The Gipper: “Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefitting from their success — only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people.”

Twisted logic: “You’ve read one quote that, to be fair, is out of context. The situation that the president has described is a description of the kind of mission that our men and women will have in our counter-ISIL campaign.” —Josh Earnest, reacting to a reporter who highlighted Obama’s vow not to put boots on the ground in Syria

The BIG Lie: “[A]ll of the [CNBC’s] subject matter was entirely appropriate. … If you look at the questions only, there’s frankly not much of a difference between debates one, two or three, including Fox, which is of course the great oracle of the RNC.” —CNN’s Michael Smerconish

Alpha Jackass: “[Evolution] is a fact. … You can’t not believe it unless you’re ignorant. … [A]ll of the Republican candidates except one say they don’t believe in evolution. I mean, that’s a disgrace. But for a very eminent, distinguished doctor, as [Ben Carson] is, to say that, it’s even worse, because, of course, evolution is the bedrock of biology, and biology is the bedrock of medicine.” —Richard Dawkins

Trashing the system from which he reaped: “Without a substantial carbon tax, there’s no incentive for innovators or plant buyers to switch. Since World War II, US-government R&D has defined the state of the art in almost every area. The private sector is in general inept. The climate problem has to be solved in the rich countries. China and the US and Europe have to solve CO₂ emissions, and when they do, hopefully they’ll make it cheap enough for everyone else.” —Bill Gates

Farewell to an iconic Patriot: “[Fred Thompson] was one of the great gentlemen it has been my privilege to know. Fred would have been a great president because — and today’s candidates could take a lesson from this — he cared more about America than about being president. He was not the best candidate, but he would have been the best incumbent.” —Andrew McCarthy

And last… “New York City reports it’s struggling to keep an increasing population of stray cats under control. That’s a tough one. Have they tried cat-free zone signs?” —Fred Thompson