Insight: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Can’t count very high: “[Barack Obama] has talked to more members than I can count, more senators than I can count.” —Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Trade Promotion Authority

Demo-gogues: “Well within our children’s lifetimes, on our current pace, the oceans could go up maybe two, maybe three, maybe four feet.” —Barack Obama, who promised in 2008 that his election would stop the oceans rising

Braying Jenny: “[I]n any democracy, it’s not [skeptics] that carries [sic] the day. It is normal human beings that haven’t put their stake into politics above science. It’s normal human beings that want us to do the right thing, and we will if you help us.” —EPA Chief Gina McCarthy, who thinks you’re not normal

Alpha Jackass: “Our history of racialized violence means that everything white people have, they have in part because they are white. We have to disrupt that status quo. That’s what the president meant when he said that racism is part of our DNA. Our DNA has got to be changed.” —Georgetown University professor Paul Butler

Village Idiots: “I know it’s tempting to dismiss [the Charleston] tragedy as an isolated incident, to believe in today’s America that bigotry is largely behind us, that institutional racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.” —Hillary Clinton

And last…