The past week has seen plenty of action in Congress, including the censure of Rep. Paul Gosar for posting an anime-style video that appeared to show him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Senate Republicans meanwhile grilled Saule Omarova, President Joe Biden’s pick for comptroller of the currency. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved to get Biden’s Build Back Better agenda over the finish. Elsewhere, the Kyle Rittenhouse trial wrapped up with a unanimous “not guilty” verdict. Here are the quotes of the week.
“Instead of talking about [Biden’s victories], we’re talking about his approval rating, and we’re especially talking about Kamala Harris’s approval rating being 10 points lower than his approval rating. I think that really speaks to where our country is, you know, ‘Let’s come down on the woman,’ who happens to be the first female vice president that we’ve ever had in this country’s history, which is ridiculous that it’s the first woman that we’ve had, but incredible.”
– The View’s Sunny Hostin says people are down on Vice President Kamala Harris because she’s a woman.
“Heard that Alyssa Farah was terrible on The View — they could have asked the people who know her and saved a lot of time. She was a ‘backbencher’ in the White House and is now a nobody again. We put her out there to face the public as little as possible.”
– Sticking with The View, former President Donald Trump wasn’t a fan of one segment involving his former communications director.
“If the administrative state wants to take me on, bring it. We’re gonna go on offense.”
– Steve Bannon hits out against the “misdemeanor from hell” as authorities released him Monday, with prosecutors not seeking to detain him prior to trial.
“They call him Sheriff Joe for a reason.”
– Press secretary Jen Psaki insists her boss has a well-known nickname.
“Kyle shot Joseph Rosenbaum to stop a threat to his person, and I’m glad he shot him because if Joseph Rosenbaum had got that gun, I don’t for a minute believe he wouldn’t have used it against somebody else. He was irrational and crazy.”
– Kyle Rittenhouse defense lawyer Mark Richards during closing arguments.
“There has been wide agreements on the part of everyone involved, moderates, liberals, etc., that CBO does not have experience analyzing revenue amounts gained from cracking down on wealthy tax cheats, who are taking advantage of every honest taxpayer. Last night, reporters directly asked key Democratic House members whose views run the gamut, including moderates, liberals, folks in between. They universally said this was not an issue at all.”
– Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates shoots down claims that the administration is preparing centrist Democrats to deal with an unfavorable Congressional Budget Office score for the Build Back Better budget reconciliation agenda.
“I, respectfully, am not familiar with the term ‘cages’ and to what you are referring.”
– Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas disagrees with Sen. Ted Cruz’s repeated questions Tuesday about children the lawmaker said were being held in “Biden cages” at the border.
“He does not consider President Xi an ‘old friend.'”
– Bates after Chinese President Xi Jinping called Biden an “old friend.”
“I’ve been concerned at the push that happens in both parties, this push to have no disagreements, to only have unity, or to only speak with one voice. And some will say, ‘Oh, that is our strength.’ Having some disagreement is normal. It is real, it is human. And it’s an opportunity for us as mature beings to work through it.”
– Sen. Kyrsten Sinema shoots down speculation she would switch parties.
“I think threatening the lives of anyone, not just a member of Congress and certainly the president of the United States, should warrant law enforcement attention.”
– Nancy Pelosi on if Gosar could face any criminal liability for his anime video retweet of Ocasio-Cortez.
“We’re not used to failure at state, and in every single possible circumstance, it was failure. You’re failing with the email. You’re failing with getting guidance on what we could do and what we could not do. We weren’t empowered enough. No one really understood what our policy was.”
– A State Department official tells Politico that he or she is still struggling to cope with the ramifications of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“I’m not in charge of the timing. Whatever they want to do is fine with me. If we’re going to vote, vote.”
– Sen Joe Manchin said he is open to a vote on the $1.85 trillion social spending legislation before the end of the year.
“Anime is fiction, to the point of the absurd. It’s not really my thing and does glorify violence, but often to symbolize conflict, not realistic harm to another person. In the last session we had, we reviewed Steve Bannon’s podcast. Today, we’re critiquing Paul Gosar’s anime. Next week, we might be indicting the Wile E. Coyote for an explosive ordinance against the Road Runner.”
– Rep. Matt Gaetz on the censuring of Gosar after the latter tweeted an anime video depicting violence against Ocasio-Cortez.
“It is a sad day in which a member who leads a political party in the United States of America cannot bring themselves to say that issuing a depiction of murdering a member of Congress is wrong.”
– Ocasio-Cortez on the Gosar video.
“The speaker is burning down the House on the way out the door.”
– House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy argues the censure vote is a waste of time.
“Democrats in Congress later this week plan to spend $2 trillion more dollars, which we all know will only exacerbate the already 30-year high inflation. And what are they doing today? Censoring a member for a cartoon. You got to be kidding me.”
– Rep. Jim Jordan on the Gosar censure.
“American families are staring down the barrel of skyrocketing heating bills, and the Democrats’ response is to go to war against affordable American energy. The Biden administration doesn’t have any strategic plan to snap its fingers and turn our massive country into some green utopia overnight. They just want to throw boatloads of government money at things like solar panels and electric vehicles and hope it all works out.”
– Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls out the White House’s energy priorities.
“If I must join Alexander Hamilton, the first person attempted to be censured by this House, so be it.”
– Gosar is not throwing away his shot.
“It is not acceptable that the two wealthiest people in this country, Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos, take control of our space efforts to return to the Moon.”
– Sen. Bernie Sanders isn’t a fan of the billionaire space race.
“The past is the past, and the country is now in a contest to define the future.”
– Rupert Murdoch tells Trump to stop focusing on 2020.
“They’ll have committees. … They may have better committee assignments.”
– McCarthy suggests Gosar and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will return to the committee fray.
“I don’t know whether to call you professor or comrade.”
– Sen. John Kennedy on Dr. Saule Omarova, Biden’s comptroller currency pick.
“Press conferences after a loss are like coworkers emailing you before you’ve had your coffee.”
– Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady on his one-minute press conference following a defeat to the Washington Football Team on Sunday.
“I have instructed that no one from MSNBC News will be permitted in this building. This is a very serious matter, and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is, but absolutely it would go without much thinking that someone was following a jury bus. … That is an extremely serious matter and will be referred to the proper authorities.”
– Wisconsin judge Bruce Schroeder kicks out MSNBC from the remainder of Kyle Rittenhouse trial after an employee was stopped Wednesday night while allegedly following the jury bus.
“I don’t have my computer get bothered with that.”
– Pelosi referring to her ignoring the minority leader’s overnight speech to stall a vote on Biden’s Build Back Better Bill.
“I stand by what the jury has to say. The jury system works, and we have to abide by it.”
– Biden in response to the jury finding Rittenhouse not guilty on all five criminal charges.
