Quotables

‘I’m in a body with a lot of class presidents. They’re all ambitious.’

—Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., after the Nov. 4 election, on the 2016 presidential ambitions of several Senate Republicans.

‘It’s OK to have the same views as your grandparents.’

—Newly elected West Virginia state Rep. Saira Blair, 18, on her message to young Americans. Blair, a pro-life conservative Republican, became the country’s youngest lawmaker with her victory on Nov. 4.

‘I don’t want Korean food. That’s all I’ve been eating for the last two years.’

—Kenneth Bae, whose sister ordered pizza on his first night back in the United States after two years’ captivity in North Korea.

‘Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.’

—Jonathan Gruber, MIT economist and one of the architects of Obamacare, on the “tortured” language used to make details of the landmark legislation unclear while Congress was debating it. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass. … I wish … we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not.”

‘That’s not the only thing you stand for!’

—Top Colorado Democratic donor Leo Beserra heckling U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., as he spoke on women’s “reproductive rights” during a stump speech on Nov. 2. Udall, who lost to Republican Cory Gardner on Nov. 4, earned the nickname “Mark Uterus” for what The Denver Post called his “obnoxious” focus on abortion and related issues during the campaign.