Opinions to go Online

* “If we all did everything that we have a legal right to do, we could not even survive as individuals, much less as a society.”–Thomas Sowell, author and senior fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

* “The fact is, the American story is not just the story of limited government; it is the story of limited but energetic governments that used aggressive federal power to promote growth and social mobility. George Washington used industrial policy, trade policy and federal research dollars to build a manufacturing economy alongside the agricultural one.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy’s deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed. It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill.”–Former President Jimmy Carter.

* “The GOP is worried. It’s very hard to deal with the Tea Party movement. It’s like fighting guerrilla warfare with them.”–James Thurber, American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.

* “I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven.”–Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell of Delaware.

* “Hill Democrats hint that she (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) might step down in the event of a GOP takeover, whatever its size…But a bigger loss might provoke an even uglier leadership shakeup. Younger up-and-comers such as Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen or Florida’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz would be encouraged to challenge the old guard (Steny Hoyer).”–Jay Newton-Small, Time magazine.

* “A temporary federal debt reduction value-added tax would be the most efficient and fair means to reduce the national debt.”–Former U.S. Rep. Sam Gibbons.

* “Rick Scott and I need to have some more discussions on critical need issues that were helped by the stimulus dollars.”–Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, chairman of the Florida Legislature Budget Commission.

* “We don’t want incremental change. We want Jeb Bush II.”–Barney Bishop, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida, which is backing Rick Scott for governor.

* “I’m still waiting for (Marco) Rubio to come clean on his kitchen renovation paid for with an RPOF American Express card. Know this: There is a very good reason why Rubio and the Republican Party of Florida have failed to provide copies of actual card expenses for Rubio and other party bosses. People who have nothing to hide, don’t hide.”–Chris Ingram, Republican political analyst, Bay News 9.

* “Everybody sees what you’re doing. Everybody gets it. For 20 years you ran as a Republican on the same things you are now criticizing me for.”–Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio to independent candidate Gov. Charlie Crist at last week’s Univision-hosted debate.

* “The real opposition is the uneducated voter.”–David Singer, campaign manager for Moving Hillsborough Forward, the political committee advocating for the transit tax.

* “I try to be as straight as I can. I’m not trying to mislead anyone, but there are certain things you can’t elaborate on. I understand everyone has a job to do, and I try to cooperate, but I just feel like people don’t need to know everything.”–Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman on his philosophy in dealing with the media.

What if a Gainesville yahoo masquerading as a red neck preacher with a couple of dozen congregant cretins and an outrageous, self-serving agenda threw a press conference, and no one showed? Just Terry Jones, a U-Haul, a Wally Watt shed and the remnants of a Deliverance II casting call.

Obviously that’s a rhetorical question.

Since when does the media turn down red meat?  Especially now that local goes global in a YouTube click. This is Hearst on steroids. Think any outlet–or delusional blogger–wants to get beat on “Attention-Attracting Dolt Threatens Harmful Gimmick”? So what if the Rev(iled) Terry Jones is hijacking the news to the world’s detriment? Slop the presses. 

And, no, there’s no turning back. Genies rebottle more easily. The Faustian media can now parlay iniquity and ubiquity, a daily double to die for.

Ironically, the U.S. Constitution is an enabler. We worship freedom of speech in the Thomas Paine abstract and tolerate its eclectic, sometimes offending, manifestations–from lap-dancing to flag- and -holy book burning. The price we pay to live in a free society. We know it by heart.

But, of course, there are exceptions. The classic yelling of “Fire!” in a crowded theater. Even if an Adam Sandler movie is playing. The right of a pro-Castro crowd to assemble and march in Little Havana. It’s clear-and-present-danger stuff. It’s also common-sense stuff. Too bad they aren’t synonymous.

From President Barack Obama to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Gen. David Petraeus, the response to Jones’ Koran-burning threat was more than finger-wagging, furrowed-brow disapproval. It was a plea to refrain from doing something beyond the blatantly stupid, geopolitically counterproductive and culturally insulting. And it was an entreaty to not present a propaganda bonanza to Islamic fanatics and the Muslim “street.”  But most of all, it was an appeal to not put lives needlessly at risk. American lives. Overseas, American G.I. lives, for openers.

As sure as American lives were lost in the aftermath of the viscerally outrageous Abu Ghraib torture-and-humiliation footage, more would be sacrificed as a result of Jihadist pep rallies that would not have stopped with burning effigies of Uncle Sam.

Surely, such a predictably tragic scenario can’t be an extension of the price we’ve agreed to pay for allowing the freedom of expression for the unpopular and the objectionable. Would that unnecessary American deaths were merely unpopular or objectionable outcomes — and not Exhibit A for clear-and-present dangers.

