Old Fogey's Quotes for Friday/Saturday

"I marvel at their ability to get away with it. I have to grudgingly admit to some envy. I admire their chutzpah."
Lanny J. Davis, who was White House special counsel during the Clinton fundraising scandals, regarding a Bush ban on reporters at fundraising events
Increasingly, Bush Escapes the Media Pack

"We will end up boarding our flights barefoot, barehanded and buck naked except for a hospital gown they'll make us put on at the airport. And, at this rate, Osama bin Laden will be watching CNN from his cave, smiling contentedly."
Eugene Robinson, in WaPo editorial on Bush's misguided tactics in the war on terror
The War Bush Isn't Fighting

"The private sector does a better job of maintaining and developing information. . . .[Another reason is Americans] don't want government to have access to any more information than necessary."
Former U.S. attorney general John D. Ashcroft, explaining why private firms (like the ones he represents) should be warehousing information on private citizens
Ashcroft Finds Private-Sector Niche

"The Democrats cannot be bribed, cajoled or threatened into voting for Social Security reform -- it can't happen."
Grover Norquist, a leading GOP strategist
President Remains Eager to Cut Entitlement Spending

“There’s a lot starting to happen. But this is still a very poor community, and people are coming back into already overburdened neighborhoods.”
Sol Rodriguez, director of the Family Life Center, one of a growing number of programs to help prisoners navigate reentry into the outside world
Help for the Hardest Part of Prison: Staying Out

“In the absence of coherent analysis, there’s no way to prevent the system from getting whipsawed. So it’s not surprising that we end up spending a lot of money fighting the last war and not addressing more modern threats.”
Penrose C. Albright, a former assistant secretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security
Focused on 9/11, U.S. Is Seen to Lag on New Threats

“Yesterday, Bush said we are safer today than we were before 9/11. But if one looks around the world today, he could not be further from the truth.’’
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader
Bush Aides Foresee Gains on Eavesdropping and Guantánamo

"To paraphrase Kerry, who knows a thing or two about this, who wants to be the last politician to go down for failing to admit the war in Iraq was a mistake?"
Rosa Brooks, in LATimes editorial criticizing the mainstream media for continuing to refer to opposition to the Iraq War as a fringe movement (as in the defeat of Lieberman)
Antiwar Wackadoos Are Winning