Verbatim

'Pakistan and Afghanistan are like twins conjoined.' HAMID KARZAI, President of Afghanistan, speaking at the inauguration of Pakistan's new President, Asif Ali Zardari, about the enduring troubles of the neighboring nations

'My name is the butt of a joke, the source of a laugh and the title of a scandal.' JACK ABRAMOFF, former Republican lobbyist, before being sentenced to four years in prison for corruption and tax evasion

'I think our third child is this campaign.' MICHELLE OBAMA, wife of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, on the possibility of expanding their family

'That's a lot of money we can be using for wildlife conservation.' RACHEL LEVIN, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on why the agency won't spend $300,000 to fix a duck stamp that mistakenly lists a phone-sex number instead of a number to re-order stamps

'I want to tell you, Detroit, that you done set me up for a comeback.' KWAME KILPATRICK, the city's former mayor, resigning after a sex-and-misconduct scandal

'Democracy is a process, not a destination.' JARDO MUEKALIA, representative for Angola's Unita, a rebel movement turned opposition party, on the nation's first election in 16 years. Unita later lost by a landslide

'A combination of a pit-bull dog, a young Mike Tyson and an alligator.' RICHARD WILLIAMS, father of Serena Williams, describing his daughter after she defeated Jelena Jankovic for the U.S. Open championship

Back & Forth:

Cuba

'End the ruthless and cruel economic, commercial and financial blockage imposed against our Motherland.'

Statement from the CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTRY rejecting $100,000 in U.S. relief aid in the wake of Hurricane Gustav and calling instead for an end to economic sanctions

'That is not acceptable in a western hemisphere that is democratic.' Secretary of State CONDOLEEZZA RICE, stating that the U.S. would not recognize the dictatorial regime by lifting the embargo

The Governator

'Long before he was an actor or a governor, [he] wore little, tiny trunks and posed. He's a poser, and he should stop posing.'

LANCE CORCORAN, spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which launched a recall campaign against Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying he mismanaged the state budget

'The governor is not going to be intimidated into giving a pay raise.'

Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn, saying voters recalled California's previous governor, Gray Davis, for yielding to the union's demands

Russia

'That is no way for a responsible power to conduct itself.'

Vice President DICK CHENEY, during a rare trip abroad, accusing Russia of selling weapons to Iran and using "brute force" against Georgia

'Russia is a state that from now on must be reckoned with.'

Russian President DMITRY MEDVEDEV, dismissing Cheney's criticism as futile

Sources: McClatchy Newspapers; AP (2); USA Today; ABC News; New York Times; AP

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