* “Tight margins in Congress do not bring out the best in pols.”–Maureen Dowd, NYT.
* “For many Americans, to be a conservative Republican is to be an evangelical Christian, regardless of whether they ever attend a Sunday service. … White evangelicalism has never been more politically unified than it is right now. In the 1970s, only 40 percent of white weekly churchgoing evangelicals identified as Republicans; in the most recent data, that number has risen to an all-time high of 70 percent.”–Ryan Burge, author of “20 Myths About Religion and Politics in America.”
* “It’s long been fashionable to denigrate the GOP as the party of old, white men. The demographic is still over represented among party office-holders, but that’s fast changing. … Women or racial minorities won 10 of the 15 state legislative seats Republicans captured from Democrats in November.”–Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow Henry Olsen.
* “The larger context of the Republican Party’s attempt to gerrymander itself into a House majority is its successful effort to gerrymander itself into long-term control of state legislatures across the country.”–Jamelle Bouie, NYT.
* “I’m not responsible for rumors, and it’s bullsh*t.”–West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, on speculation that he plans to leave the Democratic Party.
* “This time I’m going to be more selective about who I work for.”–Former Trump lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen, who is now out of jail.
* “Biden was elected to restore a sense of ‘normalcy.’ But these are not normal times, and perhaps the reality is that a normal approach to politics in profoundly abnormal times is a formula for political disaster.”–Charlie Sykes, The Bulwark.
* “Being in the office makes sense. … It’s very important to get the younger employees in the office, collaborating and working hard. … This is where you’re going to create upward mobility. We’re going to be able to do a better job if we’re together. ”–Chris Merrill, co-founder of Harrison Street, a private real estate investment firm.
* “Facebook is not just any corporation. It reached trillion-dollar status in a single decade by applying the logic of surveillance capitalism—an economic system built on the secret extraction of and manipulation of human data—to its vision of connecting the entire world.”–Shoshana Zuboff, author of “Age of Surveillance Capitalism.”
* “If you’re in the position to sell a car, it’s a great time. You’re going to get top dollar for it.”–Matt Degen, Kelley Blue Book editor.
* “It’s just not possible to stop people from catching viruses. It’s a fool’s errand.”–Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.
* “We’d love it if Tampa could evolve into a real critical mass center of blockchain development. This is a great place to live: I’ve said it for a number of years—why not us?”–Tampa Bay Lightning owner and innovation investor Jeff Vinik.