I can’t speak to the psychosomatic or the genetic problems with heart attacks or whatever, but I can speak to power. He [Dick Cheney] wanted desperately to be president of the United States … he knew the Texas governor was not steeped in anything but baseball, so he knew he was going to be president and I think he got his dream. He was president for all practical purposes for the first term of the Bush administration.

— Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, says Dick Cheney “fears being tried as a war criminal,” ABC News reports.

2,000

Copies of her book, “Troublemaker,” that Christine O’Donnell has sold in a two-week-long national book tour.

Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.

— Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus leadership, asserting that Tea Party-aligned lawmakers hold racist views, the Huffington Post reports.

No comment.

— Former vice president Dick Cheney, when asked by USA Today what he’d like his epitaph to read. When asked if he wants his epitaph to read, “No comment,” Cheney replied, “No comment, sure.”

As a leading Republican Party propagandist, Bill O’Reilly often holds himself up as an arbiter of “family values.” In 2004, of course, O’Reilly and his employer settled a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former Fox employee for an undisclosed sum. Now Gawker is reporting that O’Reilly is involved in what ultimately may become [...]

As the pundits parse out who’s dumb and who’s dumber,
Some say that it’s Perry; some say it’s Obama.
But as the debate devolves
And the discourse dissolves,
We, the people, just get number and number.

We all know that hurricanes can be mean,
But that doesn’t excuse the hype ’round Irene.
From reporters in wet slickers
To bombastic news tickers,
We all suffered from that post-traumatic Katrina meme.

My brain is like a chicken pot pie. His is like a refrigerator that is all very organized — pickles here, salad there.

— Rick Perry, quoted by Politico, comparing himself to Karl Rove in 1994.

I think I will call the White House.

— What President Obama’s uncle said when asked by police if he wanted to make a phone after being charged with drunk driving in Massachusetts. He is being held by immigration officials, the AP reports.

He needs to stop staying in hotels and start staying with volunteers at every campaign stop. His job should be to take out the trash every day, and if that bag breaks, he needs to clean it up.

— House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), quoted by the Bakersfield Californian, giving unsolicited advice to Mitt Romney.