Quotes of the Week 11 ~ Winners and Losers
"As an exciting year of unpredictable change begins, we, too, have our work cut out for us. And we’re all in this together. . . Kind of like Alaska’s Musk… Musk ox. You know how they all… they circle up, when they’re challenged. When their young are challenged. When they’re challenged, their future. They circle up, and that’s what we gotta do."
~ Alaska Governor Sarah Palin comparing the citizens of her state to a herd of Musk Oxen on the tundra, in her 2009 State of the State Address, video found on The Political Carnival Blog
“It’s unfortunate for Vice President Cheney to have had this accident....There will be those who don’t like him, who will be writing tomorrow that he had a Dr. Strangelove appearance as he appeared today in his wheelchair. It’s not something he’ll be happy about.”
~ NBC’s Tom Brokaw during live coverage, January 20, quoted Here
"The new season of 'Lost' kicked off tonight. If you haven't seen it, 'Lost' is about a group of desperate people out of touch with the world. It's based on the true story of the Republican Party."
~ Craig Ferguson, quoted in Political Humor
"I won."
~ Obama speaking to Republican Congressional Leaders on Friday, Jan. 23, 2009
"I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, 'Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance.' Why? . . . I hope he fails." (interruption) "What are you laughing at? See, here's the point. Everybody thinks it's outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, 'Oh, you can't do that.' Why not? Why is it any different, what's new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what's gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here."
~ Rush Limbaugh on his Radio Show,
“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."
~ Obama, again speaking to Republican Congressional Leaders on Friday, Jan. 23, 2009
“He’s managed to anger, in one fell swoop, the Kennedys, the Cuomos and the Clintons,” the consultant said, arguing that Ms. Kennedy’s family would be furious at the governor over the leaks against her, Mr. Cuomo at being passed over for the job, and Mrs. Clinton at the governor’s willingness to consider Ms. Kennedy in the first place after she endorsed Barack Obama in the presidential race last year.
“That’s a pretty good trifecta,” the consultant added.
~ Consultant quoted in The New York Times, speaking about New York Governor, David Paterson, who spent weeks making up his mind about who to nominate to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate; he first seemed to choose Caroline Kennedy, then suddenly gave the seat to conservative Democrat, Christine Gillibrand
"I thought about Mandela, Dr. King and Gandhi and tried to put some perspective to all this and that is what I am doing now. . . . I could bring in 15 angels and 20 saints led by Mother Theresa to testify and it wouldn't matter."
~ Governor Blagojevich of Illinois, in an interview taped for Monday's The Today Show on NBC, while facing Impeachment on Monday for trying to sell Obama's Senate seat
Now, I like old movies and I like old cowboy movies, and I want to explain how these rules work in a more understandable way. There was an old saying in the Old West. There was a cowboy who was charged with stealing a horse in town. And some of the other cowboys, especially the guy whose horse was stolen, were very unhappy with that guy. And one of the cowboys said, "Let's hang him." Then the other cowboys said, "Hold on. Before we hang him, let's first give him a fair trial. Then we'll hang him." Under these rules, I'm not even getting a fair trial. They're just hanging me. And when they hang me under these rules, that prevent due process, they're hanging the 12 million people of Illinois who twice have elected a governor.
. . . he was on the ranch with six other cowboys herding cattle and roping steers, and then he expects that when his day comes to go to court he can bring those six cowboys to say it wasn't him because he wasn't in town, he was on the ranch herding cattle -- even if he could bring those cowboys in to say that, under these rules, under 8B, it wouldn't matter. The complaint that charged him with stealing the horse would convict him because you can't challenge it and you can't have a chance to be able to contest it. Again, not fair; in fact, worse: trampling on constitutional rights.
~ Blagojevich in a Friday Press Conference using a confusing metaphor for his predicament
This is a dumb process. Senate vacancies ought to be filled by elections. The way I read the 17th amendment to the Constitution, and I do read it, I think that's the way it's supposed to be Constitutionally as well, but only nine states do it that way. The rest let the Governors give out these jobs like they're Queens picking the Knights of the Round Table, or something!
We are Americans! . . . Let Governor Blagojevich and all his cowboys be the poster children for taking this amount of power out of one person's hands. The Senate should not be this embarrassing.
~ Rachel Maddow on MSNBC after listening to Governor Blagojevich's extended cowboy metaphor, but also referring to the New York Paterson-Kennedy fiasco
Sarah Palin's Musk-Oxen Reference
Click to viewBlago Cowboy Speech on Rachel Maddow Show
Blago Clip from Today Show