The Month in Quotes - August, 2011

Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all. It's crazy. It's crazy. … So, this Sharia law business is crap. It's just crazy. And I'm tired of dealing with the crazies. I mean, you know, it's just unnecessary to be accusing this guy of things just because of his religious background.  Chris Christie (he said it in July, but I didn't hear it till this month)

Governor Christie would have you believe opposition to Mr. Mohammed was sheer bigotry. . ..  It's a narrative Christie fans would like to help cement. It's not true. For the record, Sohail Mohammed is not just an attorney. He served as a board member for an Islamist organization, the American Muslim Union. Andrew McCarthy

"And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely. The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it's exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual.It doesn't deserve the same credit as a legitimate idea about what you do. And the problem is everything is put into this tit-for-tat equal battle and America is losing any sense of what's real, of who's accountable, of who is not accountable, of who's real, who isn't, who's serious, who isn't." John Kerry, with the clarity he usually displays when speaking extemporaneously

"This is a Tea Party downgrade." David Axelrod

“I believe this is without question the Tea Party downgrade.” John Kerry, one hour after Axelrod. They all get the same talking points memo, and follow its instructions. Remember "culture of corruption"?

"When I left I met quite a few soldiers and policemen in hiding who said they had been told to kill the population or be killed by the security forces. Sometimes we would be hiding in the same house." Gaëtan Vannay

“If you walk into somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied, and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you ‘cause you look like you’re crazy. You have damaged your own race.” Michael Nutter

"The model they innovated in that effort was transported whole cloth into the climate debate. And some of the exact same people — by name, I can go down a list of their names — are involved in this. And so what do they do? They pay pseudo-scientists, to pretend to be scientists, to put out the message: 'This climate thing, it’s nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn’t trap heat. It may be volcanoes.' Bulls--t! 'It may be sun spots.' Bulls--t! 'It’s not getting warmer.' Bulls--t!" Al Gore   A list of names? Remind you of anyone, Al?

"It's like the old days. It's bringing the community spirit back. Even though it's a sad way to do it, it's bringing the community together."   "Ariom"

"You dream about it but when it finally happens it's kind of surreal." Jim Thome

"The Tea party can go straight to hell." Maxine Waters

“You don’t want to know. Let’s just say it was me and me. Hell of a way to go, right? Greg Schiano

"Would you consider yourself to be a member of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community?” Admissions Office, Elmhurst College

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar." Drew Carey

"It is a tragic irony that papal economics mimic those of the Church’s socialist opponents." Richard Epstein, who knows a lot about economics, but little about religion

"Who likes wet people?" Michelle Bachmann

"You are a liberal Democrat who advocates the Democratic Party’s positions on gay rights, abortion, and feminism. Which branch of Islam comports with your position on these issues?" Scott Johnson

"So… who had Vermont in the “State Hardest Hit By Irene” pool?" Brendan Loy

"We're not Manhattan, but we have human lives here in Vermont, too." Peter Shumlin