Lingua publica
The
good and the bad...presented with permission from The Patriot E-Journal
web posted June 25, 2007
"The American people are not racists. They don't hate immigrants. They believe in the rule of law..." -- Maggie Gallagher
"Why am I so suspicious about the fealty of the reformers to real border control? In part because of the ridiculous debate over the building of a fence. Despite the success of the border barrier in the San Diego area, it appears to be very important that this success not be repeated." -- Charles Krauthammer
"What is at risk is not the climate but freedom. I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning." -- Czech president Vaclav Klaus
"The Democrats, flush from their 2006 election gains, took over Congress in January, promising to end the legislative stalemate and pass a sweeping agenda for reform. Nearly six months later, they have backpedaled on their promises of reform; they've made little progress on major legislation; their job-approval ratings have taken a nosedive; and there's talk for the first time that House Democrats could lose seats to the Republicans in 2008." -- Donald Lambro
"If you are looking for a true political leader, you can just pass right over Harry Reid. He is perfectly willing to give aid and comfort to the enemy -- likely putting American soldiers at greater risk by his comments -- for political gain." -- Rich Galen
"I don't want to turn the keys of this country over to Hillary Clinton or anyone else on that side of the aisle, quite frankly. I think with me [in the race], we wouldn't have to do that." -- Fred Thompson
"Installed in Washington, Hillary morphed into a comic-book villain for her detractors -- a man-eating feminist, they claimed, who allegedly threw lamps at her husband, communed psychically with Eleanor Roosevelt and lit a White House Christmas tree adorned with sex toys. The narrative of depravity -- a tissue of inventions by conservatives -- was often hard to follow." -- Newsweek's Jonathan Darman and Mark Hosenball on some ideas that originated with liberals, not conservatives
"If the Democrats want to test us, that's why they give the president the veto. I'm looking forward to vetoing excessive spending, and I'm looking forward to having the United States Congress support my veto." -- U.S. President George W. Bush, about six years too late
"President Bush was so buoyed by the warm reception he was given in Albania that he immediately gave all 3 million Albanians American citizenship, provided they learn Spanish. The offer was withdrawn when Bush found out most Albanians haven't broken any U.S. laws." -- Ann Coulter
"The same people who say that government is a mighty power for good that can extinguish every cigarette butt and detoxify every cheeseburger and even change the very climate of the planet back to some Edenic state so that the water that falleth from heaven will land as ice and snow, and polar bears on distant continents will frolic as they did in days of yore, the very same people say: Building a border fence? Enforcing deportation orders? Can't be done, old boy. Pie-in-the-sky." -- Mark Steyn
"Hillary Clinton has launched a new website where people can get all the latest Hillary news. In a related story, John Edwards has launched a new website where people can order his secret blend of shampoos and conditioners." -- Conan O'Brien
"According to a new study 30 percent of Cubans are overweight. The other 70 percent are still in Cuba." -- Jay Leno
web posted June 18, 2007
"One of the things that bothers me about the immigration bill is the view held in the White House and Congress that ‘something' must be done; the option of doing nothing is not an option. It is my experience that when this idea takes hold, it is almost inevitable that something bad will result." -- Bruce Bartlett
"There is nothing to say that the 12 million people here illegally have to start the process of becoming citizens." -- Thomas Sowell
"Listening to the recent debates among the candidates, monitoring their Websites and reading the poll numbers, one gets the impression that the Republican and Democratic primary electorates are living in two different nations -- or the same nation that faces two very different threats. The Republicans want to protect us against Islamist terrorists. The Democrats want to protect us against climate change." -- Michael Barone
"[I]n Washington, D. C.,... a Victims of Communism Memorial will be dedicated... While the memorial is a welcome reminder of man's capacity to do evil, one wishes that a similar structure were erected to remind the world of leftist academics, clergy and journalists who enabled communism to survive by writing and speaking lies about its true nature. They were more than enablers. They were co-conspirators and accessories to murder. They, too, deserve to share in communism's ignominy." -- Cal Thomas
"Freedom is not the absence of laws... Freedom requires the rule of law." -- Alisa Craddock
"Does freedom of speech and thought exist in the United States anymore? Or does everyone who disagrees with this administration and their policies get the ax?" -- Barbra Streisand exercising her freedom of speech
"[A]nother amnesty will be the best thing to happen to America since the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the Wall Street Crash of ‘29." -- Don Feder
"On Fox News the other night, I was told by NPR's Juan Williams, ‘You're anti-immigrant!' Er, actually, I am an immigrant -- one of the members of the very, very teensy-weensy barely statistically detectable category of ‘legal immigrant.' But perhaps that doesn't count any more. Perhaps, like Colin Powell's blackness, it's insufficiently ‘authentic'." -- Mark Steyn
"[Rudy] Giuliani would be the first Italian American to win the presidential nomination of either party. He would be the first Catholic ever to win the GOP nod. He would be the first former New York City mayor to win a presidential nomination. He would be the first GOP nominee to have supported Mario Cuomo for state office. All of this has never happened before" -- Matthew Continetti
"If you think more money will fix the schools, make your checks out to ‘cash' and send them to me." -- Jonah Goldberg
