“We’ve lived through a nightmare...in the past eight years....We’re going through something that we haven’t gone through in my life. Foreign policy, domestic policy — driven to its breaking point. Everything got broken. And the philosophy that was at the base of the last administration has ruined many, many people’s lives. The deregulation, the idea of the unfettered, free market, the blind foreign policy. This was a very radical group of people who pushed things in a very radical direction, had great success at moving things in that direction, and we are suffering the consequences.”

Actor Denis Leary: “I do have to say that I think that President Obama is the greatest President in the history of all of our Presidents, and that he can do no wrong in my book. So how’s that for prejudice on the Democratic side?”...

Fill-in host Joy Behar: “What do you think of Obama’s pick of Sotomayor?”

Leary: “Fantastic!”

Behar: “You love her?”

Leary: “Everything you ask me about President Obama I’m just going to say it’s the greatest thing ever. I love the guy!”

Host Bill Maher: “I always wondered why you never did a Reagan movie. It seems like that is the type of character you could do very well with.”

Director Oliver Stone: “You know, Nixon always said Reagan was a dumb son of a bitch and, you know, I think that he was [audience applause]. And I think, I really think George W. is dumber [more applause].”

“I grew up in Los Angeles inner city — you never saw drugs or drive-bys or homeless people or anything like that. All the social programs that were cut as a result of Reagan coming into office and greed just became a hobby....I remember watching...him say people in America who are homeless are homeless because they want to be. That seemed to be one of the most — and I was a kid — I knew how cruel that was and I would never, you know, ascribe any level of greatness to somebody who would say, you know, if somebody’s hungry in America it’s because they’re on a diet. Like that, to me, made greedy white men feel good about being greedy white men. He was the kind of the Moses of leading them to feeling good about being greedy white men. So to me he wasn’t a great man.”

“I have a crush on Jimmy Carter. I admit it. He has an extraordinary mind. He’s an exceptional human being. And he writes poetry, for crying out loud. He’s all good things.”

“The word, ‘zoo,’ is sort of elephant-speak for Guantanamo. They’re really, they are suffering and being tortured.”