"From a friend watching the Olympics: 'How about that Michael Phelps? But let's remember he didn't win all those medals, someone else did. After all, he and I swam in public pools, built by state employees using tax dollars. He got training from the USOC, and ate food grown by the Department of Agriculture. He should play fair and share his medals with people like me, who can barely keep my head above water, let alone swim.'

"The note was merry and ironic. And as the games progress, we'll be hearing a lot more of this kind of thing, because President Obama's comment — 'You didn't build that'— is the political gift that keeps on giving. 

"They are now the most famous words he has said in his presidency. And oh, how he wishes they weren't."

"If Democrats are so supportive of Obamacare’s trillion dollar price tag, its devastating impact on jobs, its assault on religious freedom, its suffocating impact on small businesses, its middle class tax hike, and the higher health care costs that it’s already delivering, then vote against repeal. 
 
"If, on the other hand, they think all these things are an argument to start over, join us in voting it down. 
 
"This week, we learned Obamacare will also exacerbate a shortage of doctors nationwide. One would think lawmakers would welcome a chance to reevaluate their original votes in light of reports like this. 
 
"Sadly, the Democrats who worked so hard to pass Obamacare are now afraid to reaffirm — or repudiate it — with a vote. 
 
"They’re simply too afraid to cross the president, and they’re afraid to show the voters who sent them here that they continue to support this terrible law despite everything we’ve learned about it."

"The Tea Party trumped the institution in Texas on Tuesday, propelling attorney Ted Cruz to an upset victory over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the nationally watched Republican primary for the Lone Star State's open U.S. Senate seat. 

"Cruz, a 41-year-old Cuban-American who is expected to win the general election in November (Texas hasn't elected a Democrat statewide since 1994), has pledged to bring his unbending conservatism to the upper chamber. The Tea Party’s upset win is significant given the widespread rumors of its demise. But Cruz’s victory signals that the grassroots movement has not just endured but is now woven into the fabric of the Republican Party, some observers say.

"In the race to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Cruz defeated Dewhurst by an impressive 14 points in the runoff election for the GOP nomination."

"Mitt Romney’s trip to Israel was spun by most commentators as an attempt to appeal to American Jewish voters. More importantly, though, it sent a message that under Mr. Romney’s leadership, the United States would no longer be ashamed to seek peace through strength.

"President Obama’s theory of Middle East peace is based on the standard leftist critique that U.S. favoritism toward Israel is the major impediment to reaching an agreement. His fawning outreach to Muslim states was intended to level the playing field, to allow America to act — in his view — as an honest broker. That effort has been a stunning failure."

"At the urging of Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 Navy SEAL mission, according to an explosive new book scheduled for release August 21. The Daily Caller has seen a portion of the chapter in which the stunning revelation appears.
 
"In 'Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him,' Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the 'kill' mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama’s close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him to hold off each time, according to the book.
 
"Miniter, a two-time New York Times best-selling author, cites an unnamed source with Joint Special Operations Command who had direct knowledge of the operation and its planning."

"Obama hasn't only attacked small businesses; his war against Americana is much more wide-sweeping. He has embarked on an unmistakable course to reward sloth, dependency and covetousness and punish hard work and achievement. He has stood on its head the old adage that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish. 

"Nor has he fostered a climate of voluntary Christian charity. He hasn't even encouraged fishermen to give their fish to others. He doesn't want them to do it on their own. He insists on government's taxing and regulating the fishermen and their fishing poles -- not to mention a surtax for crossing the roads and bridges leading to their fishing ponds -- and impounding their fish for redistribution to those he is discouraging from even visiting the pond, much less grabbing a pole."

"For a long time, the United States had one economy. Now we have two economies that compete for America's wealth: A private economy and a public economy. The 2012 election will decide which will be subordinate to the other. One economy will lead. The other will follow. ...

"Today the private and public economies are in head-to-head competition for the nation's wealth — with the private economy calling that wealth capital or income, and the public economy calling it tax revenue and making moral claims for spending tax revenue. ...

"President Obama is right: This is a choice between two paths into the American future, the clearest choice since the end of World War II. It is a mandate election.

"Barack Obama is explicitly seeking a mandate to make the public economy pre-eminent. That is the unmistakable meaning of 'You didn't build that.' His opponent so far is talking about, but not seeking a mandate for, the other economy. One expects that in time Mitt Romney will seek a mandate equal to Mr. Obama's."

"In the most recent Gallup data, from June, the two parties are at absolute parity, with 30 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats, 30 percent as Republicans, and 39 percent as independents. This partisan parity remains largely in place even when Gallup adds 'leaners' (independents who lean toward one party or the other) to the GOP and Democratic numbers. ...   

"So, Mr. or Ms. Conservative, before you scratch your head at the next poll that has your liberal cousin doing handsprings, check first to see whether the ratio of Republicans to Democrats is close to what Gallup has found. If it isn’t, pay no mind. It’s just another exercise in 'Garbage in, garbage out.'"

"Since so many in the media cannot resist turning every tragedy into a political talking point, it was perhaps inevitable that (1) someone would try to link the shooting rampage at the Batman movie in Colorado to the tea party movement, and that (2) some would try to make it a reason to impose more gun control laws. 

Too many people in the media cannot seem to tell the difference between reporting the news and creating propaganda. ...  

"The real problem, both in discussions of mass shootings and in discussions of gun control, is that too many people are too committed to a vision to allow mere facts to interfere with their beliefs, and the sense of superiority that those beliefs give them. 

"Any discussion of facts is futile when directed at such people. All anyone can do is warn others about the propaganda."

"One reason our country is so divided is because the president keeps dividing us. If taxes need to be raised to fight a war or fund a cause, the president should ask everyone to pitch in. If the need is national, the solution should be national -- and that includes all of us. 

"But that's not how Mr. Obama governs. We learned during the 2008 campaign that he believes in spreading the wealth around. And recently we learned he doesn't believe that successful people made it on their own. Without the government, the president tells us, job creators and entrepreneurs would not be able to make it in America.  

"It's really the other way around. Without job creators and the successful, the government wouldn't have any money. So next time Mr. Obama meets someone in the top 1% or even the top 20%, instead of saying they're not paying their fair share, he should simply say thank you."