Quotes of the day

Via the usual source. Note: Limited selection today. I'm going to try posting just a few selections rather than most of the ones I receive in the email. The full version of today's email brief is available here.

THE GIPPER

“When World War II ended, the United States had the only undamaged industrial power in the world. Our military might was at its peak, and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear weapon, with the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination then, who could have opposed us? But the United States followed a different course, one unique in all the history of mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravished economies of the world, including those of the nations who had been our enemies. May I say, there is absolutely no substance to charges that the United States is guilty of imperialism or attempts to impose its will on other countries, by use of force.” —Ronald Reagan

LIBERTY

“Lots of Iranian people know that the mullahs are losing Iraq, and more of them would know if we had a more accurate and honest press, and an administration capable of explaining the world, and its reaction to it... Our miserable policy, which is to chant ‘we don’t want regime change, we want a change in behavior,’ is doomed, as the whole world has known from the get-go. Paradoxically, this non-aggressive policy is destined to make military conflict inevitable, whoever is the next president. This policy is a preemptive acquiescence to a nuclear Iran, with all the incalculable consequences attendant to it, and is guaranteed to bring us face to face with the Sarkozy option of ‘Bomb Iran, or Iran With the Bomb.’ And yet, the Iranian regime is hollow. So far as we know, they are without atomic bombs and a reliable delivery system. We have defeated them in Iraq and will repeat it in Afghanistan. Their economy is a shambles, their people hate them, they present us with Potemkin weapons systems. It is a political explosion ready to happen, it only needs the support of the West.” —Michael Ledeen

CAMPAIGN WATCH

“Last week, the Obama campaign sent out a letter on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that made two points, one implicit and the other explicit. The implicit point is that Obama himself has no problem raising money for his own campaign, and he’s got the presidency in the bag. The explicit point is that since Obama’s already won this thing, he’s asking donors to focus on supporting Democratic candidates for Congress. Said the letter, ‘We must have a deadlock-proof Democratic majority.’ So the guy running on ‘unity’ and ‘working across the aisle’ has neither the desire nor the intention to foster ‘unity’ or ‘work across the aisle.’ He wants to pound the Republicans into dust so he doesn’t have to deal with them at all. He wants a Democratic majority so lopsided that he can plow his far-left agenda right through. And he wants so many Democrats crawling the hallways of Capitol Hill that he won’t have to work as hard at all that exhausting and pesky persuasion and compromise. Change you can believe in? Sure, as long as it’s only his version of change. Unity? Sure, as long as Republicans are willing to bend to him and his liberal agenda. Working across the aisle? Sure, as long as the Democrats are so dominant that the aisle barely exists. With Obama, watch what he does, not what he says, because the silver tongue promises what the politician has no intention of delivering.” —Monica Crowley