Category: Best Line of the Day

“Mr. Leader,” one stunned journalist observed, “I don’t remember you being so exercised over something before.”

“You’ve never seen me in heart surgery,” the senator, a transplant specialist, replied.

Dr. Frist’s patients — not to mention the Tennessee medical licensing board — may be surprised to learn that he had operating-room rage.

— Dana Milbank describing Senator/Doctor Frist’s reaction to the Senate Rule 21 session Tuesday

“No convictions? That’s, ahem, is not something the Majority Leader may be able to say about himself much longer.”

– Whiskey Bar, responding to Senator Frist’s complaint about the Democrats, “They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas.”

Also from Billmon (Whiskey Bar): “Outside of a nursery school, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard such a chorus of crying and whining from a bunch of babies before. ”

“By Bush administration standards, the choice of Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve was just weird.

“For one thing, Mr. Bernanke is actually an expert in monetary policy, as opposed to, say, Arabian horses.”

— Paul Krugman, who adds:

“All of this raises a frightening prospect. Has President Bush been so damaged by scandals and public disapproval that he has no choice but to appoint qualified, principled people to important positions?”

“The administration’s performance during its first four years would have been even worse without [then Secretary of State Colin] Powell’s damage control. At least once a week, it seemed, Powell trooped over to the Oval Office and cleaned all the dog poop off the carpet.”

— Lawrence B. Wilkerson (Powell’s chief of staff) in the Los Angeles Times

Someone should have trained the dog.

“Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, ‘Jesus this cup is expensive!'”

— Conan O’Brien

Thanks to Jenny Miller and Bears Will Attack for making NewMexiKen’s Best Line of the Day a featured link.

“Move over Eddie Haskell. Harriet E. Miers could teach you a thing or two about sucking up.”

Robin Abcarian, The timeless art of flattery in the Los Angeles Times

“In four years, our parents’ generation was able to defeat the Nazis and Japan simultaneously, whereas in four years since 9/11, we haven’t even gotten our first-responder communications systems talking to each other.”

— Richard Clarke, quoted by Andrew Tobias

“Saddam Hussein went on trial today. I had no idea he worked in the Bush White House.”

— Jay Leno

“We are so deeply in the red now with Iraq and tax cuts and Katrina, even the Republican Congress is getting concerned. Their solution? Cut health care for the poor, food stamps, and student loan programs. It’s what Jesus would have done.”

Andrew Tobias

“He’s turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he’s miserable and depressed.”

David Frost via Google’s personalized home page

“Twenty years or even 10 years ago ABC’s ‘Commander in Chief’ would have been a sitcom, not a drama.”

Tina Brown in You’ve Come a Long Way, Ladies. Worthy of a click.

Another good line: “Like Condi Rice, who sacrificed so much of her personal life to become a policy nun …”.

“Now when I try to watch there is so much scrolling and popping up that I can’t see the play on my television. I don’t care that LaDainian Tomlinson has two receptions for 8 yards in the first quarter of another game that I am not even watching.

“There’s a reason why people watch TV — because they don’t want to read.”

Comedian Lewis Black on “Inside the NFL” on HBO quoted via Sideline Chatter

“President Bush is taking more liberal positions. For example global warming. He used to be against it. Now it’s the Republican plan for heating homes this winter.”

Jay Leno