The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” —Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

Upright: “One widely touted source, YouGov, reports that only 13 percent of Trump voters describe themselves as ‘very conservative’ versus 20 percent that describe themselves as liberal or moderate. Only 30 percent of them say that they identify with the Tea Party movement, according to a Newsweek summary of the YouGov data on Trump. In short, the ‘Trump is not especially conservative’ refrain doesn’t work with his supporters because neither are they.” —R.B.A. DiMuccio

For the record: “[Donald Trump has] gotten what he wants, which is blanket wall-to-wall coverage of him, wiping out everything else going up to the debate. … This is a competition between his narcissism and his cattiness. I would guess his narcissism, meaning staying out, is going to win over.” —Charles Krauthammer

The BIG lie: “[A]nybody who knows me knows you can’t buy me.” —Hillary Clinton (Just don’t pay attention to the Clinton Foundation.)

Non Compos Mentis: “I do not think it is right to be going to people who suffered because of the Republican recession and asking for you to help us make the investments for the future. I want you to take advantage of them, but I want to go where the money is. And the money is at the top, and that’s where we need to be shifting our tax system.” —Hillary Clinton

Race bait: “I’m an African-American quarterback [and] that may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to.” —NFL quarterback Cam Newton

Late-night humor: “Ben of Ben & Jerry’s has come out with an ice cream inspired by Bernie Sanders. A carton costs $3.99, but when you include tax, it’s $200 million.” —Conan O'Brien