Pokes Quotes

[Allowing states to enforce their own standards would lead to a confusing patchwork of requirements, NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said. Tyson added that a recent Supreme Court decision on a lawsuit exonerating Honda Motor Co. from liability in an air bag case made clear NHTSA has the authority to pre-empt state measures.] Congress has given us the authority to set safety standards... We're merely restating our authority. We're the agency that sets standards. Our standards are not minimum standards. - Rae Tyson

[According to United spokesman Jeff Green, the world's No. 2 airline expects to continue to honor all reservations and frequent flier miles. Nevertheless, the airline would probably be forced to eventually reduce the frequency of some of its routes and cut some routes altogether.] Obviously some flights might go away... Obviously we'll need to cut costs. - Jeff Green

[A. The goal is 325,000, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said.] Is that the force that enables us to then turn over security to that country? We don't know... There is no pat answer to the question. - Barry Venable

[A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, took issue with the suggestion that the administration had been slow to respond to the committee's request.] It's a lot of information... White House staff were instructed to collect information, and the White House counsel's office is working with Davis's committee to provide them with the appropriate information. - Trent Duffy

[A White House spokesman, Steve Schmidt, accused Democrats of trying to smear the judge.] It is worrisome that there may be an effort under way by Democrats to try to cut up the judge and attack his integrity, and try to blemish a career of public service where his integrity has never been questioned... His integrity is beyond reproach. There is no substantive basis at all to any allegation of impropriety. - Steve Schmidt

[A TSA spokeswoman said the proposals would not reduce the level of security at airports, adding that no final decisions have been made.] The approach is about focusing the limited resources TSA has where the threat is the greatest, ... The challenge here is to look at security through the lens of threat vulnerability and consequence. The suggestions that are being considered are part of a larger effort to challenge the measures we have in place to help us improve security. - Yolanda Clark

[A spokeswoman at St. Rita's Church in Alexandria said parishioners were told of the child's death during the morning Mass.] After the efforts of this summer to bring her into the world, this is obviously a devastating loss for the Torres and Rollin families... We wish to thank all the people who sustained us in prayer over the past 17 weeks. It was our fondest wish that we could have been able to share Susan's homecoming with the world. - Justin Torres

[A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said,] DHS is not looking into a contingency plan. ... I don't know where the idea that there might be some postponement of elections comes from. - Condoleezza Rice

[A spokesman for the majority leader said Lott issued the statement because he] wanted to echo the sentiment that is out there... high crimes. - Trent Lott

[A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry played down the situation Sunday during his regular news conference.] There is no crisis in this country that requires us to set up a crisis headquarters... Iran is currently in a good situation. - Hamid-Reza Asefi