Verbatim: Mar. 6, 2006

  • "I sting those who rattle me. Don't mess with me, Condoleezza." HUGO CHAVEZ, Venezuelan President, lashing out at U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after she stated that Venezuela had become a "challenge to democracy"

    "Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law." KEN LIVINGSTONE, mayor of London, who was suspended for four weeks, beginning March 1, for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi war criminal and then refusing to apologize

    "I clearly misstated my academic record, and the responsibility for these misstatements is mine alone." DAVID EDMONDSON, former RadioShack chief executive, who resigned last week after admitting that he had no college degree, even though his résumé listed two

    "The first day they were a little bit stressed. They're eating very well, and Thor, the one who talks, said, 'Good morning,' straightaway." DERRICK COYLE, Raven Master at the Tower of London, where fears of bird flu forced the infamous birds to be moved indoors from the grassy inner courtyard

    "We will definitely help this government financially in order to resist America's cruelty." ALI LARIJANI, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, pledging to support the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority in light of U.S. threats to withhold financial support

    "Maybe it's a little disappointing, but I look at this as the best competition in the world. You can't expect to be the best in everything." JAMES EASTON, U.S. representative on the International Olympic Committee, on the relative paucity of medals won by American athletes in Torino

    "I'm hurt, and I'm really very upset at my longtime friend, and that's all I want to say. Enough about it." MARTHA STEWART, speaking of the poison-pen letter that Donald Trump wrote, referring to her as a liar after she accused him of sabotaging her edition of The Apprentice

    Sources: AP; New York Times (2); Washington Post; AFP; Washington Post; New York Daily News