Thursday Short Cuts
Notable quotables from Yuval Levin, Bill de Blasio, Bernie Sanders, AOC, and more.
For the record: “Whether driven by partisanship, misguided by perverse media and political incentives, or simply put off by the burdens of responsibility, members of both houses are now reluctant to really legislate. When they do enact statutes, they are frequently broad and vague, setting general goals and then letting the executive branch figure out how to pursue them and letting judges clean up the ensuing mess (as seen in health care, environmental policy, education and beyond). … Instead, they often operate as commentators — criticizing or defending the president like everybody else. This current Congress, like the last one, seems largely to be an arena for debating President Trump. Our constitutional system cannot function this way.” —Yuval Levin
The BIG Lie: “I think the ideological movement that is anti-Semitic is the right-wing movement.” —Mayor Bill de Blasio
A distinction without a difference: “Obviously, the Soviet Union was an authoritarian society with no democratic rights, and I think if you know history, you know the democratic socialists fought and stood up against that. You can look at what existed in the Soviet Union or Venezuela. That is not what I’m talking about at all.” —Sen. Bernie Sanders
Anti-everything: “Paul Manafort is being sent to solitary confinement in my district — Rikers Island. A prison sentence is not a license for gov torture and human rights violations. That’s what solitary confinement is. Manafort should be released, along with all people being held in solitary.” —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Braying Jenny: “I don’t want to see him impeached; I want to see him in prison.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Braying Jenny II: “If he were any other person in the United States, based on what is documented in [Robert Mueller’s] report, he would be carried out in handcuffs.” —Sen. Elizabeth Warren
And last… “75 years ago: young Americans braved Nazi fire on beaches to liberate a continent and defend Constitutional rights. Today: young Americans whine about people making mean jokes about them on YouTube and demand censorship.” —Ben Shapiro
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