QuoteLog

“You are a very small man. And like other small men who act as you have acted, you have a Napoleonic complex and a need to compensate for what you lack. Little person, big bomb.”

“As the investigation progressed, it became obvious that the bomber’s intention was to kill and maim as many innocent people as possible, including children of all ages who were enjoying a Friday night concert in Centennial Park. There were no religious, political or environmental issues involved with placing the bomb in a large crowd of innocent bystanders. The placing of the bomb was a gross act of cowardice by a contemptible domestic terrorist.”

“As a Christian, I realize that forgiveness will come. But, for now, this is about you and addressing the damage that you caused to life, property, and to the reputation of our great country. You based your actions on some sort of religious belief that I find sick, twisted and demonic. I will always be haunted by the memory of Ms. Hawthorne in a pool of blood, as well as the sight of her daughter, Fallon, crying out for her mother while lying in pain because shrapnel had ripped through her body, exposing flesh, blood and bone.”

“I get to go on being a part of society. I get to laugh out loud and have others laugh with me. I get to speak up and be heard and I will! I will trump your evilness with kindness and love for the remainder of my days.”

“The Centennial Olympic Park bombing has been nothing but mistakes for nine years, from the cretins on the emergency phones who first hung up on Eric Rudolph then joked when they couldn’t find the address for the park, to the hysterical Richard Jewell coverage by the AJC, to the federal bungling that tipped Rudolph to flee into the forest, to the recent plea bargain that allowed a right-wing domestic terrorist to air his twisted views as if he were just another conservative blogger.”

“The truth hurts. But Eric Robert Rudolph, the man who had no apologies to make when he was pleading guilty to bombing women’s clinics, gay nightclubs and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, is the ideological cousin to Randall Terry, the so-called ‘spokesman’ for the Schindler family and the media darling of the Terri Schiavo debacle of three weeks ago.”

“Most of my life I had lived in sophisticated, relatively privileged coastal cities like Los Angeles and New York. I had grown weary of criticism about people in those places being elitists, out of touch with the American mainstream ... It had taken my move to Georgia to show me that those criticisms were at least partly true.”

“I say this as a believer. The crimes of Nichols are inexcusable. The serenity of Smith is close to inexplicable. But the message of the Gospels is that God works with the crooked timber of human failure. This was an exceptional moment of redemption. But every day, we have smaller, calmer chances to turn another’s life around, to serve, to listen. How often do we simply not see what is in front of us?”

“I don’t mean this sarcastically, but a widowed 26-year-old mother was able to do, in seven and a half hours of talking and praying, what all the cops and all the guns and all the radios and all the agencies could not do.”

“While there certainly will, and should be, steps taken to improve the physical security at the Fulton County Courthouse, early indications, based on statements of at least some county officials, are that the underlying and more important causes of the 3/11 tragedy — sheer and unadulterated human incompetence and lack of understanding — may once again go unaddressed. The finger-pointing and blame-shifting has already begun, just as it did nationally after 9/11.”

“[Michael] Vick, the greatest thrill ride in the NFL, can bring Atlanta its first Super Bowl championship. All by himself. Or he can break the city’s collective heart. All by himself.”

“McKinney made herself such an outsider during her last term in Congress that her district might have well been on Mars for the attention and federal funds it received.”

“People called me a longshot before, and they’re calling me congresswoman now.”

“Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become.”

“Before addressing this week’s Falcons loss, this aside for all heartbroken Chicago Cubs fans: Cheer up, pal. Sure, you lost. Again. But anybody tuning in to the Bears’ game Sunday can catch the first start of the season by Chris Chandler and be eligible to win a copy of the new board game: ‘I’m A Chicago Sports Fan. Just Shoot Me Now.’”

“I really didn’t feel like I played an NFL game tonight. I hardly got hit.”

“Northern Atlanta (especially Dunwoody) is full of women whose two sole purposes in life are to spend their husband’s money and to be rude to people who serve a purpose in life other than wasting precious air.”

“Honestly, how clueless can you get? If the [Atlanta Journal Constitution] wants to attract readers, it needs to do the obvious. It needs to hire good writers and publish reporting and essays of substance longer than 8 inches. Fat chance.”

“We’re doing a piece about Michael [Vick], talking to people who’ve played against him. When guys . . . started to tell stories [about] what it’s like to play against him, it’s like people who have seen UFOs.”

“I’m still not sure the American sports fan really appreciates what we have here. Forget about changing the game or reinventing the position. This guy is Michael Jordan or Joe Montana or Wayne Gretzky. He is the show by himself. Name a player in any sport you’d rather watch play.”

“From Bob Barr’s skirmish with a man dressed as Yosemite Sam to the dumping of McKinney, I for one have Georgia on my mind.”

“Savannah would be better for you. You just get in trouble in Atlanta.”