Insight: “For good or evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity.” —Joyce Cary (1888-1957)

Upright: “Republicans in Washington are comfortable with Donald Trump as someone who will not rock their boat or upset the status quo. They already know from Cruz’s history that he intends to shake up Washington, and many of them could find themselves on an unemployment line. With a week to go until the Iowa caucus, Washington Republicans will side with Trump and do their best to bruise and stop Ted Cruz. Payback and power are more important to Washington Republicans than principle.” —Erick Erickson

For the record: “Hillary has spent decades defending her husband from allegations of sexual misconduct, including unfaithfulness to her, at least some of which we now know to have been true — and in the process, been unfaithful to her own professed feminist principles. The defense of him was successful: Not only was he elected and re-elected president, but he dodged removal from office for perjury and obstruction of justice. But it is increasingly possible that all this ugly history is catching up to her, and will deprive her of realizing her ultimate ambition. If that happens, Bill Clinton may find himself facing a tense situation at home, or at least in the Clinton Foundation boardroom.” —James Taranto

“We’ve been quite concerned about the ease with which … arms tend to flow across the border between the United States and Mexico, and … we’ve gone to great lengths to work with the Mexico government to try to shut down the flow of arms back and forth between our two countries.” —Josh Earnest (Fast and Furious aside, “A new report from the Government Accountability Office says 73,684 firearms (about 70 percent) seized in Mexico and traced from 2009 to 2014 originated in the United States.” —CNSNews)

Non Compos Mentis: “I think that some of [the $1.7 billion given to Iran] will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists.” —John Kerry

“[W]hen you hear people claiming America is in decline, they don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re peddling fiction during a political season. … [Republicans] are racing to see who can talk down America the most.” —Barack Obama

And last… “Hillary Clinton is not a socialist. In the Senate, she only voted the same as Bernie Sanders 93% of the time.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest