The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Once we start to worry too often and too deeply about what certain individuals and what certain groups think about us, then we might start selling our souls for the sake of expediency.” —Otis Chandler (1927-2006)

For the record: “The American economy is a wonderful engine of prosperity left to its own devices, and on Tuesday it proved this again with another surge in equity prices that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 30,000 for the first time. … By the way, on Election Day in 2016 the Dow closed at 18,332.” —The Wall Street Journal

Upright: “‘All your feelings are valid’ is a trendy phrase that sounds good but is a lie. All your feelings are real. Not all your feelings are valid.” —Allie Beth Stuckey

Verbal gymnastics: “I’m going to — we’re going to impose the — we’re going to enforce the — excuse me, employ the defense, reconstruct the act, to be able to go out there and dictate companies build and do following things.” —Joe Biden

Forewarning: “I’m going to make a commitment in the first 100 days, I will send an immigration bill to the United States Senate with a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people in America.” —Joe Biden

Belly laugh of the week: “This is about the least-flashy team you could possibly get. They are deeply experienced, they are humble, and they are life-long public servants. … They are not political. They are just career people.” —ABC News’s Martha Raddatz on Biden’s foreign policy cabinet

Braying jackass: “For four years, I spoke out vigorously against Donald Trump’s craven dishonesty, corrupt pursuit of personal interests, & trampling of our democratic principles. After serving over three decades in national security, I felt compelled to condemn Trump’s depravity & incompetence. My outspokenness has brought criticism, retaliation by the Trump Administration, & threats by those blinded by Trump’s demagoguery. Yes, it is unusual for a former CIA Director to speak out, but when an autocrat descended upon the White House, silence was not an option for me. I now plan to ignore Trump. I leave his fate to our judicial system, his infamy to history, & his legacy to a trash heap.” —John Brennan

Non compos mentis: “It’s sort of like saying I have a constitutional right to drive drunk, I have a constitutional right to not wear a seat belt, or to yell ‘fire’ in a crowded movie theater, or to not follow the speed limit. … Which part don’t you understand? You wear the mask. There’s no constitutional right to walk around without a mask. We did it in 1918, I don’t know why we can’t do it now.” —Maryland Governor Larry Hogan

Non sequitur: “Another way of thinking about 2020: Donald Trump currently has 15 million fewer votes than @Twitter followers. Joe Biden has 60 million more votes than @Twitter followers.” —Cook Political Report editor Dave Wasserman (“Kanye West has 10.5 million more Twitter followers than Joe Biden but received 79.8 million fewer votes than him.” —Ben Jacobs)

And last… “Good news! @JoeBiden says he wants a cabinet that ‘looks like America.’ That means half of them will be Trump supporters.” —Larry Elder