«It's more than likely there will be leadership elections in January. We don't want to go into an election year without a permanent majority leader.»

«There's kind of a left-right coalition against it.»

«It was intense. This is a tough one.»

«That has brought home the fact that we need not just new leaders but a course correction.»

«I think the heavier lifting is the budget-process and earmarks [reform]. Lobbyist reform is blaming somebody else. I just fear that there will be too much blaming and not focus on what we need to do.»

«I encouraged him to get in the race as a way to draw the others out.»

«The enormous cost of this proposal will only hasten Medicare's insolvency, and we'll have to rely on future Congresses to have the political courage that this Congress lacks,»

«[Since then Mr. Hastert and his fellow GOP leaders have skillfully used their narrow majority to win an amazing number of close votes without having to negotiate much with Democrats. But gradually the fear of losing their majority has also begun leading them to behave more and more like the big-spending Democrats they unseated.] Holding the majority used to be viewed as a means to an end--the end being promoting freedom and limited government, ... Now, holding the majority seems to be an end in itself--holding onto power for the sake of holding onto power.»

«The Scanlon thing, the Cunningham thing, I think you have more people waiting for the other shoe to drop.»

«If we make the decision that federal money will follow the child, we should make it a voucher. That's a Republican principle.»