By , ,
Published December 24, 2015
Power Play looks back at 2010 as they said it.
“As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?’’
-- Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley answering a Boston Globe reporters question about her lack of public events. Opponent Scott Brown won the Jan. 19 special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy by five points.
“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."
-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talking about President Obama’s national health-care law in a speech to the National Association of Counties.
"Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe and four guys jumped on top of me!"
-- Rep. Eric Massa on “Glenn Beck” explaining claims of sexual misconduct brought against him by a former staffer. Massa subsequently resigned.
“This is a big ---- ing deal.”
-- Vice president Joe Biden whispering to President Barack Obama after introducing him during a White House East Room ceremony to sign the Health Care Bill the president championed.
"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
-- President Obama to NBC News when asked if a laggardly federal response to the Gulf oil leak was due to over reliance on outside experts.
“God, what is that hair? So yesterday.”
-- Republican California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in front of a camera, and on an open microphone before a CNN interview referring to what she claims “everyone says” about Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer’s hair. Fiorina lost to Boxer by 10 points.
“Ground Zero Mosque supporters, doesn’t it stab you in the heart as it does our throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.”
-- Tweet from Sarah Palin.
“If we don't do this right, anger will explode in Muslim world. This crisis could become much bigger than Danish cartoon incident.”
-- Ground Zero mosque backer Imam Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf warning of violence if Muslims feel that Americans blocked the construction of the 15-story mosque.
“The papers don’t elect our officials!”
-- Rep. Charlie Rangel celebrates his primary victory in Harlem despite scandal charges and a call to resign from the president of the United States and most major newspaper editorial pages. Rangel was eventually censured by the House, but allowed to keep his seat.
“This afternoon, I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.”
--President Obama giving a small nod to his predecessor in an Oval Office address on the continuing drawdown in Iraq.
"Colorful."
-- Republican Connecticut Senate nominee Linda McMahon when asked to describe her husband, wrestling magnate Vince, and his boat, named "Sexy Bitch" on the CBS Evening News. McMahon lost to Democrat Richard Blumenthal by 12 points.
“I was a corn-packer. I know that term is offensive, to some people, because corn-packer is a derogatory term for a gay Iowan."
-- Congressional testimony of comedian Stephen Colbert, given as his television character, a pompous, bombastic conservative talk-show host, to the House Judiciary Committee on behalf of the United Farm Workers.
“Taliban Dan Webster: Hands off our bodies. And our laws.”
-- Narrator in an ad from Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) accusing Republican challenger Daniel Webser of religious extremism. Grayson lost the election by 17 points.
“I’m not a witch. I’m nothing you’ve heard. I’m you.”
-- Republican Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell in a campaign ad aimed at controlling damage from a 1999 chat show appearance in which she claimed to have dabbled in witchcraft in high school. O’Donnell lost by 17 points.
“Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up, tell her to bow down before a false idol, and say his god was Aqua Buddha?”
-- Narrator in an ad from Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway about opponent Paul’s membership in a secret society during college. Conway lost by 12 points.
"You can choose who your partner is. I think that birth has an influence, like alcoholism and some other things. But I think that, basically, you have a choice."
-Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck on whether being gay is a choice, on NBC "Meet the Press." Buck lost to incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet by 1 point.
“I sued EPA, and I’ll take dead aim at the cap and trade bill.”
-- West Virginia Democratic Senate candidate Joe Manchin before firing a round through a copy of President Obama’s global warming legislation in a campaign ad. Manchin defeated Republican John Raese by 10 points.
“Man up, Harry Reid.”
-- Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle in a debate, suggesting that the Senate majority leader take a more frank view of Social Security funding. Incumbent Harry Reid did, and won by 6 points.
“He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I’m concerned.”
-- Democratic Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio talking to Providence radio station WPRO about President Obama’s failure to endorse him over independent candidate and former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee. Caprio came in third, 13 points behind the winner, Chafee.
“They certainly don't suggest that Republicans are on the precipice of some big electoral wave."
-- Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe in a Web video for Democrats saying the early signs he sees don’t point to big GOP gains.
“Now, I'm not recommending for every future President that they take a shellacking like they -- like I did last night. I'm sure there are easier ways to learn these lessons. But I do think that this is a growth process and an evolution.”
-- President Obama in a post-election press conference lamenting his loss of connection with the American electorate.
"I am at peace. I was honored to serve the country. I gave it my all. I'm not desperate to try to shape a legacy, because I fully understand that there needs to be time for history to be able to analyze -- for historians to be able to analyze the decisions I made."
-- Former President George W. Bush to Sean Hannity during Bush’s publicity tour for his best-selling book, “Decision Points.”
“This is the public option debate all over again. So I pass a signature piece of legislation where we finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats had been fighting for for a hundred years, but because there was a provision in there that they didn't get … that somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise.”
-- A visibly irritated President Obama answering a reporter’s question about where his core principles lie after agreeing to not raise taxes on the wealthy.
"If I had to choose sides today, I'd choose the Taliban."
-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai after identifying his three main enemies as the Taliban, the United States and the international community to Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and others according to the Washington Post.
"At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance — or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage — it's about an individual's right to choose to participate."
-- U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in his order declaring unconstitutional the provision in President Obama’s national health-care law that requires all Americans to buy private insurance or enroll in a government program.
"It is going to look Republican. The only question is how Republican."
-- Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger (R) to the Dallas Morning News discussing post-Census redistricting. Texas will gain four seats in new congressional apportionments. Of the dozen electoral votes and House seats that will shift as a result of the Census, Washington is the only reliably Democratic state that stands to gain. The big losers are either swing states like Ohio or Democratic bastions like New York, which both will lose two seats.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/the-year-in-quotes