Jay Carney: “The President…spends a relatively small amount of time campaigning.”
Senate majority leader Harry Reid: “In spite of the conservative obstructionism, we’ve been able to get a lot of good things done. [According to congressional scholar Norman] Ornstein said it was the most productive Congress in the last 75 years.”
Democrat Congresswoman Donna Edwards to Occupy D.C. people, as part of a chant: “It’s not fair, it’s not right; It’s time for us to occupy America.”
Occupy D.C. protestor leading a chant: “I just rode the elevator.”
President Obama: “I intend to do everything in my power right now to act on behalf of the American people with or without Congress. We can’t wait for Congress to do its job. So where they won’t act, I will.”
President Barack Obama of the GOP: “You got their plan, which is let’s have dirtier air, dirtier water, (and) less people with health insurance,”
President Barack Obama, for about the 100th time: “This jobs bill is fully paid for. This jobs bill contains the kinds of proposals that Democrats and Republicans have supported in the past. And now, I want it back. It is time for Congress to get its act together and pass this jobs bill so I can sign it into law.”
Sen. John Kerry, D-mass.: “I believe this is, without question, the Tea Party downgrade. This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered even the will of many Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal.”
President Obama told a crowd at a battery plant in Holland, Michigan, that Republicans must “find a way to put country ahead of party.” Then he flew off to do 2 fundraisers.
President Obama on a Balanced Budget Amendment: “We don’t need a constitutional amendment to do that. What we need to do is do our jobs.”
Senate Leader Harry Reid: “I think this piece of legislation [Cap, Cut and Balance] is about as weak and senseless as anything that has ever come on this Senate floor, and I’m not going to waste the Senate’s time day after day on this piece of legislation which I think is anathema to what our country is all about. I feel confident that this legislation will be disposed of one way or the other. The American people should understand that this is a bad piece of legislation, perhaps some of the worst legislation in the history of this country.” In case you don’t get this, he is telling all of the Democrat Senators to shelve Cut, Cap and Balance without giving it a hearing.
Obama: “The truth is, you can’t solve our deficit without cutting spending. But you also can’t solve it without asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share”
President Obama to Republican Eric Cantor, after 5 days of a budget impasse: “Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people on this.”
Thom Hartmann: “[If the debt ceiling is not raised, then we should] close all federal buildings named after Ronald Reagan whose policies brought us this disaster”
Chris Matthews: “There are times when he [Bill Clinton] sounds like Jesus in the Temple.”
President Barack Obama, helping to explain the devastating unemployment numbers: “There’s some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers…You see it when you go to a bank and … you use an ATM, you don’t go to a bank teller. Or you go to the airport, and you’re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate”
President Obama: “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.”
