Let me take a break from responding to readers’ quote queries.
I’m starting to think about my annual list, run by the Associated Press, of the top 10 most notable quotations of the year. By “notable” I mean “important” or “famous” or “particularly revealing of the spirit of our times” rather than necessarily being eloquent or admirable.
Some that seem to stand out this year include Mark Sanford’s spokesman saying “The governor is hiking the Appalachian trail”; Joe Wilson’s calling out “You lie!”; Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift; and Sarah Palin on “Obama’s death panel.”
I would welcome suggestions of additional quotes from 2009, particularly ones from politics or popular culture or entertainment or sports or business or technology.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
“We inherited a ________”, insert any convenient issue in the blank.
“The buck stops here” is no longer the operative phrase in the White House.
“It’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election.” – Obama on Letterman, dismissing the suggestion that opposition to his health care plan stems from the American people’s racism.
Two suggestions: Green shoots (“The green shoots of economic revival are already evident”: Bernanke), and “too big to fail” (not sure who said that first…)
How about Ben Bernanke declaring the end of the recession, Barbara Boxer’s “call me Senator,” or just about anything from the Jon Stewart takedown of Jim Cramer?
“This morning, I did something I’ve never done in my life. I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury.” — David Letterman
“It was the worst sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling I’ve ever felt in my life.” — Sully Sullenberger
“‘This is it’ really means this is it.” — Michael Jackson
“I am deeply sorry and ashamed ….” — Bernard Madoff
“I don’t know anything about cars. A business is a business, and I think I can learn”.– Edward Whitacre Jr., chairman of GM
“The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” – Matt Taibbi
“there’s an app for that”