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Miss the best political quotes of the weekend? The Caucus didn’t. Here’s a rundown of our favorites.

1. President Obama hailed former President Ronald Reagan on what would have been Mr. Reagan’s 100th birthday. In an op-ed in USA Today, Mr. Obama said the Republican president was due credit for the steps he took to end the cold war, but Mr. Obama mostly focused on Mr. Reagan’s general outlook. “At a time when our nation was going through an extremely difficult period, with economic hardship at home and very real threats beyond our borders, it was this positive outlook, this sense of pride, that the American people needed more than anything,” Mr. Obama wrote.

2. Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, broke her silence on the events unfolding in Egypt by criticizing Mr. Obama and his administration for being asleep at the switch when the crisis began. Harking back to one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 campaign ads against Mr. Obama, Ms. Palin said in a Christian Broadcasting Network interview that Egypt “is that 3 a.m. White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House, it seems that that call went right to the answering machine.”

3. Former vice president Dick Cheney also weighed in on the administration’s handling of the Egypt situation, but was more measured. He noted that any United States government must be delicate when it comes to pushing foreign leaders out of office. “It is very hard for some foreign leader to act on U.S. advice in a visible way,” Mr. Cheney said. “You tell me as president of the United States that I’ve got to do X, and publicly then if I do X, my people think I’m not my own man. There’s a reason why a lot of diplomacy is conducted in secret.”

4. Alan K. Simpson, a former Senate Republican leader from Wyoming who served as co-chairman of Mr. Obama’s debt commission, mocked politicians who are unwilling to confront the nation’s debt by making deep cuts to entitlement programs. “If you have a career politician get up and say, ‘I know we can get this done. We’re going to get rid of all earmarks, all waste, fraud and abuse, all foreign aid, Air Force One, all Congressional pensions,’ that’s a sparrow’s belch in the midst of a typhoon,” he said. “I’m waiting for the politician to get up and say, there’s only one way to do this, you dig into the big four: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and defense. And anybody giving you anything different than that, you want to walk out the door, stick your finger down your throat and give them the green weenie.”

5. In a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly asked Mr. Obama what he thought about the people who hate him. Mr. Obama dismissed the concern, saying that most of those people don’t really know him. “What they hate is whatever fun-house mirror image of you that’s out there,” Mr. Obama said. “And they don’t know you. And so, you don’t take it personally.”

6. On the 2008 campaign trail, Mr. Obama got into trouble with supporters of former President Bill Clinton by suggesting that Mr. Reagan, not Mr. Clinton, had been a transformational president. Three years later, Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, was asked whether Mr. Obama’s admiration of Mr. Reagan was genuine. “Obama is more like Reagan than he is like anyone else, probably including Bill Clinton, believe it or not,” Mr. Brown said. “And he is therefore a real admirer, and it’s genuine.”

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The Caucus was watching closely this weekend for the best political quotations and commentary of the weekend. Here’s a quick roundup.

1. “Saturday Night Live” poked fun at Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, whose not-so-official response to the State of the Union address was a bit off when it came to production values. In the comedy sketch, the actress Kristen Wiig plays Ms. Bachmann and repeatedly looks in the wrong direction — anywhere but the camera. Making fun of Ms. Bachmann, Ms. Wigg repeatedly refers to charts and graphs that are either backward, unreadable or upside down. “Oh, this is the one I dropped in the snow. That’s a shame. That was important.” No response from the real Ms. Bachmann.

2. The new White House chief of staff had two opportunities to offer his thoughts over the weekend — one official, and the other very much not so. Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” William M. Daley walked back his earlier criticism of President Obama’s health care legislation. In 2010 — well before he was part of the administration — Mr. Daley told The New York Times: “They miscalculated on health care. The election of ’08 sent a message that after 30 years of center-right governing, we had moved to center left — not left.” On Sunday, he explained, “What I was commenting on was the politics, really, of the moment around health care.” But he added, “I absolutely believe, having been in business and hearing from business people, the importance of a need for the reform of health care. It was the business community that was really saying to the politicians: ‘This is costing us too much. It’s too much of a wet blanket on the economy.’ ”

