This Week In Quotes: Feb 1 – Feb 7

Every person in the world with a healthy (by which I mean “not self-loathing”) ego naturally over-values his own talents and virtues and naturally under-values — and even denigrates — talents and virtues he doesn’t possess. The first things smart kids teach themselves in fifth grade is that athelticism is overrated, and the first thing the non-academically-inclined kids teach themselves is that “people smarts” are more important than “book smarts.” — Ace, Ace Of Spades HQ

And not only are Republicans governing more than half the country, they are objectively doing a much better job at it than Democrats are. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average unemployment rate in the 25 states controlled completely by Republicans is just 7.2 percent, more than half a point lower than the national 7.9 percent unemployment rate. In the 14 states with full Democratic control, unemployment is 8.4 percent, a full half-point higher than the national average.

The Republican state economies are growing faster too. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the real gross domestic product of the 25 Republican-controlled states has grown almost .25 points faster since 2008 than the real GDP of the 14 Democratic-controlled ones. And they aren’t doing it by going into to debt. The Republican-controlled states on average have a Standard & Poor’s credit rating a full grade higher (AA) than their Democratic counterparts (AA-). — Conn Carroll

Having just lost an election, many Republicans are anxious to remake our party in the image of Democrats. The theory seems to be that whatever we’re doing isn’t working, so we better change everything. — Ann Coulter

These trends suggest that the South will expand its dominance as the nation’s most populous region. In the 1950s, the South, the Northeast and the Midwest each had about the same number of people. Today the region is almost as populous as the Northeast and the Midwest combined. Perhaps more importantly, these states are nurturing families, in contrast to the Great Lakes states, the Northeast and California. Texas, for example, has increased its under 10 population by over 17% over the past decade; all the former confederate states, outside of Katrina-ravaged Mississippi and Louisiana, gained between 5% and 10%. On the flip side, under 10 populations declined in Illinois, Michigan, New York and California. Houston, Austin, Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta and Raleigh also saw their child populations rise by at least twice the 10% rate of the rest country over the past decade while New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago areas experienced declines. — Joel Kotkin

In a microcosm, Rove’s tale of No Child Left Behind is precisely how Americans now find themselves almost $17 trillion in debt, headed down the road to Greece. There are very few areas of the massive federal leviathan that did not begin with some version of Rove’s tale: President X wanted to use the federal government to do Y. It was a wonderful cause, or even a lousy political cause. But whatever the original reason President X got his way and Y program…decades later…is still there. Now deemed essential. Untouchable. And oh so woefully underfunded. The question is obvious. What kind of “conservative victory” is that? — Jeffrey Lord

For someone who was responsible for, again, nobody knows, but a certain amount of death of innocent people as John McCain was, the time spent in a North Vietnamese prison where he claims to have been tortured was probably time spent that a Catholic priest, for example, would find completely understandable. It’s called doing penance, John. You don’t bomb and kill people for no reason, even when corporate America or your daddy, who was the supreme commander of Southeast Asian forces, South Pacific forces, orders you to do it. You can’t just take orders, we decided that at Nuremberg. So, if you suffered, I am sorry for your suffering, I truly am, in and of itself, but John-John-John, did you think about the suffering of the people you bombed and strafed? They were civilians, you know. — Mike Malloy

I am just here to support the President of the United States. President of the United States is our boss, but he is also… you know, the President and the First Lady are kinda like the Mom and the Dad of the country. And when your Dad says something you listen, and when you don’t it will usually bite you on the ass later on. So, I’m here to support the President. — Chris Rock

But courting Hispanics by passing an immigration bill is like courting a woman by e-mailing her your LinkedIn profile. — Avik Roy

[The euro] could last quite a long time, the same way as the Soviet Union, which was a very bad arrangement, lasted for 70 years. However, I think that eventually, it is bound to break up the European Union. The longer it will take, and it may take generations, those will be lost in terms of political freedom and economic prosperity. — George Soros

It bothers me when the Hollywood elite are all so against people having guns and want rigorous gun restrictions. But I am friends with a lot of them, and most have armed guards with them or outside their homes. And I think that is hypocritical. It’s fine to have armed guards, but don’t then tell everyone else they can’t own a gun. — Alana Stewart

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!