Finger to the Wind

“I say this as a Democrat: We need to own up to the fact that we ceded that ground. We walked away from this crisis of men and boys.” —California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Friendly Fire

“I can’t explain it because, to be frank, to me, it makes absolutely no sense. I am completely perplexed by [these] developments.” —Rep. Brendan Boyle on reopening the government

“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced.” —Rep. Ro Khanna

“Working people want leaders whose word means something.” —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“To my mind, this was a very, very bad vote.” —Sen Bernie Sanders

“Pathetic.” —California Governor Gavin Newsom

Credit Where It’s Due

“After 40 days as a consistent voice against shutting our government down, I voted YES for the 15th time to REOPEN. I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks. It should’ve never come to this. This was a failure.” —Sen. John Fetterman

For the Record

“Some Senate Democrats finally have stepped forward to end the pain. It appears to us this morning that our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end — and we’re grateful for that.” —House Speaker Mike Johnson

“‘Democrats Irate Over Loss of Leverage.’ Shouldn’t they pretend to be relieved that people will receive food stamps?” —James Freeman

“Bottom Line: The Demo shutdown resulted in 1.4 million government employees on 41 days of leave with backpay assurance at a cost to taxpayers of more than $16 billion — and $billions more in private sector economic losses.” —Mark Alexander

“Obamacare premiums are set to soar by 26% next year — clear proof of what Republicans have been saying from the start. Democrats built the law on government subsidies and false promises, not affordability or competition.” —Matt Margolis

Political Futures

“Many of my friends (and former colleagues) in the senate are against eliminating the filibuster because they don’t think the Democrats will do it. This is just obviously wrong. The reason the filibuster exists is because of democratic senators Manchin and Sinema. Both of them had their careers destroyed by the far left for protecting the filibuster, and you better believe every senate Democrat internalized that lesson.” —JD Vance

“I don’t know what happened to Marjorie [Taylor Greene]. She’s a nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think. … [She’s] now catering to the other side.” —Donald Trump

Religious Non-Compatibility

“Our so-called ally, Saudi Arabia, still to this day does not allow ‘infidels’ into the holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. Imagine if in America, what would be said if we banned or restricted Muslims from Washington, D.C.?” —Allen West

Upright

“For the first time in years, a moral line was drawn — and enforced — not by liberals or the media but by conservatives themselves. It was a reminder that there still exists on the American right a vast constituency that despises antisemitism, supports Israel, and is horrified by the resurgence of the old right-wing bigotry against Jews.” —Jeff Jacoby

Insight

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” —George Carlin (1937-2008)

“Men cannot improve a society by setting fire to it: they must seek out its old virtues and bring them back into the light.” —Russell Kirk (1918-1994)