The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “A tyrant … is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” —Plato (429-347 BC)

Upright: “There are a lot of reasons to criticize [Jill] Stein right now. Perhaps the most significant one is that calling for recounts in noncompetitive races delegitimizes recounts in the eyes of the public. They stop being a tool to ensure the correct winner and start becoming a tool for sore losers to live in denial for an extra couple of weeks. They start becoming a cynical fundraising tool instead of an emergency tool in rare cases of extremely close results. Which is more frightening, that no one around Stein thought of this, or they did and she just doesn’t care?” —Jim Geraghty

Smackdown: “[For Romney] to go and do homage to this guy he said awful things about, I don’t think that shows much character. Mitt Romney is somebody I had respect for. I have none anymore.” —Harry Reid (“I was indeed very critical of Mr. Trump during his campaign. But now he has been elected president and accordingly, if I could have helped shape foreign policy to protect the country I love, I would have been more than willing to do so. As for Mr. Reid, I lost respect for him when he repeatedly lied about my taxes and later admitted to it cheerily. Good riddance, Mr. Reid. The Senate will be better served without you in it.” —Mitt Romney)

Race bait: “We have by no means overcome the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow and colonialism and racism.” —Barack Obama

But … but … racism! “[Donald Trump is] going to be our man for the next four years at least, probably eight, and he’s amenable to listening to people who did not vote for him. I fell in love with him because he really talks about helping African-American, black people and that’s why I’m here.” —former NFL star Jim Brown

ObamaCare predictions: “There’s division among the Republicans within their own ranks as to timing and substance. I don’t think they’re going to repeal the Affordable Care Act.” —Nancy Pelosi

And last… “Before Obamacare, you could go bankrupt if you got sick. After Obamacare, you go bankrupt from premiums before you get sick.” —Frank Fleming