The Patriot Post® · Monday Short Cuts

The Gipper: “We are the showcase of the future. And it is within our power to mold that future — this year and for decades to come. It can be as grand and as great as we make it. No crisis is beyond the capacity of our people to solve; no challenge too great.”

Good question: “[W]ho decreed that broadcast media — or any news media, for that matter — must be in charge of organizing, hosting, and moderating debates? Perhaps the idea of a wholly unmoderated debate, à la Lincoln and Douglas, is implausible in 2015. But why must those asking the questions and keeping time always be TV news anchors?” —Jeff Jacoby

Friendly fire: “The Special Forces [in Syria] are limited — I think 50. That won’t do it. If we’re really going to use special operations, quick in, quick out, you have to do it in a much more comprehensive way to get at ISIL.” —Sen. Dianne Feinstein criticizing Obama’s new “strategy” of putting a few boots on the ground

The BIG Lie: “[A]nybody who thinks that they can influence what I will do doesn’t know me very well. And they can actually look and see what I have said and done throughout my career. … I went to the NASDAQ in December of 2007 and basically said, ‘You guys have got to stop it. What you are doing is not only a disaster for homeowners because of the mortgage foreclosures and the way that they had manipulated the mortgage market, but it’s going to have dire consequences for our country.’” —Hillary Clinton (Way to throw your husband under the bus.)

Alpha Jackass: “Part of the solution to this problem or this set of problems associated with climate change is getting the deniers out of our discourse. You know, we can’t have these people — they’re absolutely toxic.” —Bill Nye the Science Lie

And last… “The MSM is obsessed with events in Ben Carson’s life. If only he’d dodged sniper fire on a Bosnian runway. There’s no MSM interest in that.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest