“I think the blowback against me, especially the ad hominem attacks, was unfair. And I think that these ad hominem attacks — calling the Department of Justice, where I proudly served, the Department of Jihad — are disgusting," – Charles “Cully” Stimson, former head of detainee policy at the Pentagon who was forced out in 2007 after saying that he was shocked that major law firms were representing Gitmo detainees pro bono.
Isikoff calls Stimson the "most surprising signer" of the Wittes letter.
"I would rather give up my law license than represent Osama bin Laden's driver, for example. And I take a very dim view of the decision by Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal to undertake that representation. However, I would not deserve to have a law license if my personal views on this matter caused me to launch vicious, unfounded attacks on lawyers who exercise their right to represent despicable clients," – Powerline's Paul Mirengoff.
by Chris Bodenner
Props to Cliff Stoll for owning up to his terrible prediction:
Of my many mistakes, flubs, and howlers, few have been as public as my 1995 howler. Wrong? Yep. At the time, I was trying to speak against the tide of futuristic commentary on how The Internet Will Solve Our Problems. […A]s I've laughed at others' foibles, I think back to some of my own cringeworthy contributions. Now, whenever I think I know what's happening, I temper my thoughts: Might be wrong, Cliff…
Er, a reader writes:
Cliff Stoll was actually wrong even *more* spectacularly than that: he wrote an *entire book* on why everything we have now would never come to pass: Silicon Snake Oil. He doubled down on his crappy prediction. He was just making a living by being a contrarian “expert”, is all. Now? Well, hully gee, he makes Klein Bottles . . . and sells them online.
Buy some bottles here (and you gotta love the Web 1.0 design).
"Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic. Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works," technology writer Clifford Stoll, in a 1995 Newsweek piece entitled, "The Internet? Bah!"
"Rosa Parks did not move to the front of the bus to support sodomy," – congressional candidate Barb Davis White (R-MN), on marriage equality.
"You're damn right, Dick Cheney's heart's a political football. We ought to rip it out and kick it around and stuff it back in him. I'm glad he didn't tip over. He is the new poster child for health care in this country," – Ed Schultz.
"Team Obama’s anti-anti-missile initiatives are not simply acts of unilateral disarmament of the sort to be expected from an Alinsky acolyte. They seem to fit an increasingly obvious and worrying pattern of official U.S. submission to Islam and the theo-political-legal program the latter’s authorities call Shariah. … [T]he new MDA shield appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star with the Obama campaign logo," – Frank Gaffney, columnist for the Washington Times and a Fox News contributor.
"You almost need that blank piece of paper [to be a politician]. That's the new model. Like, you know, this coconut Rubio down in Florida," CNBC commentator Donny Deutsch. If you don't know what a "coconut" is, see Urban Dictionary.
"It reminds me of an event that took place in this country and around the world in the late 1930s. During that period of Nazism and fascism's growth – a real danger to this country and democratic countries around the world – there were people in this country and in the British parliament who said 'don't worry! Hitler's not real! It'll disappear!" – Senator Bernie Sanders, on climate change skeptics.
"It’s sad the incident in Texas happened, but by the same token, it’s an agency that is unnecessary and when the day comes when that is over and we abolish the IRS, it’s going to be a happy day for America. … I don’t know if his grievances were legitimate, I’ve read part of the material. I can tell you I’ve been audited by the IRS and I’ve had the sense of ‘why is the IRS in my kitchen.’ Why do they have their thumb in the middle of my back. … It is intrusive and we can do a better job without them entirely," – Congressman Steve King (R-IA).
The Dish 