Bonus Quotes of the Week

"I do view China as a potential military threat to the United States....They've indicated that they're trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat."

- Herman Cain (note to Cain: China has been "nuclear capable" for about a half a century -- it currently has around 3000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal).

It troubles me that Cain is imploding so badly as of late because I really would like to see him give Romney a run for his money. But I love how radical right wingers like Limbaugh and Coulter are trying to blame Democratic operatives for leaking the Cain sexual harassment story, which makes no sense politically given that every Democrat knows that Cain has no chance of getting the nomination (i.e., every Democratic operative out there would do everything in his or her power to keep Cain viable for as long as possible because it hurts Romney, who will almost certainly be the GOP nominee).

Either this leak came from a rival GOP campaign (somewhat likely) or from someone who worked for or was once a business associate of Cain and has a grudge against him (highly likely).

And here is another quote from this week that I liked. It's from retired Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), and he made these remarks yesterday while testifying in front of the so-called Super Committee:

“Just a quick note about Grover Norquist. If Grover Norquist is now the most powerful man in America, he should run for president. There’s no question about his power. And let me tell you, he has people in thrall. That’s a terrible phrase. Lincoln used it. It means your mind has been captured. You’re in bondage with a soul.

“So here he is. I asked him. He said, ‘My hero is Ronald Reagan.’ I said, ‘Well, he raised taxes 11 times in his eight years.’ And he said, ‘I know. I didn’t like that at all.’ I said, ‘Well, he did it. Why do you suppose?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. Very disappointing.’ I said, ‘He probably did it to make the country run, another sick idea.’”

Grover Norquist is, of course, the anti-tax crusader who has secured pledges from a majority of Republican members of Congress -- including all six GOP Super Committee members -- to never vote to raise taxes under any circumstances, even during times of war (which goes a long way to explaining why we have such a huge deficit right now). I've long felt that signing such a pledge displayed a deep hatred for America, and I'm glad to see that the GOP is starting to pay a political price for such lunacy.