarks by conservatives:
Dennis Miller: “Joe Biden’s secret service name is the unmanned drone.” [quoted from memory]
Email to O’Reilly: “Dan Rather’s appearance on Comedy Central was appropriate.” [quoted from memory]
John Stossel: “If government produced gas, it would cost $50/gallon and there would be shortages.”
The Bush's back in the White House
George W. Bush, Former President of the United States, at his portrait unveiling at the White House: “I am pleased that my portrait brings an interesting symmetry to the White House collection. It now starts and ends with a George W.” The video.
Bush: “When the British burned the White House, as Fred mentioned, in 1814, Dolley Madison famously saved this portrait of the first George W. Now, Michelle, if anything happens there's your man.”
Bush: “I am also pleased, Mr. President, that when you are wandering these halls as you wrestle with tough decisions, you will now be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would George do?”
Laura Bush: “And you know that nothing makes a house a home like having portraits of the former occupants staring down at you from the wall.”
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh: “We're three-and-a-half years now into the Obama administration, and the idea that any of this is lingering from George W. Bush is absurd.”
Rush Limbaugh: “Obama…said, 'We can't come out of this overnight.' Overnight? For crying out loud, you've told us for the past two years that we have come out of it. For the past two years, Mr. President, you've told us we are on the rebound. Now it's Congress' fault?”
Rush Limbaugh: “If the labor force participation rate was the same today as it was when Obama took office, the unemployment rate would have been reported today as 10.9%. It would be 10.9% if the same number of people were in the job market today as when Obama was inaugurated.”
Rush Limbaugh: “Obama's already-passed legislation will begin to take even more out of the private sector. When you raise taxes, when you increase regulations, you take money out of the private sector. And more of that is on tap. This is as good as it gets with Obama.”
Rush Limbaugh: “Obama is a dinosaur. Obama is 50 years ago. Obama's still living in this mythical world where FDR almost had it right but he just didn't spend enough money.”
Rush Limbaugh: “Look at all the new taxes. Look at the further shrinkage of the employment base. Look at the slowdown of the economy that is, without question, coming. What part of that do the Democrats not want? It's all happening because of them.”
Rush Limbaugh: “People are living the reality of the job market. And AP and Reuters and the rest can do everything they want to try to convince people that everybody else is doing well. There's no evidence. You don't see it. Nobody's living it. So they're now becoming jokes.”
Rush Limbaugh: “The lesson in Wisconsin is that conservatism works. Scott Walker has done everything that Obama says is impossible to do. He cut spending and expanded the economy while lowering taxes and laying off no one. It's amazing.”
Rush Limbaugh: “Government can't protect losers. All it does is makes more losers, under the guise of assistance, help and protection.”
Rush Limbaugh: “There hasn't been a success story in green energy. There isn't a business there. It's an absolute joke. It's nothing more than a money laundering scheme using green energy as the emotional connection to people, have them support it, while money just travels a circuitous route from donor to Obama, back to donor and finally back to Obama.”
Snarky comments from Weasel Zippers:
White House Visitor Logs Show Choom-Ganger-In-Chief Has Spent More Time With George Clooney Than His DEA Chief. Obviously, why would he narc on himself?
Study: Global Warming Skeptics As Knowledgeable About Science As Climate Change Believers.
But . . . but . . . but . . . the science is settled!
