* “As my wiser professors used to tell me, history doesn’t repeat itself; historians and economists repeat each other.”–Zachary Karabell, Time magazine, in underscoring that comparisons of the current recession with the Great Depression are overplayed.
* “The President didn’t send me over here to seek a graceful exit.”–Gen. David Petraeus, commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
* “In 2008 the ratio of Democratic Jews to Republican Jews was far more than three to one. Now it’s less than two to one. This is no doubt a reaction, at least in part, to the Obama administration having taken a hard rhetorical stance with Israel, while taking ‘special time and care on our relationship with the Muslim world,’ as Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, put it in June. If that sounds like courtship, it is.”–Charles M. Blow, New York Times.
* “What is distinctive about ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) … is firstly that there is no loss of sensation (a mixed blessing) and secondly that there is no pain. In contrast to almost every other serious or deadly disease, one is thus left free to contemplate at leisure and in minimal discomfort the catastrophic progress of one’s own deterioration.”–Historian Tony Judt who died recently of ALS.
* “Islamophobia has become the accepted form of racism in America. You can always take a potshot at Muslims or Arabs and get away with it.”–Muslim-American writer and commentator Arsalan Iftikhar.
* “(Jeff) Greene might see himself as an upstanding family man, but his yacht is bad, bad, bad. It’s an embarrassing, headline-making connection–the Levi Johnston of boats.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.
* “If our ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of illegal immigration into the United States and, of course, Florida, then we have to accept the reality that it is jobs that are the big draw.”–State Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, who has drafted a bill that calls on all businesses to use E-Verify, a federal online employee verification database.
* “BP’s promise to ‘make things right’ appears to be all PR for the damage done to the world’s perception of Florida’s pristine beaches, which was very seriously damaged. BP should be held accountable for both the damage done and the repair of that perception.”–Tim Bogott, CEO of St. Pete Beach’s Tradewinds Island Resorts.
* “We will have missed the point unless the lesson learned from the gulf oil spill is that the way we create and consume energy is simply unsustainable.”–Susan Glickman, director of the Florida Business Network for a Clean Energy Economy.
* “No one knows better than me what a good campaigner he is. He’s just got a lot of energy and knows the state.”–Jim Davis on Rod Smith, gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink’s choice as running mate.
* “Ms. Sink has obviously benefited from all those negative ads that have gone on between Scott and McCollum–no doubt about it.”–Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac University’s Polling Institute, whose latest survey showed Sink outpolling Scott and McCollum for the first time.
* “I believe in regionalism, and I believe the assets of the region belong to all of us.”–Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.