Verbatim: Oct. 24, 2005

By DEPARTMENT Monday, Oct. 24, 2005

    • "No one has come to us."

    IMDAD UL-HAQ MIAN, Pakistani earthquake survivor, after walking for six hours through hills with an injured man on his shoulders to reach a makeshift clinic

    "Hopefully Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are 'cool'--as do the rest of us."

    HARRIET MIERS, Supreme Court nominee, in a 1997 card to then Texas Governor George W. Bush. The note was among the thousands of pages of Miers' records released last week by the Texas state archives

    "I think people are not looking at her accomplishments."

    LAURA BUSH, First Lady, when asked if sexism could be a factor in the opposition to Miers' nomination

    "We are obliged to achieve success. We have to succeed."

    ANGELA MERKEL, who is set to become Germany's first woman Chancellor, after her Christian Democratic Union and outgoing leader Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats reached a tentative coalition agreement. The pact came three weeks after elections in which neither party won a majority

    "This document is a minefield. It will blow up anytime."

    SALEH AL-MUTLAQ, Sunni Arab politician, on Iraq's draft constitution, before last week's referendum

    "I just feel like throwing a rock at the TV. They just keep replaying everything."

    BRITTANY BRIDGETT, 11-year-old from New Orleans watching post-Katrina news coverage in her new home in Jackson, Miss.

    "The Democratic Party is like an addict. They're addicted to failure."

    PAUL HACKETT, Democrat and Iraq veteran, who lost a congressional special election in Ohio in August and is considering a Senate run

    "I am glad law enforcement is doing their job."

    KEVIN BRADY, Republican Congressman from Texas, on his arrest for drunk driving

    "I think I know what happens."

    JOHN KERRY, Massachusetts Senator, on why he won't watch Inside the Bubble, a documentary about his failed 2004 presidential run

    Sources: New York Times; Austin American-Statesman; NBC; New York Times; AP (2); Mother Jones; Dallas Morning News; AP