Quotes by Norm Ornstein

“Hes putting a marker down that an awful lot of his colleagues have been unwilling to do.”

“You can help, but the credibility is not going to come from HHS. Some of it could come from [Homeland Security] and FEMA, but a lot of it has to come from the president himself.”

“This is a place where oversight matters,”

“so why bother nominating anyone but a fire-breathing conservative.”

“giving aid and comfort to their adversaries.”

“[The administration, he said, has tried to rebound from the widespread criticism of initial recovery efforts with a stepped-up federal response and regular visits to the Gulf region.] The president has been all over the map there to help out and commit the governments full resources and the expectation was it would have people talking again about his compassionate conservatism, ... But it just hasnt worked out.”

“so why bother nominating anyone but a fire-breathing conservative?”

“Before election night or the next morning, I would have said the chances for a rematch are zero, that the loser would be quickly forgotten. But were in a different world now.”

“Its not what you really want at a time when the public is not very happy with you.”

“The fact is he is worried. Republicans in the house are worried that this could be a huge flameout for Tom DeLay.”