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“My great fear is that we are quickly approaching a situation where our two major political parties are not only distinguished by whether they are ideologically liberal or conservative but also by whether they actively support and defend basic liberal democratic norms and institutions or not. In the past, both the Republican and Democratic parties have been honorable defenders of American democratic norms and institutions. It is difficult to say, though, that the Republican Party as a whole is strongly committed to defending liberal democratic values right now.” ~ Dr. Benjamin Knoll, Ph.D., Contributor John Marshall Harlan Associate Professor of Politics, Centre College, “Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the future of American democracy are at a crossroads”, 02/26/2017, huffingtonpost.com

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“Our concern was military members showing a partisan political allegiance to a person as opposed to the Constitution or the country. They simply cannot — in uniform in military vehicles and in an official capacity — show partisan political leanings.” Lt. Jacqui Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, said in a statement to The Washington Post that punitive actions were taken but declined to comment on the precise nature of the punishment or how many individuals were affected. (from “A special warfare unit flew a Trump flag in public. Now the Navy is punishing its members.” March 1, 2017)

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“Where enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard.” ~ Justice Stephen Breyer’s dissent in McCutcheon v. FEC (2014) (Dissenting)

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“We don`t want any quid pro quos. But anxious quid are happening here and  quos are happening here and as long as they show up at the same dinners and go to work at the same offices, they can kind of merrily clink glasses and that is the world of big-time campaigns.” ~ Chris Hayes, “All In with Chris Hayes”, January 24, 2014 (From show transcript: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/54192344/ns/msnbc-all_in_with_chris_hayes/)

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“It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.” ~ Barack Obama, Labor Day, ca. Sept. 6, 2010 (as reported on Friday, September 17, 2010: Obama: ‘The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label’, By The Building Tradesman)

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The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. … anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. …A Mrs. Powell of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” ~  Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” (Benjamin Franklin) http://www.ourrepubliconline.com/Quote/41

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“I have no feeling for the electorate anymore. It is not responding the way it used to. Their priorities are so different that if I tried to analyze it I’d be making it up.” ~ John H. Sununu, the chief of staff for the first President George Bush, on his confusion with the rise of Donald J. Trump and the struggles of Jeb Bush. [“George Bush at 91: Invigorated and Irritated by ’16 Race”, By Jonathan Martin and Matt Flegenheimer, 2015-October-25]

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“The confrontation was not created by the police. The confrontation was created by the people who charged the police. Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all. The policeman isn’t there to create disorder. The policeman is there to preserve disorder.” ~ Mayor Richard J. Daley, Around the time of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, ca. August 28, 1968 (It’s surprisingly hard to find a precise date for this very famous quote. ~ Mike)

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“I call them the ‘blue meth Republicans’. … They`re obsessed with the purity of their views. They want 96 percent pure.” ~ Howard Fineman, 9/25/2013 on “Hardball with Chris Matthews”, referring to his article in the Huffington Post. (See video excerpt here.)

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“If you’re a journalist who writes about the Secret Service, it ought to be more disconcerting to you when Google customizes advertisements for weapons and commando courses based on your search queries.” ~ Mark Ambinder & D.B. Grady, page 244 of “Deep State: Inside The Government Security Industry”, (C) 2013

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“Yes, Lawrence, you talked about how international security
has become the third rail of American politics, the idea, the suggestion,
that you would trim back what is a massive, massive effort costing us
billions of dollars a year, an effort that has 1.2 million or 3 million
people, Americans with classified top-secret access. I mean, this is a
city — it is a city of surveillance and it is built on the foundation of
fear and I think a lack of substantive cost-benefit analysis on whether or
not we should even have this infrastructure in place.” ~ Alex Wagner, on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, June 11, 2013

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“I am not a consensus politician. I am a conviction politician“ ~ Margaret Thatcher, upon assuming leadership of the Conservative Party in 1975.^[1

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“Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn’t place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.” ~ Jamie Raskin, as a law professor testifying to the Maryland State Senate in 2006. He subsequently ran for the State Senate, and in 2012 cast one of the deciding votes for marriage equality in Maryland. (Poster here.)

