The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Nailed it: “Trump spends his days describing what America looks like now, and says he’ll change it; Hillary spends her days describing what Trump is like now, and says she’ll keep things the same.” —Ben Shapiro

Observations: “The weakest part of the 2016 Democratic National Convention was the speech delivered by the party’s nominee for president. … It lacked the passion of Michelle Obama’s or Bernie Sanders’s speeches, had nothing of Joe Biden’s instinctual feel for middle-class language and anxieties, did not achieve the valedictory heights of Barack Obama’s appearance. … The Hillary mystique is her inflated and undeserved reputation for competence. She is her own worst enemy.” —Matthew Continetti

Upright: “The last Republican to win a national election has become an object of scorn and mockery in many quarters of the Republican world. … [George W. Bush] not only had a better record at judicial nominations than either his father or President Reagan, he handled an enormous amount of incoming hate and vitriol with class and dignity. Is he not worth respecting? Is he not worth honoring?” —David French

Village Idiots: “[My mother] never forgets who she’s fighting for.” —Chelsea Clinton (Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were unavailable for comment.)

Non Compos Mentis: “Republicans would have you believe that creating opportunity means giving tax breaks to corporations and the super wealthy. Well, I’ve met a lot of Americans in my life. And no one has ever told me that their ancestors came here looking for the lowest corporate tax rate.” —Rep. Joaquin Castro

But do give intelligence briefings to a woman who’s email illiterate? “How would the CIA and the other intelligence agencies brief this guy [Donald Trump]? How could they do that? I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous. Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.” —Harry Reid

Late-night humor: “Bill Clinton said the first two times he proposed to Hillary, she said no. Clinton then said, ‘So let’s stop all this talk about Hillary’s bad judgment.’” —Conan O'Brien