The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.” —Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Observations: “The American system is slow and balky by design. It requires maturity and patience to achieve your political goals. Democrats have been remarkably strategic, returning again and again to cherished objectives, whereas Republicans have told themselves that leadership treachery rather than Madisonian architecture accounts for their frustration. Those who encouraged the ‘burn it down’ mania and who popularized the narrative that a malign Republican ‘establishment’ was responsible for the state of the nation may be many things but they are not conservative. Conservatives respect institutions and traditions.” —Mona Charen

Well then: “The Democrats are doing nothing with Social Security. They’re leaving it the way it is. … I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is.” —Donald Trump in the same answer at the debate

Non Compos Mentis: “First of all, there’s nobody on this stage that’s more pro-Israel than I am. OK. There’s nobody. I am pro-Israel. I was the grand marshal, not so long ago, of the Israeli Day Parade down Fifth Avenue.” —Donald Trump

Braying jackass: “[I]t’s fair to say that the Republican political elites and many of the information outlets … have been feeding the Republican base for the last seven years a notion that everything I do is to be opposed, that cooperation or compromise somehow is a betrayal, that maximalist, absolutist positions on issues are politically advantageous, that there is a ‘them’ out there and an ‘us,’ and ‘them’ are the folks who are causing whatever the problems you’re experiencing and the tone of that politics, which I certainly have not contributed to.” —Barack Obama

Upright: “As far as a law that we can pass in Washington to change the weather, there’s no such thing. … I want this to be a safe and clean place, but these laws some people are asking us to pass will do nothing for the environment and they will hurt and devastate our economy.” —Marco Rubio

No kidding: “I have the world’s largest carbon footprint.” —Barack Obama

Demo-gogues: “Free riders aggravate me.” —Barack Obama’s jab at allies he says spend too little on defense (Strange, considering all of Obama’s supporters expect a free ride.)

For the record: “Obama is more likely to walk on water than he is to acknowledge the genocide against Christians.” —actor James Woods

And last… “If we picked presidential candidates at random, it would be statistically impossible to come up with a worse choice than Hillary vs. Trump.” —Frank Fleming