Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, poking fun at himself and his much-publicized debate gaffe on David Letterman’s talk show.
Actually, there were three reasons I messed up last night: 1) was the nerves and 2) was the headache and 3) um…uh…oops.
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Amelia Perry, mother of Gov. Rick Perry, interrupting a sermon at her church when the pastor made a general statement that politicians lie.
John, my son is the governor of the great state of Texas. And he is not a liar.
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Comedian Stephen Colbert, in his mock defense of state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who last week made headlines when he used an ethnic slur during a public hearing.
Get off his back, media.
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Phil Bryant, the Republican lieutenant governor of Mississippi and co-chair of the Yes on 26 campaign.
. . . the evil dark side that exists in this world is taking hold. And they’re saying, what we want you to be able to do is continue to extinguish innocent life. You see, if we could do that, Satan wins.
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David P. Gushee, distinguished professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University in Georgia, on religion in politics.
Precisely as a Christian, I call for my fellow Christians to try an experiment. For lack of a better term, let’s normalize, even secularize, our approach to the next election. Ask all candidates to drop the God talk. Recognize and reject all forms of religious pandering. Punish candidates who make base appeals to religious tribalism. Evaluate candidates according to their past performance and current policy proposals related to the major challenges facing our nation. Read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution for a refresher. Pastors, stay home and preach the Gospel rather than being precinct captains. If you want to engage in relevant political reflection, wrestle in your sermons with how constitutional democracy and broad Christian moral principles relate to each other.