Americans are already in harm’s way. Why take the side of harm?

“The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.”

Talk about blockbuster quotes. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, 84, has gone from “History will absolve me” to nullifying his own legacy near the end of his revolutionary life. Wow.

Chances are, Castro wasn’t misquoted by Jeffrey Goldberg, a well-regarded national correspondent for the Atlantic magazine. He wouldn’t have gotten the Castro interview otherwise.

But anyone who’s been around journalism knows how these things can happen. Here’s a scenario.

If you want straightforward, detailed information out of an interview, do it in an office, where note-taking is easy. If you want a more informal atmosphere, one more conducive to impression and rapport and ambience–as well as irony, candor, humor and hyperbole–go to lunch. Wine always adds to the food for thought. Goldberg and Castro did lunch.

And while nuance is always a challenge, much more so if you’re using a translator.

Context is key. No less so because it’s a stop-the-presses quote. Castro subsequently claimed that while he was not misquoted, per se, he was certainly misinterpreted. As it turns out, he meant the “opposite” of how it came out, he claimed.  He emphasized that the “capitalist system no longer works”–for anybody. He then asked: “How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba.”

Perhaps after too much reminiscing, too much speculating, too much rhetorical flourishing and too much imbibing, Castro really was conveying this: “Look, Jeff, I’m a major historical figure. I led a revolution that all but the most hard-core Batistianos knew was necessary. In the name of Marx and Lenin, I created Fidelisimo, a monument to myself. Not even Che or Camilo could handle it. It kept me in power and the U.S.–dear Uncle Scapegoat–played along. I played the Soviet card, and wanted those missiles. The world came to the nuclear brink. I would have pushed it over, if I had my way.

But that was then, and this is now. We need subsidies from Venezuela. We’re second only to North Korea for having the most ideologically incompatible economic model in the world. But, no, I’m not about to disavow my legacy over lunch.

The last two years have reminded the world that unfettered capitalism is self-destructive. But, yes, I do have a problem with investment concessions we have to make to stay afloat. We’ll be the only country in the world with ration cards and luxury, golf course condos! From rampant corruption under Batista to hypocritical apartheid under Raul. How’s that for a model?”

In which case, Goldberg did him a favor.

* “Science can lift people out of poverty and cure disease. That, in turn, will reduce civil unrest. The key is education in science–particularly mathematics, medicine and engineering.”–Stephen Hawking.

* “The nation faces a nasty dual deficit problem: a painful jobs deficit in the near term and an unsustainable budget deficit over the medium and long term…The best approach is a compromise: Extend the tax cuts for two years and then end them altogether. Ideally only the middle-class tax cuts would be continued for now.”–Peter Orzag, former director of the (Obama) White House Office of Management and Budget.

* “I have no problem with people saying the president is trying to stimulate growth and hiring. Isn’t that what I should be doing?”–President Barack Obama.

* “Presidents and politicians of both parties have promised for years to provide college opportunities for everyone and measure progress by the percentage of students enrolled. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that college doesn’t make sense for everyone.”–Michael Barone, author and senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner.

* “I think every election in America is going to be about Barack Obama. I don’t care if it’s dogcatcher of Kalamazoo or governor of Florida. And that’s good for Republicans, no matter how divisive our primaries were.”–Orange County Republican chairman Lew Oliver.

* “He looks so sincere, so earnest when he’s telling you something 180 degrees from what he said last week. It’s a Rorschach test he has to let the voters project onto him what they want to see.”–University of Florida political scientist Dan Smith on independent U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Charlie Crist.

* “According to the FBI, Florida leads the nation in public corruption. Yet few investigative and prosecutorial resources are directed at overseeing Florida’s biggest unit of government–state government. That is because the Capitol is located in Tallahassee, which has a small state and federal prosecutor presence.”–Dan Gelber, Democratic nominee for Florida attorney general.

* “It’s flattery. They’re scared I am a true constitutional conservative, a.k.a. a libertarian, and Rubio’s not.”–U.S. Senate Libertarian candidate Alex Snitker on pressure to drop out of the race and not strip votes from Republican candidate Marco Rubio.

* “Without modern transit, we will continue to lose ground to more  progressive communities and suffer an erosion of our business and employment base.”–Gary Sasso, chairman of the Tampa Bay Partnership and chairman of Moving Hillsborough Forward.

* “I try to be as straight as I can. I’m not trying to mislead anyone, but there are certain things you can’t elaborate on. I understand everyone has a job to do, and I try to cooperate, but I just feel like people don’t need to know everything.”–Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman.

* “One of our finest citizens. Now the ‘Big Coach’ has called him home. He’s done the work that God wanted him to do.”–Monsignor Laurence Higgins on the late Rev. Abe Brown.