"The Republican argument that raising the debt ceiling encourages additional future spending is logically irresponsible. The debt ceiling has to be raised to authorize spending already approved by Congress. Despite that fallacy, the GOP has been able to score political points with its argument."

"It's time to let science and medicine, not politics and rhetoric, lead us to good, sound policy."

"The irony is that it was tougher to rent a car from Cerberus when it owned Alamo than to buy a semi-automatic. To rent a car, one had to provide ID, a drivers' license, and get insurance coverage. To buy a gun? Cash and carry, from the back of a station wagon at a gun show. No concerns about downstream liability or risk."

"Companies that pollute should be taxed so that a product's cost to society is reflected in the price of that product."

"Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't."

"Never underestimate the power of the river of time shapes the stones of destiny."

"Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done."

"It is a steadfast truth that the test of character in leadership is how one behaves in moments of unvarnished power — an essential principle for the reflective life."