"There's a new rumor that Senator Hillary Clinton recently had some plastic surgery done. Friends of Hillary deny the rumor and say, ‘Believe it or not, that's her natural forced smile'." -- Conan O'Brien
"A cyclone packing huge winds of up to 200 mph has hit the Persian Gulf oil fields. Iranian officials announced today they are still trying to figure out how to blame this on the Jews. ... They now say it could affect our oil prices. In fact, they said that sustained winds were measured at up to $75 a barrel." -- Jay Leno
"Sadly, the tentacles of radical feminist thought are poisoning the image of groups of males in different ways. If you watch a few commercials or sit-coms, you'll see that dads are sloppy dolts who are always the last to know anything. Where's the outrage? If you listen to the often foul and violent rap and hip-hop music of today, you'll hear that young black and Hispanic men are hate-filled, selfish bigots who degrade women for fun. Where's the outrage? If you're a father-to-be, your preborn baby can be legally killed without your knowledge, much less your consent. For crying out loud, where is the outrage?" -- Rebecca Hagelin
web posted June 11, 2007
"You know that minor deal about catching those guys who wanted to blow up JFK Airport? The New York Times decided it was not worthy of front page coverage in its Sunday editions. Nor the second page, nor the third. The NY Times, in what can only be described as editorializing by placement, put it on page THIRTY, the page after the obituaries and the page before the chess column." -- Rich Galen
"When Democrats say they will bring the troops home, what they are really saying is that they will bring the war home." -- Alan Keyes
"Beware legislative behemoths. Beware ‘comprehensive immigration reform.' Any bill that is 380 pages long is bound to have nooks and crannies reflecting private deals, quiet paybacks and ad hoc arrangements that you often don't learn about until it's too late." -- Charles Krauthammer
"How many of the 12-20 million illegal aliens will decide it's better to keep the status quo than go through the hassles of getting a Z Visa? It will likely be millions." -- Bobby Eberle
"[P]references vividly demonstrate liberalism's core conviction that government's duty is not to allow social change but to drive change in the direction the government chooses. Conservatism argues that the essence of constitutional government involves constraining the state in order to allow society ample scope to spontaneously take unplanned paths." -- George Will
"It's like the American people are waiting for [the GOP]. They're waiting for us to remember why we're doing what we're doing, about the ideas that inspired us, to remember who the leaders were that inspired us." -- Fred Thompson
"It has been nearly six years since 9/11. Since that time, we have not suffered any terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Just yesterday, the FBI arrested three men for a terror plot at JFK Airport. Could it be that the Bush administration's effort to thwart terror at home has been a success?" -- CNN's Wolf Blitzer
"I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought... I'm not sure I would have gotten through [Bill's affairs] without my faith." -- Hillary Clinton, whose "faith" is her ambition to become president
"Of course I am an absolute, pure democrat. But you know the problem? It's not even a problem, it's a real tragedy. The thing is that I am the only one, there just aren't any others in the world." -- Russian President Vladimir Putin
"We advise [the U.S. ] not to play with the lion's tail. It is too late to stop the progress of Iran [in nuclear weapons]. Iran has passed the point where they wanted Iran to stop." -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad
"There's a little hustler in every politician. But sometimes there's a little politician in a hustler. Such is the case with John Edwards." -- Jonah Goldberg
"Al Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason, has definitively established one fact: Al Gore is still the sorest loser in American politics." -- Brent Bozell
"The announcement... that the White House and a group of senators have reached an agreement on ‘comprehensive immigration reform' should have the same effect that the word ‘iceberg' had on the passengers and crew of the Titanic." -- Newt Gingrich
"This [immigration] rhetoric reached comic absurdity when CNN interviewed Chuy Arias of Los Angeles. He said on camera that he has been here illegally for 12 years...CNN's reporter said Arias was eager to ‘come out of the shadows.' So, Arias can simultaneously be ‘in the shadows' and discussing his illegal status on worldwide television. Who knew?" -- George Will
"During last night's Democratic debate, all the candidates said if they were elected, they would get rid of the military's ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy for gay soldiers. ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will be replaced by the new policy, ‘Don't Tell Me You're Wearing Those Boots With That Gun'." -- Conan O'Brien
"There are three new books out now about Hillary Clinton. One on each of her positions on the Iraq war." -- Jay Leno
"In 1970, six percent of all births in the United States were to illegal aliens. In 2002, that figure was 23 percent. In 1994, 36 percent of the births paid for by Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid, were to illegals. That figure has doubtless increased in the intervening 12 years as the rate of illegal immigration has risen." -- Mona Charen
web posted June 4, 2007
"Binge Drinking Hurts Judgment Skills" -- United Press International
"[S]eldom does America measure success according to a things-could-be-worse standard." -- Kathleen Parker
"If we must compare America to a party, there's one immutable fact politicians and business interests ignore: It's our party. We -- i.e., the American people -- get to decide who is invited and who gets to stay. And the American people -- or at least lots of them -- no longer trust Washington to check for invitations at the door." -- Jonah Goldberg
