Thursday Short Cuts
Insight: “If the author of the Declaration of Independence were to utter such a sentiment today, the Post Office Department could exclude him from the mail, grand juries could indict him for sedition and criminal syndicalism, legislative committees could seize his private papers … and United States Senators would be clamoring for his deportation that he … should be sent back to live with the rest of the terrorists.” —Frank I. Cobb (1869-1923)
Observations: “Bernie Sanders isn’t running to become president. He’s running to become George McGovern — the icon that inspires a generation of activists after him. He’s not interested in the war on terror, national security, or foreign policy in general. He’s interested in that darn one percent and assuring people that the reason they don’t have enough money is because the ‘millyunahs and billyunahs,’ as he calls them, are somehow taking it from them.” —Jim Geraghty
The BIG Lie: “150 years ago, we ratified the 13th Amendment and broke the shackles that debased the American dream of justice and equality.” —Nancy Pelosi (Actually, no, Republicans did.)
Too bad: “Ok, we’ve got a gentleman right there in the Yale cap. Oh my goodness. I’ve spent time there. That was Yale, not jail!” —Hillary Clinton making an awkward joke at a town hall meeting
Non Compos Mentis: “[T]he fact is that’s why we need a national gun law so that there is no thought that even though one state may have good laws you can buy guns in another place.” —Nancy Pelosi explaining why California’s failure to stop the San Bernardino attack with gun laws means the whole nation needs the same laws
Demo-gogues: “We betray the efforts of the past if we fail to push back against bigotry in all its forms. … Our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others, regardless of what they look like or where they come from or what their last name is or what faith they practice.” —Barack Obama
“Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said … that he will become a ‘part-time vegetarian’ to cut down his carbon footprint. If you’re wondering what a part-time vegetarian is, it’s someone who eats meat.” —Seth Meyers