The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” —William Pitt (1708-1778)

Upright: “Strangely, the percentage of people who said they had ‘never heard of’ Antonin Scalia increased from 29 percent in 2001 to 39 percent in 2005. … This is a free country, and you’re free to not care, and free to not pay any attention to, say, one-third and arguably our most powerful branch of government. … But if you choose to pay no attention to these things, and refuse to read anything about them, watch anything about them, or learn anything about them … then I’d rather you left the voting to those of us who do care.” —Jim Geraghty

Braying Jenny: “Right now, the fundamental principle of ‘one person, one vote’ is at stake in a case before the Supreme Court.” —Hillary Clinton, who’s currently benefiting from one person, 10,000 votes via the Democrats’ system of “superdelegates”

Non Compos Mentis: “I have news for Republicans who would put politics over the Constitution: Refusing to do your duty isn’t righteous, it’s disgraceful.” —Hillary Clinton (Ambassador Chris Stevens was unavailable for comment.)

Speaking of which… “With respect to the Supreme Court at least, I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court except in extraordinary circumstances. … I will do everything in my power to prevent one more ideological ally from joining [John] Roberts and [Samuel] Alito on the court.” —Sen. Chuck Schumer in 2007

Flip-flop: “[The Bush administration] lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]. There were none. And they knew there were none.” —Donald Trump at Saturday’s GOP debate (“Six years of tough talk and U.S. fireworks in Baghdad have done little to slow Iraq’s crash program to become a nuclear power. They’ve got missiles capable of flying nine hundred kilometers — more than enough to reach Tel Aviv. They’ve got enriched uranium. … [I]f we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion.” —Trump in 2000)

It’s all the Bushes fault: “We do know that one [of the 9/11 terrorists] was here on an expired visa. We also know that they trained in Florida under Jeb Bush’s watch to take down those towers.” —Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson

Alpha Jackass: “I think Ted’s a very unstable guy. … I have never, ever met a person that lies more than Ted Cruz. I have never ever seen anything like it. … And he goes around saying he’s a Christian? I don’t know, you’re going to have to really study that.” —Donald Trump

And last… “This could not be simpler: absolutely do not confirm an Obama SCOTUS nominee. Don’t discuss it; just ignore him, as he does the law.” —actor James Wood