The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “The political mind is the product of men in public life who have been twice spoiled. They have been spoiled with praise and they have been spoiled with abuse. With them nothing is natural, everything is artificial. … They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation, which sooner or later impairs their judgment.” —Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)

Belly laugh of the week: “I’m cleaning out the White House. We’re going to sanitize the White House. We’re not going to take what is happening in this country. … I know even my colleagues get very upset. Some get afraid when I say ‘impeachment.’ When I get through with Donald Trump, he’s gonna wish he had been impeached. I feel it very deeply. I am so offended by him and I love my people so much that I am not going to put up with it. I’m gonna say, ‘Impeach 45’ every day, ‘impeach 45’ every day, ‘impeach 45’ every day.” —Maxine Waters, whose eulogy at Dick Gregory’s funeral sounded more like a re-election campaign

Pompous Jackass: “About 40% of the country didn’t believe me — until I was gone, and then they believed me.” —Barack Obama

No really — he’s complaining about costs: “The legislation that we passed was full of things that still need to be fixed. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. And so when I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage or roll back protections … it is aggravating.” —Barack Obama

But it’s better than the status quo: “Many supporters of the Graham-Cassidy health-care legislation are calling it a ‘federalist’ solution for Obamacare. It might be worth supporting … but it isn’t really federalist. A really federalist bill wouldn’t have the states asking the federal government for flexibility on regulations, and it wouldn’t have the federal government collect money from the whole country and then send it back in block grants to the states.” —Ramesh Ponnuru

Non Compos Mentis: “[Dreamers’] families did a great thing for our country bringing these kids here.” —Nancy Pelosi

Village Idiots: “[Putin disliked me] partly because I’m a woman, which seems to get him a bit agitated. … He certainly demonstrated. There’s an expression, we certainly know it in New York, called ‘manspreading.’” —Hillary Clinton

And last… “If manspreading was a distraction during a meeting with former KGB Vladimir Putin, it’s no wonder why Hillary was a terrible Sec. of State.” —Katie Pavlich