The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” —Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941)

Faux rage: “I was very angry. I was very, very frustrated and angry that [the video of American sailors being captured by Iran] was released. I raised it immediately with the Iranians. It was not put out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the government directly, it was put out I think through the military over there, the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps], who is opposed to what we are doing.” —John Kerry

Race bait: “I don’t think [Obama’s] solely responsible for the country being so divided. We all are responsible for it. … Obama [is] being treated different because of … his race. I really believe that. … I think there have been … visible signs of disrespect for the man. And I’ve always said, if you don’t respect the man, respect the position.” —Rep. John Lewis

Hot air: “I believe the greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in a hundred years is climate change. And I put forward a plan to move us to a 100 percent clean electric energy grid by 2050 and create five million jobs along the way.” —Martin O'Malley

Alpha Jackass: “[Y]ou know, everybody hates Ted [Cruz]. It’s a very tough thing. They all hate him for a lot of reasons, but they all hate him.” —Donald Trump

Braying Jenny: “I’m obviously not only against defunding Planned Parenthood, but I would like to see Planned Parenthood even get more funding because oftentimes it is both the first and the last resort for health care.” —Hillary Clinton

Late-night humor: “Vice President Joe Biden in a new interview said that he wakes up every day regretting that he didn’t enter the 2016 race. And every day Hillary Clinton holds the rag over his nose and he goes back to sleep.” —Seth Meyers