The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.” —Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

Upright: “If you watched that debate last night it looked like something from the early ‘80s. It was basically a liberal vs. liberal debate about who was going to give away the most free stuff.” —Marco Rubio

Good questions: “Will you say anything to get elected? … Do you change your political identity based on who you’re talking to?” —Anderson Cooper to Hillary Clinton

“[W]hat really stands out about the Democratic debate is how there was no diversity of idea or diversity of ethnicity. It was a bunch of old white people on stage who all largely agreed on government policies, government spending, taking people’s guns away, and killing children. Contrast these Democrats with the Republicans running. The Republicans disagree on immigration, they disagree on taxes, they disagree on college funding, they are white, Hispanic, Indian, male, and female. Where there is diversity of skin and thought on the right, there is none on the left.” —Erick Erickson

“The fact that the biggest national security news out of the debate [last night] was Bernie Sanders emphasizing that he is not, in fact, against all military action, under all circumstances, at all times, tells you about all you need to know about the national security policy of the Democratic Party. These candidates are much more comfortable in discussing their dismay over the 2008 financial crisis, or the 2003 invasion of Iraq, or, in Sander’s case, their opposition to the war in Vietnam than they are in speaking frankly about the foreign policy legacy of the Obama administration.” —Aaron MacLean

“Having Bernie Sanders play Clinton’s chief foil may excite the left, but, as much as I hate to say it, David Brock is right: The man is unelectable. It’s not just that he’s proposing $18 trillion in new spending and trillions in new taxes. It’s his personal demeanor, which will turn off most Democrats long before it turns off swing voters in the general election.” —Matthew Continetti

“[Y]es, the candidates sounded like hard-Left, pie-in-the-sky, free-ice-cream-for-everyone, Socialist pander bears. But they do so because that is what the Democratic Party’s primary voters demand. Don’t blame them; blame the party rank-and-file that craves these promises, rhetoric, and worldview.” —Jim Geraghty

And last… “Socialism is the idea that violent force is an appropriate response to peaceful, voluntary exchange.” —Frank Fleming