Here we go:

▪ “Leave aside the unpleasantness, his genuine empathy for human beings is absolutely clear. It is powerful, it is palpable and the folks of Arkansas really understood that about him -- that he genuinely cared.” — former independent counsel Kenneth Starr who nearly derailed President Bill Clinton’s presidency, speaking about ... Bill Clinton.

These are jaw-dropping comments from the man who came to personify the right’s anti-Bill Clinton movement in the 90s.

▪ “We have to convince people that those taxes will go to good use.” — Missouri Department of Transportation Director Patrick McKenna on a proposal to raise the cigarette tax by 23 cents per pack to help pay for transportation.

Lawmakers this session rejected a gasoline tax increase to pay for roads. The cigarette tax idea may go to the voters this year. McKenna acknowledged that it’s tough to ask Missourians to pay more for roads when they feel pinched at home.

▪ “If they make the right choice and open the doors to working-class people and young people and create the kind of dynamism that the Democratic Party needs, it's going to be messy.” — Bernie Sanders on what could happen at the Democratic National Convention this summer as he pushes to make the party more inclusive.

The choice, Sanders said, is becoming more inclusive or maintaining the status quo.

▪ “Small, insecure moneygrubber.” — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, on Donald Trump.

As she tries out for the role of vice presidential attack dog, Warren unleashed a furious salvo this week. “He inherited a fortune from his father, and kept it going by scamming people, declaring bankruptcy and skipping out on what he owed,” she said.