"If it's ‘impossible' to deport illegal aliens, how did we come to have so much specific information about them? I keep hearing they are Catholic, pro-life, hardworking, just dying to become American citizens, and will take jobs other Americans won't. Someone must have talked to them to gather all this information. Let's find that guy -- he must know where they are!" -- Ann Coulter
"But you can be sure that this time will be different. After this giveaway, then they will get serious about [immigration] enforcement. You trust Congress, don't you?" -- Mac Johnson
"In fact, even though I am not a big fan of government programs, I think that a whole new government bureaucracy should be started just to properly train and supervise members of our Senate to make sure they can effectively turn their brains to mush." -- J.J. Jackson
"Tony Blair was reported Friday to be the leading candidate to become the new World Bank president. He's available soon. By tradition the post is supposed to go to an American, but Tony Blair has promised to learn Spanish if they'll give him the job." -- Argus Hamilton
"It's starting to get nasty out there on the campaign trail. A new book out by veteran Democratic strategist Robert Shrum claims when asked about gay rights, John Edwards said he was 'not comfortable around those people.' Do you believe that? How does a guy who spends 400 bucks to get his hair styled not like gay people?" -- Jay Leno
"I am not robbed by people who have more money than I. I am robbed by a government that wants to penalize my industry and give increasing portions of what I earn to people who do not emulate my principles, morals and ethics... We once taught our young people the virtues of hard work, saving, personal responsibility and accountability for one's actions, chastity before and fidelity and commitment in marriage, honesty, integrity and virtue -- not to mention the Ten Commandments (especially the one about not coveting that which belongs to your neighbor). We now teach them entitlement, victimhood, class envy and rights to other people's money." -- Cal Thomas
web posted May 28, 2007
"A ‘comprehensive' plan doesn't mean much if the government can't accomplish one of its most basic responsibilities for its citizens -- securing its borders. A nation without secure borders will not long be a sovereign nation." -- Fred Thompson
"When we pass a bill that gives people the impression that there are new benefits to be had in the United States... you will have a stampede for the U.S. border that will overwhelm our border forces." -- Duncan Hunter
"Our country is unique because it opens its arms to immigrants from everywhere and gives them the chance to become citizens. If we start allowing ethnic groups to make claims on the Treasury because of where they were born, we'll quickly lose the unity that makes our nation work." -- Ed Feulner
"Today, all too many Americans feel like aliens in our own country -- strangers in a strange land... They're the second and third-generation Americans -- whose ancestors came here legally, and learned our language, identified with our history and heritage, and were proud and grateful to call themselves Americans -- who are now asked to press one if they wish to continue in English." -- Don Feder
"The key question for Congress is whether or not Iraq has become the primary battleground against the same radical Islamists who declared war on the U.S. in the 1990s and who have carried out a series of terrorist operations including 9/11. The answer is emphatically, ‘yes'." -- Former Democrat Sen. Bob Kerrey
"Without much notice and even less discussion, ‘civil war' has become the new abracadabra phrase for American foreign policy... The assumption behind this gambit is obvious: Declaring it a civil war is like blowing a whistle at the end of the game. There's nothing left to do but pack up the equipment and go home." -- Jonah Goldberg
"Every politician in America is opposed to amnesty -- if not the concept, then at least the word. That's why the visa starts with the letter that's furthest away from the one ‘amnesty' begins with." -- Mark Steyn ++ "There's an old rule in Washington that in dealing with any tough issue, half the politicians hope that citizens don't understand it, while the other half fear that people actually do." -- John Fund
"Sen. Hillary Clinton has been endorsed by porn star Jenna Jameson. Jameson's exact quote was, ‘I'm endorsing Hillary so tell Bill to stop bothering me'." -- Conan O'Brien
"The next time you're [Michael Moore] down in Cuba... you might ask them about another documentary maker. His name was Nicolas Guillen. He did something Castro didn't like, and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatments. A mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about." -- Fred Thompson
"Porcine propagandist Michael Moore has a new movie coming out, ‘Sicko.' No, it's not an autobiography but a hit piece on American health care, which extols communist Cuba's health-care system for wealthy foreigners." -- James Taranto
"Most fair-minded readers will no doubt take me at my word when I say that a majority of Democrats in this country are out of their gourds." -- Jonah Goldberg
"Democrats announced that they are going to have six debates in six different cities all around the country. The good news: Hillary Clinton will use a different accent for each city." -- Jay Leno
"Naturally I hope the new immigration bill fails. It is less a bill than a big dirty ball of mischief, malfeasance and mendacity, with a touch of class malice, and it's being pushed by a White House that is at once cynical and inept. The bill's Capitol Hill supporters have a great vain popinjay's pride in their own higher compassion. They are inclusive and you're not, you cur, you gun-totin' truckdriver's-hat-wearin' yahoo. It's all so complex, and you'd understand this if you weren't sort of dumb." -- Peggy Noonan
"The family of three of the men, arrested last week for allegedly plotting to kill American military personnel at Fort Dix, New Jersey, entered the U.S. illegally more than 20 years ago; filed for asylum back in 1989, but fell off the government's radar screen when federal bureaucrats essentially lost track of the paperwork. Wonder how many times that's been replicated?" -- Fred Thompson