Whiners, Gloaters, Scolds, Uniters

WINNERS

“I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent.”

-- President Bush on Nov. 3

“I earned capital in the campaign -- political capital -- and now I intend to spend it.”

-- President Bush on Nov. 4

“I pledge to work with those Democrats who want to work with me to get good things done for the American people.”

-- J. Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House

“I don’t know a single journalist who voted for Bush, not one.”

-- Tucker Carlson, conservative co-host of “Crossfire”

“This is a demoralizing loss for House Democrats and is personally damaging to [Democratic] leader [Nancy] Pelosi.”

-- Tom Reynolds, chairman of the GOP’s congressional campaign effort

“The Bush administration now needs to be more aggressive in pursuing ... [conservative] values, and if they don’t do it, they will pay a price in four years.”

-- James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family

“Last year you elected me and sent me up to Sacramento to create some action, and this is exactly what I’ve done.”

-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California

“[Democrats] are so arrogant and they’re so elitist, they never accept or respect the legitimacy of their own defeat.”

-- Ed Rogers, GOP strategist

“The president is well aware of what happened [over the last four years], when a number of his [judicial] nominees were sent up [for confirmation], with the filibuster.... I would expect the president to be mindful that [judges who would change Roe vs. Wade are] unlikely.”

-- Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the probable chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Nov. 3

“I have never and would never apply any litmus test on the abortion issue.”

-- Sen. Arlen Specter, the less probable chairman of Judiciary, on Nov. 4

At “Kerry-Edwards events ... the president was called a cheap thug, a killer and a liar. And my party, the party I lead today as the son of an Irish immigrant, was compared to the Nazi party of Germany. I think that is not legitimate political discourse.”

-- Ed Gillespie, chairman of Republican National Committee

LOSERS

“God Puts His Tool Back Into Office.”

-- headline on The Onion website

“This party is stronger than it’s ever been.”

-- Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee

“America is in need of unity.... I pledge to do my part to try to bridge the partisan divide.”

-- Sen. John Kerry.

“I am ... really angry at the rest of the country’s ignorance.”

-- Jennifer Sloan, an Ohio native living in San Francisco

“We are not going to heal this country as long as we have a president who won’t be accountable, who won’t tell the truth, who is willing to campaign with a vicious dishonesty that is unprecedented.”

-- Al Franken of “Air America”

“The good news: America is a divided nation.... Nearly -- nearly -- half of the electorate rejected Bush’s leadership, his agenda, his priorities, his falsehoods.”

-- David Corn, editor at the Nation magazine

“Democrats better think long and hard about what happened yesterday.”

-- Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)

“We couldn’t do it rhetorically or in an actual vote. You feel powerless.”

-- Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco

“Many Americans have nothing between their ears. Americans are fat, lazy and stupid. I don’t like this country anymore.”

-- A John Kerry volunteer in Massachusetts

“If we just cling to a limited base of support ... I don’t know how we win a presidential election.”

-- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

“As Democrats, we will work to reach bipartisan consensus on issues as often as possible.”

-- Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), who led the unsuccessful Democratic effort to regain control of the Senate

-- Compiled by Stephen W. Stromberg and Alexa Bedell-Healy