The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Not to be, but to seem, virtuous — it is a formula whose utility we all discovered in the nursery.” —C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Demo-gogues: “This country, this great country, belongs to all of us. We cannot allow it to be controlled by a handful on top who want it all.” —Bernie Sanders (“Is this tweet meant to support or condemn Hillary?” —Frank Fleming)

Friendly fire: “Look, I’m not a big fan of red lines. I am not a proponent of laying down markers unless you’ve thought through the second, third and fourth step that you’re going to have to take, and almost assuredly will have to take, in order to accomplish your initial goal.” —Joe Biden, implicitly attacking his boss’s Syrian red line

Finally, sanity: “I would obviously never protest the National Anthem. I think the flag and the National Anthem are sacred. … I don’t support [protesters] doing it, and I think most of them will realize in the fullness of time that this was a misguided decision and they’ll — quite frankly, they will regret that they did it.” —Democrat Rep. John Delaney

Non Compos Mentis: “Trickle-down did not work. It got us into the mess we were in, in 2008 and 2009. Slashing taxes on the wealthy hasn’t worked. And a lot of really smart, wealthy people know that. And they are saying, hey, we need to do more to make the contributions we should be making to rebuild the middle class.” —Hillary Clinton (First of all, Hillary’s husband was the primary instigator of the 2008 financial crisis. Secondly, if the Clintons are so keen on higher tax rates, then why do they use their foundation as a tax shelter?)

And last… “How can you tell Hillary is worried about her base? Because she came out trying to paint Trump with standard generic Democratic attacks on generic Republicans (‘trickle down economics,’ ‘tax cuts for the rich,’ blaming Bush, etc.) instead of trying to point out how different Trump is from ordinary Republicans, as she and President Obama did at the Convention.” —Dan McLaughlin