October 2010

Friday, 10/1

Saturday, 10/2

Sunday, 10/3

“The wisdom of the masses is not always…wise.” – Jon Stewart, comedian, in New York Magazine, September 12, 2010

Monday, 10/4

“Politics is a contact sport. And to complain about contact is like a pro-football quarterback complaining if he gets sacked on the weekend.”

- Former President Bill Clinton, in an interview with Politico, Sept. 22, 2010.

Tuesday, 10/5

“It was a good time to be a Democrat at one point, and it was a good time to be a Republican at one point. Today, it’s a good time to be an independent.”

- NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2010.

Wednesday, 10/6

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

- Daniel Patrick Moynihan, original date unknown, quoted by George F. Will in The Washington Post, Oct. 3, 2010.

Thursday, 10/7

“He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” – Edward R Murrow, CBS, on Winston S Churchill’s wartime speeches, recalled on Murrow’s death, April 23, 1965.

Friday, 10/8

“Every good politician runs scared.” – Boston College professor Marc Landy, The Boston Globe, Sept. 25, 2010.

Saturday, 10/9

“When the schoolchildren file in and out of the court and they look up and they see three women, then that will seem natural and proper – just how it is.”

– Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the presence of three women on the court, Washington Post, Oct. 3, 2010.

Sunday, 10/10

“They’re trying to say we’re trying to take over this party or that campaign. They don’t get it. We’re not trying to take over our country. We are our country. We have always been in charge.”

- Christine O’Donnell criticizing the liberal view of tea party candidates, in a speech held at the Values Voters Summit in Washington DC, Sept. 17, 2010.

Monday, 10/11

“Where freedom does not flourish, there is no modern civilization to speak of.”

- Liu Xiabo – Chinese dissident and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Charter 08, Dec. 2008

Tuesday, 10/12

“I didn’t come to Washington to be loved and I haven’t been disappointed.”

- Phil Gramm, US Senator, NPR, Feb. 24, 1995

Wednesday, 10/13

“Change is going to come. Change is going to come for this generation — if we work for it, if we fight for it, if we believe in it. The biggest mistake we could make right now is to let disappointment or frustration lead to apathy and indifference.”

– President Obama at a DNC Rally Speech, Madison, WI, Sept. 28, 2010.

Thursday, 10/14

“The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.”

- Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, original date unknown, quoted by George F. Will in the Washington Post, Oct. 3, 2010

Friday, 10/15

“All we have got to do is get them to the polls, because a tepid vote counts the same as a wildly enthusiastic vote.”

- Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, CBS’ Face the Nation, Oct. 3, 2010

Saturday, 10/16

“As a leader, you always have to make sure you can keep people in line. In my experience, if you use punishment, all you end up with is a family squabble. Leadership’s role is trying to keep people together.”

– Former Speaker Dennis Hastert, on the leadership reaction to acts of party disloyalty by Congressional members, Politico, Oct. 4, 2010.

Sunday, 10/17

“A public opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”

– Warren Buffet, in a letter to the members of the Buffet Partnership, 1965.

Monday, 10/18

“People’s wishes for and needs for democracy and freedom are irresistible.”

– Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo, on political restructuring and the Communist party, in an interview with CNN, Oct. 4, 2010.

Tuesday, 10/19

“There is an anti-establishment mood. We just happen to be here when the music is stopping.”

- Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, New York Times Magazine, Oct. 17, 2010

Wednesday, 10/20

“Exhausted. From what I see, that’s how a lot of Democrats feel. They’ve turned silent, too, like people who witnessed a car crash and can’t talk anymore about the reasons for the accident or how many were injured. This election is more and more shaping up into a contest between the Exhausted and the Enraged.”

- Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 25, 2010

Thursday, 10/21

“I make no apologies for having set high expectations for myself and for the country, because I think we can meet those expectations. Now, the one thing that I will say — which I anticipated and can be tough — is the fact that in a big, messy democracy like this, everything takes time. And we’re not a culture that’s built on patience.”

- President Barack Obama, New York Times Magazine, Oct. 17, 2010

Friday, 10/22

“I think that people are beginning to see that all these expectations would not be out of line is the president were a magician.”

- Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-SC), New York Times, Oct. 17, 2010

Saturday, 10/23

“I, frankly, think we crossed the bar on African-Americans quite some time ago. I’m not sure we’ve crossed it on women.”

- Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, U.S. News and World Report, Jan. 5, 2010

Sunday, 10/24

“I think the struggle is still there for the East and the West Coast. We have, basically, as a party, nationally, abandoned them.”

- Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on the disproportionate number of Republicans along the nation’s coasts, Time, Oct. 16, 2010

Monday, 10/25

“Consensus should not be a dirty word in the political process.”

- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), CNN, Oct. 20, 2010

Tuesday, 10/26

“If you have a philosophy, it means you’re generally inclined one way or the other but you’re open to evidence. If you have an ideology, it means everything is determined by dogma and you’re impervious to evidence.”

- Bill Clinton, former US President, to Minnesota Democrats on Sept. 14, 2010, Salon.com

Wednesday, 10/27

“One thing you can count on: I’m not writing any damn memoir because if I said all the interesting stuff, I couldn’t keep running for office.”

– Jerry Brown, California Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate, Politico, Oct. 16, 2010

Thursday, 10/28

“The more they know, the less they like Washington.”

- Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on a more informed electorate, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 25, 2010

Friday, 10/29

“Sarah Palin may or may not be running for president, but she is impossible to ignore.”

- Gwen Ifill, The Rundown, PBS, Oct. 1, 2010

Saturday, 10/30

“I went in the courtroom myself and looked at the bench of nine, a woman on the right end, a woman on the left end, and a woman near the middle. It was marvelous to see.”

- Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, on the current Supreme Court lineup, PBS NewsHour, Oct. 13, 2010

October 31, 2010

“There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.”

- Mark Hanna, William McKinley’s campaign manager, as reported in The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2010