The Patriot Post® · Monday Short Cuts

The Gipper: “It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work — work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.”

For the record: “Republicans should be the party of smaller government. Given that the most noticeable cutbacks in government in 2013’s shutdown were Twitter accounts announcing they were not going to post anymore and the federal government barring veterans from visiting memorials, I think we all got a clear example of just how frivolously the government chooses to spend its money. In all likelihood, more essential services could have and possibly should have been cut.” —Joe Cunningham

Observations: “The right thing to do is to defund Planned Parenthood. If President Obama shuts down the government, Republicans should explain what the shut down is for. They should wonder why the President is more invested in funding Planned Parenthood than children’s food assistance programs. We have been confronted with savagery. We have been confronted with seventeen hours of videos showing American citizens carving up dead children for profit. If Republicans in Washington are not willing to fight that, shame on them. The rest of us will just keep having to replace them.” —Erick Erickson

Annals of the absurd: “I don’t stipulate that these [Planned Parenthood] videos are real…. [Y]ou can create any reality that you want. … [The Center for Medical Progress] should be investigated as to how they obtained those and doctored those and then had them be accepted as something that was an indictment against Planned Parenthood, because that’s not true.” —Nancy Pelosi

Village Idiots: “I have never seen so much expended on so little.” —Bill Clinton in Hillary’s email scandal

Demo-gogues: “I happen to believe … that in a Democratic, civilized society, all people should be entitled to health care as a right. Yeah, I do believe that. Is this a radical idea? No it’s not. Every other major industrialized country on earth does the same. … Yes, I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Is this a radical idea? Well gee, Germany does it. Other countries around the world do that.” —Bernie Sanders

Late-night humor: “After Pope Francis became the first pontiff to address a joint session of Congress … he went to meet with a group of homeless people. That’s right, he spoke to some people who spend all their time begging for money, and then he met with the homeless.” —Seth Meyers