U.S.A.

"I feel like I'm in quicksand, and no matter which way I move, I'm just dragged down deeper. Rove and Schmidt warned me many months ago where we were headed, and about the likely upward trajectory of Obama down the stretch, but we hoped we could pull off a miracle. "POW war hero," "straight talker," "maverick" -- I thought those would make up for the age thing, Bush's unpopularity, the negative feelings so many voters have for anything Republican."

"In this atmosphere, the return of several thousand Palestinian refugees to Israel passed almost without comment. Since the rapid growth of the Israeli economy had attracted many Jews from abroad, the "demographic balance" hardly changed."

"Western governments use religious freedom or freedom of expression to pry open societies closed to western values or totally ignore freedom when it does not concur with their interests. In the case of Karimov’s massacre of Muslims in Andijon, the West has chosen to dilute its response, as the protesters were avid practitioners of Islam and not democracy. Such hypocrisy only serves to underscore the perception amongst Muslims that the America and Europe are solely interested in the utter destruction of Islamic values and practices."

"As the Bush term nears its end, it remains clear that the ‘war on terror’ – though discredited and acknowledged as illegitimate – will be pursued under the watch of either Obama or McCain. Neither of them has given any clue that they are aware of the nightmare of Bush’s legacy from which people are struggling to awake."

"If Barack Obama is to be chastised for "palling around with terrorists", then what about George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, even John McCain? All of these people have palled around with Sharon and other former terrorists of the Zionist movement."

"...I say that it is important to listen to what she says, not how badly she says it. And don't make fun: be afraid."

"If Gates continued to serve in the next administration, he might very well have to deal with the effects of his own sleight of hand. Gates’s truthfulness is also limited by the fact that it was concentrated narrowly on military procurement and (the lack of counterinsurgency) doctrine. What Gates should have said was that the historical record indicates that military invasion by a foreign power rarely changes deep-rooted political, economic, social, and cultural norms in the target of the attempted “nation-building”--usually rendering such armed adventures pure folly."

"Along with throwing mud and benefitting from racism, McCain stands to gain from the fact that the national Republican Party now has a lot more money in the bank than the Democratic Party does. And in many states, a wide range of anti-democratic measures -- including purges of voter rolls and very unreasonable requirements for voter ID on Election Day -- will work to the benefit of the McCain-Palin ticket."