Quotes yesterday

Senator John Warner on sponsoring a measure requiring an independent 14 member assessment of Iraq.

Warner said he knows that his push for the measure makes it appear that he does not trust Bush, Petraeus and Crocker to provide an honest report. "I accept that critique," he said in an interview. "But what are we to do? Be totally reliant on the executive branch for their analysis?"

Josh Marshall at the end of a rather interesting post on the Republican politics of Iraq.

The truth is that the president is playing a very high-stakes game of chicken with his fellow Republicans. He's driving a hundred miles an hour toward the cliff, way too fast to jump out of the car without risking serious injury. But as the cliff gets closer, they'll start to jump.

Mitt Romney when asked about his repeated donations to his own campaign,

At the news conference, The Boston Globe reported, Mr. Romney, asked why he was putting more money in, said: “Because I have to, all right? My message is important and critical to get out into this country.”

And, of course, two from our president.

"I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle," The Sun quoted Mr. Bush as saying. "He's bigger than that. This is just background noise, a distraction from big things."

I'm sure Tony appreciates the repetition, and

"You know, I've heard all the rhetoric -- you've heard it, too -- about how this is amnesty. Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally, and this bill does that."

Which, after being seized on by the right, required a prompt and sweeping "correction" from Tony Snow.