"By now, it ought to be obvious why President Obama has wanted his health care overhaul passed quickly. It would be (and now will be) inconvenient to promote expanded government health spending while simultaneously pledging to rein in future budget deficits -- when unrestrained health spending is a major cause. It's like promising to go on a diet but first treating yourself to one last binge.

"The Congressional Budget Office confirms the dire fiscal outlook. From 2011 to 2020, the CBO projects cumulative deficits of $6 trillion. By 2020, the debt to economy (GDP) ratio rises to 67 percent, up from 40 percent in 2008. Unfortunately, these projections incorporate assumptions, required by law, that are optimistic. Many tax cuts, backed by both parties, are assumed to expire. Adjusting for this and other dubious assumptions could increase deficits by another $6 trillion or more over the decade. By 2020, the debt-to-GDP ratio could approach 100 percent, near its post-World War II peak."

"On the KSM civilian trial, sentiment is widespread that it is quite insane to spend $200 million a year to give the killer of 3,000 innocents the largest propaganda platform on earth, while at the same time granting civilian rights of cross-examination and discovery that risk betraying U.S. intelligence sources and methods.

"Accordingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Frank Wolf have gone beyond appeals to the administration and are planning to introduce a bill to block funding for the trial. It's an important measure. It makes flesh an otherwise abstract issue -- should terrorists be treated as enemy combatants or criminal defendants? The vote will force members of Congress to declare themselves. There will be no hiding from the question."

"Tonight’s speech was about addressing the Democrats’ political problems. They know the American people are fed up with the backroom deals, hyper-partisanship, and one-party rule. So, unsurprisingly, the president took on lobbyists and partisanship. He wants to be seen as both rising above it and not responsible for its consequences. That’s what all of the rhetoric was about: moving the president away from the problems he’s created. Beyond the soaring rhetoric, however, it should be clear: This administration is not budging when it comes to policy. It’s not ready to change tune."

"Some conservative Beltway analysts are cheering Obama’s fiscal freeze follies as a step in the right direction, a rhetorical victory and a 'good start.' Pardon me for not joining in the standing ovation for the latest performance of White House kabuki theater. Praising the president for carrying on the charade of budget reform because a few piddling cuts are real is like complimenting the Naked Emperor’s fingernails: So he didn't have any clothes. At least his cuticles were real. It’s a start!"

"The president from Oprah Nation, says Newsweek, suffers from an 'inspiration gap'; the prevailing wisdom is that he's too cool and detached for his own political good. Are they kidding? Should the president now take squealing lessons from Howard Dean?

"Mr. Obama's real problems are of a different stripe. It's not as if he lacks for charisma. It's that he believes too much in the power of charisma itself and specifically too much in his own."

"I am a registered Independent. I voted for Barack Obama. And for that, I am sorry.

"I'm not sorry for you. I'm sorry for me. Because I voted for Obama for me, not for you. I voted for hope and change and all the intangibles that Obama was peddling in the wake of the financial crisis, Sarah Palin, Sept. 11 and all the other ills that shook our country in the last decade. I wanted something new. Something different. What I got was, I suppose, exactly what I voted for - a spin doctor. And not a very good one at that...

"Like many others, my view is narrow. I vote for the candidate I think will be best for me. I often define myself as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. But above all, I want to feel safe and I don't want to feel that I am being ripped off. I want a president who inspires me and cares about my contribution to the fabric of the country. I want a president with experience and savvy, a Commander in Chief who puts our country and its citizens first.

"I only hope the Republicans can find him the next time around."

"Brown ran on a very specific, very clear agenda. Stop health care. Don't Mirandize terrorists. Don't raise taxes; cut them. And no more secret backroom deals with special interests.

"These deals -- the Louisiana purchase, the Cornhusker kickback -- had engendered a national disgust with the corruption and arrogance of one-party rule. The final straw was the union payoff -- in which labor bosses smugly walked out of the White House with a five-year exemption from a ('Cadillac') health insurance tax Democrats were imposing on the 92 percent of private-sector workers who are not unionized."

"For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process. With today's monumental decision, the Supreme Court took an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights of these groups by ruling that the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues up until Election Day. By previously denying this right, the government was picking winners and losers. Our democracy depends upon free speech, not just for some but for all."

"[F]or the past four decades, American politics has consisted of Republicans controlling Washington for eight to 14 years -- either from the White House or Capitol Hill -- thus allowing Americans to forget what it was they didn't like about Democrats, whom they then carelessly vote back in. The Democrats immediately remind Americans what they didn't like about Democrats, and their power is revoked at the voters' first possible opportunity."

"You want to see my truck?"