“That’s a bunch of hooey. I mean, it seems to be a collection of actually old hooey brought into a piece of new hooey.”

– White House spokesman Tony Snow, responding to a reporter’s question about a Washington Times story saying the Bush administration is planning a “dramatic change of direction” in Iraq.

“This election will not be settled on blue vs. red. It will be settled on purple.”

– Cato Institute Executive Vice President David Boaz, co-author of a recent study that concluded Libertarian voters will probably abandon the Republicans they usually support because they are disillusioned with GOP overspending, social intolerance, civil liberties infringements and the war in Iraq.

“I’d prefer drug and alcohol testing of members of Congress themselves.”

– U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Guthrie, a Libertarian, as quoted by the Seattle Times about Republican candidate Mike McGavick’s proposal to require drug testing of welfare recipients.

“Water treatment plants have been shut down by the accumulation of dead bodies in canals.”

– Bechtel Iraqi Project Director Cliff Mumm, testifying before a congressional committee about the challenges of trying to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure in the midst of Sunni-Shiite violence.

“He gave people of his generation, or my generation, of future generations, the courage to do whatever they wanted to do.”

– Dean Hara, 49, following the death of his 69-year-old husband, former Massachusetts congressman Gerry Studds, who won re-election after being censured by the House in 1983 for a previous sexual relationship with a male page.

“We were friends and trusted each other as brothers and loved each other as brothers.”

– The Rev. Anthony Mercieca, saying no sex was involved in his relationship with former congressman Mark Foley, R-Fla., who has accused the Roman Catholic priest of abusing him when Foley was a boy.

“What I see, pretty much across the country, are judges under siege.”

– Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, talking about a wave of state ballot measures intended to curtail the authority of courts.

“Whether it’s good or bad is not my job. My job is simply to say if those things you find desirable are contained in the Constitution.”

– Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, defending his judicial philosophy during a debate with the president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I hate to say he only ran over my feet, but I should have been dead or crippled.”

– Former Mead High School cross country coach Pat Tyson, quoted in the Eugene Register-Guard about having his feet run over by a car when he was jogging in Lexington, Ky.

“So many people coming here every year and there is enough bread for everyone. It’s amazing.”

– New U.S. citizen Nadezhda Ivanova Deynega, who was born in Russia, came to the United States a decade ago and was naturalized last week in Spokane at age 99.