Insight: “[Tyrannical] power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing.” —French historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

Demo-gogues: “Coming from a rural state, I think I can communicate with folks coming from urban states, where guns mean different things than they do in Vermont, where [they are] used for hunting. … I believe that we need to make sure that certain types of guns used to kill people exclusively — not for hunting — they should not be sold in the United States of America.” —Bernie Sanders

Village Idiots: “[Keystone XL] is President Obama’s decision, and I am not going to second-guess him because I was in a position to set this in motion and I do not think that would be the right thing to do.” —Hillary Clinton, who refuses to reveal her position on Keystone

Not a vote of confidence: “[N]othing in [the Iranian nuclear] agreement is based on trust. Nothing is based on an expectation of some change of behavior.” —John Kerry

Cashing in on evil: “Right now, Republicans in Washington are pushing legislation allowing employers to fire single women for getting pregnant — AND they’re leading an ‘investigation’ to undercut Planned Parenthood. This makes my head explode. I’m confident that if we had more women leading in Washington, we would not still be dealing with the right wing’s efforts to trample women’s health care.” —Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in a fundraising email

And last… “59% of poll respondents said wedding-related businesses with religious objections should be allowed to refuse service to gay and lesbian couples. The other 41% think it’s super smart to eat food made by someone you just finished bullying.” —Fred Thompson