“I don’t care if we are ever here.”
— An irked H. Lee Scott Jr., chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Inc., about the company’s unsuccessful attempt to open a store in New York City
“He tarnished our image worse than anyone else in the history of the department.”
— Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline, on Officer Anthony Abbate, involved in a videotaped beating of a bartender
“I have decided to follow my lawyer’s advice and respectfully invoke my constitutional right.”
— Monica Goodling, U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales’ counsel and White House liaison, refusing to answer questions at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the firing of eight U.S. attorneys
“The distinction between ‘political’ and ‘performance-related’ reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial.”
— Kyle Sampson, a former Gonzales aide, in testimony before the Judiciary Committee
“In case anybody’s thinking of shortchanging it that way, I have a message for them: We’ll finish this investigation before we’ll have any confirmation hearings for a new attorney general. I want to know what the facts were.”
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee
“I have to admit we really blew the way we let those attorneys go. You know you’ve lost it when people sympathize with lawyers.”
— President Bush, joking at a journalists’ banquet in Washington that features humor
“I presume there was no mirror in your dressing room.”
— “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell to contestant Sanjaya Malakar about his hair
