“That’s what journalists do”

“You know, I wanted to sit on a jury once, and I was taken off the jury. And the judge said to me, ‘Can, you know, can you tell the truth and be fair?’ And I said, ‘That’s what journalists do.’ And everybody in the courtroom laughed. It was the most hurtful moment I think I’ve ever had.”

- Diane Sawyer , July 12

Iranian President “Cries A Lot”

“A number of people have already said, ‘Is there anything surprising, personal about [Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad that we didn’t know?’ Well, it turns out, someone told me he cries a lot. That he is dramatically sentimental and sympathetic if someone comes up and expresses a personal plight. So I just asked him, are you often in tears?”

- Diane Sawyer

“It’s George Bush that he doesn’t like”

“He was not what I expected. He was very dignified. He was warm, friendly. He likes the U.S. It’s George Bush that he doesn’t like. He also was very personal. He talked about how hard his life was, that he wished he could be in love but you can’t be when you are heading a country.”

- Barbara Walters , March 16, 2007

Republicans refuse government spending

“Now we have this tax-averse society, rallied by the Republicans, tax-averse, where everything becomes sort of a right-wing, libertarian refusal to let government spend any money or raise any money.

- Eleanor Clift

Volunteer Army Produces Poor Results

“If it’s an all-volunteer Army, you get people who join up because of some problem in their own lives. They don’t have anything else to do, they don’t have a job, or they can’t find what they want to do, so they join the Army. And it doesn’t produce the best Army.”

- Andy Rooney

Clinton speaks to Matthews’ heart

“When I watched him [former President Bill Clinton] at Mrs. King’s funeral, I just have never seen anything like it….There are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple.”

- Chris Matthews

Religion major contender as “root of all evil”

“Religion may not be the root of all evil, but it is a serious contender. Even so it could be justified, if only its claims were true. Even so it could be justified, if only its claims were true. But they are undermined by science and reason. Imagine a world where nobody is intimidated against following reason, wherever it leads.”

- Richard Dawkins

God of Old Testament is “unpleasant”

“The God of the Old Testament has got to be the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous, and proud of it, pretty, vindictive, unjust, unforgiving, racist.”

- Richard Dawkins

Religion falsely passed on by parents to kids

“Innocent children are being saddled with demonstrable falsehoods. It’s time to question the abuse of childhood innocence with superstitious ideas of hellfire and damnation. Isn’t it weird the way we automatically label a tiny child with its parents’ religion?”

- Richard Dawkins

Treason has a whole new meaning

“This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors.”

–speaking of global warming opponents

- Robert F. Kennedy Jr