Quotes of the day

In the United States, we have a huge inventory of unoccupied homes. We have trillions of dollars of mortgage debt. We need a government-sponsored enterprises to encourage more homebuilding and more debt about as much as we need a government enterprise to stimulate teenagers to want more sex.--Arnold Kling

There you have the Fannie Mae problem in profile. [Barney] Frank wants you to pick up the tab for its failures, while he still vows to block a reform that might prevent the same disaster from happening again ... the biggest payoff for Mr. Frank is the "affordable housing" trust fund he managed to push through as one political price for the recent Fannie reform bill. This fund siphons off a portion of Fannie and Freddie profits -- as much as $500 million a year each -- to a fund that politicians can then disburse to their favorite special interests.--WSJ Editorial Board

Enduring reform of Fannie and Freddie is a key first step. We will make sure that they are permanently restructured and downsized, and no longer use taxpayer backing to serve lobbyists, management, boards and shareholders.--John McCain and Sarah Palin

... what is Obama saying, he won't be bullied by a 44 year old hockey mom? Stand Tall, Barack - you won't be bullied by Sarah Palin! OMG, is this a secret plan to assassinate Putin by making him laugh so hard he gets an aneurysm?--Tom Macguire

When Obama says, "We need change, but . . .," he casts himself in the role of defender of the status quo. That is quite a turnaround.--James Taranto

My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week. . . . But instead of protecting their precious advantage, they succumbed to a spasm of hatred and threw the vase, the crockery, the cutlery and the kitchen sink at an obscure politician from Alaska ... Hatred is the most powerful emotion in politics. . . . Hate can sell better than hope. When a hate campaign goes wrong, however, disaster follows.--Nick Cohen

All 22 countries covered in the poll would prefer to see Senator Obama elected US president ahead of Republican John McCain. --BBC

Opening with Gen. Casey also says something about [Bob] Woodward. There's a case, I suppose, for using the general who opposed the surge to open what is hailed as the definitive account of that surge (not to mention using Robert McNamara, the Defense secretary who helped lose Vietnam to end the book). Surely, however, that would be the same case for wrapping the definitive account of the strategy that brought Robert E. Lee to Appomattox around Gen. McClellan.--William McGurn