Old Fogey's Quotes for Friday

"It's bad in Iraq. That help?"
King George the Cornered
Bush, Blair Assess Iraq Study Group's Report
[If his arrogance had not cost so many people so much, I might just feel sorry about Bush's 'deer in the headlights look' recently. Too much is at stake to gloat--even though the temptation is great. Oh, okay, maybe just gloating won't hurt.]

"It has been a mistaken notion that you can grow first and worry about the distribution later."
Vinod Thomas, director-general of the Independent Evaluation Group, referring to efforts to decrease poverty in Africa by growing the overall economy of the poorest countries
World Bank Reports Poverty Programs Ineffective
[How many times does 'trickle-down' economics have to be proven wrong before it is finally dead and buried for good? A rising tide does not lift some boats, and certainly does not lift them all equally. Massive tax cuts also are always accompanied by deficits.]

"Everybody's going to be fighting for oxygen at a very high altitude."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), referring to the Senate and the Clinton-Obama rivalry
For Now, an Unofficial Rivalry
[Charisma is so abundent that maybe in 2006 Dems can choose a candidate who actually can excite listeners without stacking the audience. John Edwards also has the ability to connect to voters. Let's see if the party can stop from shooting itself in the foot--we have been limping along for too long.]

"In many ways, the GOP's base response to the reality of gays seems to me similar to their attitude to the reality of Iraq. They have an ideology; it just doesn't fit persuasively with reality. The more reality bites, the more fiercely they stick to their ideology."
Andrew Sullivan
The Base Vs Mary
[The Religious Right's response to Mary Cheney's pregnancy is painful to read for me. Imagine what it must feel like for she and her partner. Get a grip, folks! You can't legislate away an innate orientation. No amount of persecution will change the number of people who are gay. If every gay stayed in the closet, it would not diminish the number of gays either. Why don't you turn your attention to why it should matter so much to you, when other injunctions in the Bible are ignored--such as stoning our children?]