* “This (downing of a Malaysian airliner) is how delivering advanced weapons to bandits ends.”–Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
* “Until the crash of Flight 17, Putin was quietly waiting for the West to lose interest in the (Ukrainian) conflict and expecting the sanctions to gradually erode. That calculation has changed.”–Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times.
* “Western European nations, especially Germany and France, are heavily dependent on Russia for gas and oil. But the Russian gas and oil industry–the mainstay of the country’s economy–is heavily dependent on Western investment. … Now Russia has no empire–no Soviet Union, no Warsaw Pact, no Comintern–and its economy is intertwined with global markets.”–Fred Kaplan, Slate.
* “You see people like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, who has an economy (GDP) the size of Italy–he’s playing a poker game with a pair of twos and winning.”–Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
* “I don’t care if it’s legal. It’s wrong.”–President Barack Obama, in denouncing U.S. corporations that use legal means to avoid U.S. taxes through overseas mergers.
* “There’s a suspicion among a lot of people that Obama doesn’t much care for politics. It’s amazing that a man can be so successful at something he really doesn’t like. It’s like if you found out that Peyton Manning didn’t like to play football.”–James Carville.
* “This is the single biggest flaw in U.S. climate policy. Although the Administration is moving forward with climate change regulations at home, we don’t consider how policy decisions in the United States impact greenhouse gas emissions in other parts of the world.”–Roger Martella, former general counsel of the EPA, on America’s increasing coal exports.
* “If you look at the difference in tenor between the on-camera briefings and the on-the-record-but-off-camera gaggles, it’s night and day.”–Jay Carney, former White House press secretary.
* “If Democrats win the South and hold the Senate, it will probably be because of Southern black voters. … Democrats lamented low black turnout for decades, but Southern black turnout rates today rival or occasionally exceed those of white voters.”–Nate Cohn, New York Times.
* “This kind of comment just shows he’s a profile in cowardice and his presidential ambitions are more important to him than any kind of policy stand.”–Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration reform America’s Voice, in response to Sen. Marco Rubio’s reversal on the Deferred Action program.
* “The reality is that New York boasts the highest taxes in America, the highest costs of living in the country, and one of the worst business climates in the nation. Conversely, by every objective measure, Florida continues to be one of the best states in which to start a business and raise a family.”–Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, in responding to New York’s TV ad campaign designed to lure businesses to the Empire State.
* “Texas is motivated to go after the commercial (rocket-launch) market. Whatever it costs, they will do it, and unless Florida becomes more motivated, we’re going to lose this market.”–Space Florida adviser Laura Seward.
* “As a matter of my Christian faith, I believe in traditional marriage. But as a matter of constitutional principle I believe in a form of limited government that protects personal liberty. … I believe it is fully appropriate for a state to recognize both traditional marriage as well as same-sex marriage …”–U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores.
* “Our ability to attract intellectual capital, our ability to attract those millennials, our ability to attract those bright professionals from all over the globe to come here and be a part of this community, particularly to be a part of the urban core, depends upon places just like this.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn at the official ribbon-cutting of the Aloft Tampa Downtown, a 130-room boutique hotel on the Hillsborough River.
* “The transformation of (downtown) Tampa that you are about to see — much of it driven by (Jeff) Vinik — will be the most significant since 1884 (when Henry Plant brought his railroad to Tampa).”–Hotel developer Lou Plasencia, CEO of the Plasencia Group.