The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Happy is he who owes nothing.” —Roman Proverb

Upright: “Time and time again, the Democrats claimed the United States is a great nation, but then insisted we adopt the policies of lesser nations. Bernie Sanders in particular insists we become more like the Scandinavian countries that are even now withering in old age and being overrun by an immigrant Muslim population. It is hard to believe these old liberals think the United States is all that great when they also think we need to saddle the nation with the social welfare regimes of stagnant, dying countries in Europe.” —Erick Erickson on Tuesday’s debate

Braying Jenny: “This bulls— about [Hillary Clinton] not seeming ‘warm’ enough is pure misogyny. It’s ridiculous. I think she’s one of the loveliest, most personable politicians I’ve ever met — much warmer than other politicians, in fact. That’s pure sexism.” —actress Olivia Wilde

Dezinformatsia: “F— you Jeb Bush for telling poor people they need stronger families to not be poor. Poverty weakens families.” —New York Times’ Philip B. Richardson

Village Idiots: “[T]his rhetoric emanating from Republicans about wanting to defund Planned Parenthood is fundamentally dishonest. It certainly is something that is not in the best interest of the country because it is irresponsible to threaten the basic functioning of the federal government over something that, at its root, is so fundamentally dishonest.” —Josh Earnest

Demo-gogues: “I’m sad that John Boehner stepped aside, because he actually was very faithful to [fed up conservatives] — he pled their case. … This is not the Republican Party of George H.W. Bush, of George W. Bush, of Bob Dole, or even of John McCain. This isn’t who these people are. … People think [Republicans] are self-destructing. All of this is terrible for the institution. But politically, it has an upside for us that we have to exploit.” —Nancy Pelosi

Late-night humor: “During the [Democrat] debate, the candidates mentioned the middle class 11 times. Once for each remaining member of the middle class.” —Seth Meyers