Say What?
Here are just some quotes, which I gleaned over the last year or so from the “Say What?” column on http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/
I guess these are some of the quotes which made me ask, "Say What?" the most.
"For the majority leader of the United States Senate, in the time of war, with soldiers dying on the ground, announcing that we have lost the war, is very close to treasonous. I looked it up while we were driving over here, what the definition of 'treason' is. It's the betrayal of trust."
-- Tom DeLay, 2007
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy....President Clinton has never explained to the American people why he was involving the US military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military-foreign policy precedent. Was it worth it to stay in Vietnam to save face? What good has been accomplished so far? Absolutely nothing."
-- then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay, 1999, a month into the US mission in Kosovo
"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
-- former CIA director George Tenet, in his forthcoming book At the Center of the Storm
"How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? The answer: not very damn many."
-- Dick Cheney, 1992
"How many additional dead Americans was Saddam worth? Our judgment was not very many, and I think we got that right."
-- Dick Cheney, 1994
"Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place?....It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq."
-- Dick Cheney, 1994
"I thought the decision was sound at the time, and I do today."
-- Dick Cheney, 2000
"I think it's almost beyond dispute that we were right to overthrow Saddam and the threat his regime posed."
- John Bolton, 11/4/07
"I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I've ever seen or ever read about. They have failed the country."
-- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel
"It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress. I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong."
-- former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, on Karl Rove's insistence that Congress rushed the country to war in Iraq
"Does the [Iraq war] make America safer?"
--Senator John Warner
"I don't know, actually."
-- General David Petraeus, in his testimony before the Senate Tuesday, September 11, 2007
"The US once had the capability to engineer the clandestine overthrow of governments. I wish we could get it back."
-- former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, on Iran
"All International Consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process. Congratulations to the new Iraq!"
-- Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17, protecting U.S. security contractors, June 27, 2004
"Well, we've always known that Democrats seem to revert to type, and they are willing to raise taxes on just about anything."
-- WH Press Secretary Dana Perino, asked if Americans should be asked to make financial sacrifice to help pay for the war
"Sometimes people acted like cowboys in WWII, and I wouldn't want the Nazis lecturing us on how to run Germany after we kicked them out."
-- Joe Scarborough, on Iraqi criticism of Blackwater
"Well, I'm not sure it is either. I'm not sure it is either. It depends on how it's done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it."
-- Rudy Giuliani, on waterboarding not being torture
"There are different ways of doing it. It's like swimming -- freestyle, backstroke."
-- Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), asked if waterboarding is torture
"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself."
-- Republican Party platform, 2008
"I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people."
-- Sarah Palin
"I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."
-- John McCain, 2000
"I just don't see how he can win...He has lost his brand as a maverick; he did not live up to his pledge to fight a clean campaign."
-- Rep. Chris Shays, CT co-chair of McCain campaign, on McCain
I guess these are some of the quotes which made me ask, "Say What?" the most.
"For the majority leader of the United States Senate, in the time of war, with soldiers dying on the ground, announcing that we have lost the war, is very close to treasonous. I looked it up while we were driving over here, what the definition of 'treason' is. It's the betrayal of trust."
-- Tom DeLay, 2007
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy....President Clinton has never explained to the American people why he was involving the US military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military-foreign policy precedent. Was it worth it to stay in Vietnam to save face? What good has been accomplished so far? Absolutely nothing."
-- then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay, 1999, a month into the US mission in Kosovo
"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
-- former CIA director George Tenet, in his forthcoming book At the Center of the Storm
"How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? The answer: not very damn many."
-- Dick Cheney, 1992
"How many additional dead Americans was Saddam worth? Our judgment was not very many, and I think we got that right."
-- Dick Cheney, 1994
"Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place?....It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq."
-- Dick Cheney, 1994
"I thought the decision was sound at the time, and I do today."
-- Dick Cheney, 2000
"I think it's almost beyond dispute that we were right to overthrow Saddam and the threat his regime posed."
- John Bolton, 11/4/07
"I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I've ever seen or ever read about. They have failed the country."
-- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel
"It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress. I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong."
-- former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, on Karl Rove's insistence that Congress rushed the country to war in Iraq
"Does the [Iraq war] make America safer?"
--Senator John Warner
"I don't know, actually."
-- General David Petraeus, in his testimony before the Senate Tuesday, September 11, 2007
"The US once had the capability to engineer the clandestine overthrow of governments. I wish we could get it back."
-- former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, on Iran
"All International Consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process. Congratulations to the new Iraq!"
-- Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17, protecting U.S. security contractors, June 27, 2004
"Well, we've always known that Democrats seem to revert to type, and they are willing to raise taxes on just about anything."
-- WH Press Secretary Dana Perino, asked if Americans should be asked to make financial sacrifice to help pay for the war
"Sometimes people acted like cowboys in WWII, and I wouldn't want the Nazis lecturing us on how to run Germany after we kicked them out."
-- Joe Scarborough, on Iraqi criticism of Blackwater
"Well, I'm not sure it is either. I'm not sure it is either. It depends on how it's done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it."
-- Rudy Giuliani, on waterboarding not being torture
"There are different ways of doing it. It's like swimming -- freestyle, backstroke."
-- Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), asked if waterboarding is torture
"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself."
-- Republican Party platform, 2008
"I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people."
-- Sarah Palin
"I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."
-- John McCain, 2000
"I just don't see how he can win...He has lost his brand as a maverick; he did not live up to his pledge to fight a clean campaign."
-- Rep. Chris Shays, CT co-chair of McCain campaign, on McCain
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