Written By : John Hawkins

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. — Joe Biden

Republicans should defend any investment houses that never benefited from a government bailout. But anyone who took huge gambles, lost and got bailed out with taxpayer money should be tortured and then shot, miraculously brought back to life, tortured some more, then shot a few more times. — Ann Coulter

It’s going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries “uncle” — Jim DeMint

Yes, in the midst of snOMG, my personal favorite, we find that non-essential parts of the government shut down. Turns out, that’s almost everything except national defense. — Dan Gainor

This being a democracy, don’t the Democrats see that clinging to this agenda will march them over a cliff? Don’t they understand Massachusetts? Well, they understand it through a prism of two cherished axioms: (1) The people are stupid and (2) Republicans are bad. Result? The dim, led by the malicious, vote incorrectly. — Charles Krauthammer

Democratic opposition to George W. Bush — from Iraq to Social Security reform — constituted dissent. And dissent, we were told at the time, including by candidate Obama, is “one of the truest expressions of patriotism.” No more. Today, dissent from the governing orthodoxy is nihilistic malice. — Charles Krauthammer

Charismatic leaders have done this country and this world a lot of harm. — Chris Matthews

If you want to get serious about it, these guys claiming that the snow in Washington disproves climate change are almost unpatriotic. It’s really, they’re denying science. — Bill Nye

And it may be that … if Congress decides we’re not going to do (health care), even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not. And that’s how democracy works. There will be elections coming up and they’ll be able to make a determination and register their concerns one way or the other during election time. — Barack Obama

A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year. This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service. — Michelle Obama

Even by 2020 – which Obama’s planners assume will be a time of peace and prosperity – annual deficits would still exceed $1 trillion. By that point, nearly a fifth of all taxes would go toward paying the interest on this record debt. — Brian Riedl

That’s the guts of it. At age 65, average Americans live for another 18 years. Government now subsidizes each of them an average of about $25,000 a year (almost $14,000 Social Security, $11,000 Medicare). We cannot sensibly afford all these subsidies without oppressive tax increases (see above), deep cuts in defense and other programs or immense budget deficits that someday might trigger another financial crisis. Bond buyers might balk at swallowing so much government debt. By the administration’s estimates, that publicly held debt (the accumulation of all annual deficits) balloons from $5.8 trillion in 2008 to $18.6 trillion in 2020.

Eligibility ages for both Social Security and Medicare should be gradually raised to 70, coupled with a requirement for people to buy into Medicare at 65. Wealthier retirees should receive lower Social Security benefits and pay more for Medicare. Programs that have outlived their usefulness need to be abolished: farm subsidies, for instance. Even with these cuts, future taxes would need to rise. Unless you’re confronting these issues — and Obama isn’t — you’re evading the central budget problems. — Robert Samuelson

I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation. Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman? — Michael Steele

The presidency is like a woman’s virtue. If it’s spread around too much, it loses its value. — Cal Thomas

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