Quoteworthy

“This was not a drive-by P.R. stunt, and I actually thought it might be. It was a substantive, in-depth discussion with our conference, and he’s very effective. He knows that the debt and the deficit are huge long-term problems as well and he made a compelling case. He sounded, frankly, a lot like a Republican.”

—  Representative Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee

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[Hat tip: Sullivan]

President Bush, along with a sloppy and incontinent Republican majority in Congress, managed the feat of discrediting free market economics without ever practicing it. It was the Republicans who passed the Medicare prescription drug bill, and the bloated farm bill, and the transportation pork. This disqualifies most Republicans from challenging the gigantic new trough feeding that is about to begin under the Democrats.

— Mona Charen, nationally syndicated neoconservative
columnist, political analyst and author

Republicans are taking a stand, says Josh Marshall:

RNC members decide they no longer like President Bush, just in time for his no longer being president anymore.

If Rod Blagojevich boycotting his own impeachment trial sounds arrogant, it’s because he’s very arrogant.

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Dave, a.k.a. Oklahoma Lefty, laments the “vicious cycle” of polarizing and demonizing in our nation’s political discourse. He was reacting to a Red Stater post about Rush Limbaugh responding to an Obama “attack” against the right-wing crusader, in which Limbaugh declared, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

Says Dave:

Now I know that Rush Limbaugh did not create this concept, it has been alive and well throughout our history, but the fact that he made it a rule for his own discourse is disturbing and frankly disgusting. Limbaugh holds lots of sway with millions of Americans and the fact that he has chosen the low road, deciding to follow a very un-Christ-like way of behaving, shows his partisan hypocrisy and shortsightedness. Instead of being the better man and standing above the fray of those who just throw insults, he has decided to lead the fray.

To those who find this type of behavior disturbing and disgusting, the way to beat it is not by joining it. Every time a liberal reacts to this type of attack discourse, they are only making the problem worse. Those who make their living off the fray, like Limbaugh, just use it as example claiming that they are the righteous and the liberals are the evil ones (and thus the liberals with the same type of mindset respond by calling Limbaugh and company evil and on and on and on). We must stop the insanity!!!

I am not saying that we shouldn’t disagree, debate, and/or have dialogues. Our country is built on the concept of debate drive compromise and that is a good and healthy thing that we must never lose. What we do need to lose though is this ridiculous way of behaving. Our civil discourse looks more like a bunch of kindergarteners fighting on the playground over the tire-swing than the workings of the greatest country in the world. Grow up people. We are better than this.

I agree, except for his very last sentence. I’m not convinced that our nation or our politics “are better than this.” There’s certainly not much evidence in recent history that would support this specific notion. We certainly should be better than this.

That point aside, Dave is spot on.

Obama to GOP: ‘I won’

President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning - but he also left no doubt about who’s in charge of these negotiations. “I won,” Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar with the conversation.

From President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address:

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

From the Inaugural benediction by Rev. Lowery:

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around — (laughter) — when yellow will be mellow — (laughter) — when the red man can get ahead, man — (laughter) — and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen –

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: — and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)

From Alan Colmes‘ radio show:

Ann Coulter parodied on SNL:

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