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PERSPECTIVES

It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric.

Former vice president Al Gore, describing a timetable for a full U.S. transition to renewable energy at a forum hosted by the We Campaign, an advocacy project launched by his NGO

It's a lot harder to tell jokes than it used to be.

Former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey, on charges that presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain's raw and unchecked humor tends to veer off into inappropriate territory

Our elephant is specific.

Republican National Committee lawyer Sean Cairncross,demanding that T-shirt Web site CafePress.com "cease and desist" printing an elephant logo similar to the RNC's on its apparel

We won't let the Venezuelas or the Nigerias or the Saudi Arabias or the Irans jerk us around by the gas nozzle.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who was arrested last year for lewd conduct in an airport bathroom, in a Senate floor speech to describe U.S. reliance on foreign oil

It was not a hard decision.

Former attorney general John Ashcroft, on his withdrawal of Justice Dept. legal opinions that approved the use of extreme interrogation tactics

We are overloaded with money, crazy amounts of money.

Russian economics professor Mikhail Bergen, contrasting the surging growth of once fragile developing economies like Russia's with the deepening financial crises in the world's richest nations

He loved you a lot.

President George W. Bush,to the children of former White House press secretary Tony Snow, while speaking at his funeral. Snow, 53, died of colon cancer July 12.

[It's a] dirty trick and conspiracy.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, after being arrested on charges of sodomy. Ibrahim's coalition gained seats in the Malaysian Parliament; he says the arrest is an attempt to discredit him.

It shows you can still do well in real estate.

Developer Donald Trump,who sold his lavish Palm Beach, Fla., mansion for $100 million and said the sale is "a great sign" amid tanking housing markets

Next year, maybe we can play this thing in about an hour and a half—what do you say?

Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young, after the longest All-Star Game in the event's history, at four hours and 50 minutes

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