The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “The state remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men.” —H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Observations: “On the cusp of a historic failure, the [GOP] has begun the finger-pointing, and it’s hard to argue with any of it. The establishment is right that Trump is incapable of true legislative leadership. The Trumpists are right that the establishment is ineffectual. Conservatives are right that moderates don’t really want to repeal Obamacare, whatever they’ve said in the past. And pragmatists are right that a few conservatives are beholden to a self-defeating purity.” —Rich Lowry

Upright: “I like partisan fights when those fights are about something real. The Medicaid fight was at least about something real. But most of this nonsense is a battle of liars trying to protect past lies in the hope of being able to make new lies seem just plausible enough for the liars to keep repeating them.” —Jonah Goldberg

You’ve been warned: “I don’t have any presidential aspirations. If the Millennials want me to do it, I’d do it, though.” —Maxine Waters

An inconvenient lie: “Unfortunately, some elements of the Earth’s system have crossed a point of no return. … But we still have the ability to stop short of other points of no return and we now have the solutions available to really solve this crisis. We need the political will, but political will is a renewable resource.” —Al Gore

Late-night humor: “The Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare has officially fallen apart. But Republicans say they’re just going to let Obamacare fail while they regroup and figure out a new plan. And Democrats said, ‘Hey, that’s the same thing we’re doing with Trump.’” —Jimmy Fallon