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“People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.”  ~ Bill Clinton, Democratic Convention Speech (Wednesday, August 27, 2008)

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“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” ~ Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels (Excerpted from my article) UPDATE (2014-JAN. 31): I have begun to doubt that this is a ‘real’ quote. More to come.
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“We’re the most liberal country ever. We were the first with gay marriage, there’s legalized prostitution, legalized pot… I mean, if all your viewers would start a country, it would be Holland.” ~ Erik Mouthaan, RTL Dutch News anchor, during an interview with Rachel Maddow (Feb 24, 2012)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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It’s funny in the way that compassionate Republicans or Congressional ethics are funny: they’re widely theorized to exist, many people are certain they’re out there, researchers claim to have witnessed their presence, and theoretical frameworks have been built around the idea… yet their existence remains unproven. ~ alias John Doppler Schiff, Thu Mar 8, 2012 8:22 PM EST, Discussing an ‘inside’ physics joke about the Higgs Boson

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“You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts” ~ Sometimes attributed to the late NY Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D)

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” ~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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“Don’t agonize. Organize.”~ Nancy Pelosi (Feb. 22, 2012 during an interview with Rachel on The Rachel Maddow Show)

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“The Ronulans are not happy.” ~ Doug Wead, Ron Paul Campaign Sr. Advisor (on The Rachel Maddow Show, Feb. 14, 2012) discussing the 2012 GOP Maine Primary

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“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”~ Frederick Douglass, born February 14th, 1818

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“I don’t support autocracy in your society if I don’t want it in my society.”   ~   Prof. William Easterly of New York University,  proposing a standard of reciprocity in international relations, as cited by Nicholas Kristof

“Is the Arab world unready for freedom? … That should be our new starting point. I’m awed by the courage I see, and it’s condescending and foolish to suggest that people dying for democracy aren’t ready for it.” ~ Nicholas Kristof

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“Right Wingers are always trying to rewrite history because they never look good in the original version.” ~ Don Millard (aka @OTOOLEFAN), January 12, 2012

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“In this House we are all, in our own way, scared of the Rebekah Brookses of this world…The barons of the media, with their red-topped assassins, are the biggest beasts in the modern jungle. They have no predators; they are untouchable. They laugh at the law; they sneer at parliament. They have the power to hurt us, and they do, with gusto and precision, with joy and criminality. Prime Ministers quail before them, and that is how they like it. That, indeed, has become how they insist upon it.” ~ Tom Watson, a Labour Party member on the committee that will grill News Corp executives next week, from remarks made in Parliament September 2010. He has described the failure to tackle alleged press abuses as parliament’s “tawdry secret that dare not speak its name.” From Reuters, 7/15/2011.

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“Congress is like a prison & you get a shiv in the back unless you have a gang. Anthony Weiner did not have a gang.”~ Alex Wagner (@alex_wags), on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Jun 16, 2011

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“We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes…” – Leona Mindy Roberts Helmsley (July 4, 1920 – August 20, 2007), billionaire, New York City hotel operator and real estate investor.

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Former RNC Chair Michael Steele’s Advice for New DNC Party Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (May 11, 2011 on The Rachel Maddow Show):

1. Have someone watch your back … And then have someone watch them.

2. Remember: You can’t please everyone, But you can certainly tick them all off at the same time.

3. Have fun!

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“One’s own employees ought to be one’s own best customers. Paying high wages is behind the prosperity of this country.” ~ Henry Ford

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” ~ Henry Ford

“Where people work longest and with least leisure, they buy the fewest goods. No towns were so poor as those of England where the people, from children up, worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day. They were poor because these overworked people soon wore out — they became less and less valuable as workers. Therefore, they earned less and less and could buy less and less.” ~   Henry Ford

“There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” ~  Henry Ford