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Add Hillary Clinton to the list of people not exactly choking back tears over Moammar Gadhafi's death: The secretary of state today said that while "no one wants to see any human being" meet such a grisly end, "I know what a great relief it was to millions of Libyans that the past was finished." Libyans can now "make up for lost time of 42 years" and develop the "democracy and prosperity" they deserve. But Clinton wants the Lockerbie bomber back in prison, notes Politico, saying, "I will raise it with the new Libyan government," and calling his release "a miscarriage of justice." Elsewhere on your Sunday dial, as per Politico:
- Clinton on her Senate vote to authorize military action in Iraq: "I honestly don't think this is a time to be looking back. I will leave it to history to debate and argue over the merits and demerits of what the United States did over the last decade."
- John McCain on US troops in Iraq: "It could have been negotiated, I know because I was there. The question of immunity could have been resolved."
- Michele Bachmann on Iraq: "I believe that Iraq should reimburse the United States fully for the amount of money we've spent to liberate these people. They're not a poor country, they're a wealthy country."
- Bachmann on Libya: "It's created more instability in that region not less. The world is certainly better off without Gadhafi. But .. the last chapter hasn't been written on Libya. ... We knew who the devil [in charge] was, we don't know the next one."
- Lindsey Graham on President Obama's foreign policy: "I would argue that Iraq and Afghanistan's being run out of Chicago, not Washington, in terms of decisions. He's put in question our success in Afghanistan, and he ended Iraq poorly. He fumbled the ball inside of the 10. They're dancing in the streets in Tehran."
- Mitch McConnell on why he blocked federal funding to avoid firefighter, police, and teacher layoffs: "I certainly approve of firefighters and police. The question is whether the federal government ought to be raising taxes on 300,000 small businesses in order to send money down to bail out states for whom firefighters and police work." Politico has an interesting run-down of the entire exchange between McConnell and Candy Crowley here.