3. The other remarks from Mr. Daley came at the annual Alfalfa Club dinner, an off-the-record gathering where a few of the humorous remarks always leak out. The Politico reported that Mr. Daley poked fun at Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff, among others. “The president sends his sincerest regrets, and he’s very pleased that I could stand in for him. And the nice change of pace: His chief of staff can actually address an audience WITHOUT a seven-second delay,” he joked. “It’s actually been 10 years since my last tour in government. … Ten years ago, Obamacare was called ‘Romneycare.’ … [I]t’s an honor to be here with Bush 41 and Bush 43 — and, oh, uh, Bush 46: Nice to see you, Jeb!”

4. House Speaker John A. Boehner was pressed on several personal issues by “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace on Sunday. Asked whether Mr. Boehner would be willing to play golf with Mr. Obama, the speaker said, “of course.” But he added, “I’m sure I’ll have to give him strokes.” Mr. Wallace asked Mr. Boehner about his tendency to cry frequently. “You know me,” Mr. Boehner said. “I am who I am. I’m one of the most transparent people in this town. And, yes, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. But I do feel strongly about it, and I’m not going to apologize for being emotionally attached to the things I feel most strongly about in this town.” When Mr. Wallace noted that Mr. Boehner is a regular smoker, the new speaker got testy. “Oh, why do we bring this up again?” he said. “You know, smoking. It’s a bad habit but I have it. And it’s a legal product. I choose to smoke. Leave me alone.”

5. White House aides and reporters mingled together Saturday night for a going-away party for David Axelrod, the senior White House adviser who is returning to his home in Chicago to work on President Obama’s re-election campaign. The surprise guest was Mr. Obama himself, who arrived wearing a casual black T-shirt with a jacket over it and stayed for almost two hours. Staff members who worked with Mr. Axelrod in the White House gave him going-away presents, including a picture of Arnold Palmer signed by the golfer (Mr. Axelrod is fond of the iced-tea-and-lemonade drink named for him) and a bound book of Mr. Obama’s speeches. In remarks, Mr. Obama recalled his first meeting with Mr. Axelrod, in which he tried to hire him to run his first Senate campaign. “But here’s the punchline: I don’t think I persuaded him that I had the chance or it was a smart thing to do — he took a flier on this kid who was running for U.S. Senate.” An emotional Mr. Axelrod thanked Mr. Obama for making “room for me on his bandwagon.”

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Miss all those great political tidbits over the weekend? Here’s our roundup of some of the best ones.

1. “Saturday Night Live” confronted the question of civility on Fox News by assembling a fake panel that included Greta Van Sustern, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin and Sean Hannity — all confronted by James Carville, trying to taunt them into being uncivil. At one point, the Carville character recounts his lunch “with Arianna Huffington and Michael Moore and my friend Lucian — he’s a gay soldier. We ate at a vegan restaurant, which is nice because that means that no animals got hurt. And that’s important, because animals are really just people with fur.” At that point, foam starts coming out of Mr. Hannity’s mouth. But Mr. Carville doesn’t really get the four until he brings their attention to Rachel Maddow, writing about legalizing gay marriage on Mr. Beck’s chalkboard. “And the era of civility is over,” Ms. Van Sustern says.

2. Reagan’s 11th Amendment? Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, is trying to avoid criticizing his potential 2012 rival, Mitt Romney, over the health care plan that Massachusetts passed when Mr. Romney was governor. And Mr. Pawlenty does so by citing Ronald Reagan’s advice to never speak ill of a Republican. But Mr. Reagan called that the “11th Commandment,” implying that such a rule was so important that it should have been carved in those stone tablets. In his interview with The Caucus last week, and again in an interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Pawlenty called it Reagan’s “11th Amendment.” The actual 11th Amendment involves giving states immunity from prosecution.

3. Speaking of Mr. Pawlenty, in that same interview, the former governor denied charges that he had flip-flopped on the need for the TARP bank bailout. In his recent book, he says he opposes all bailouts, but Mr. Wallace noted that during the 2008 campaign, he praised Senator John McCain of Arizona, the party’s presidential nominee, for supporting TARP. Mr. Pawlenty’s answer? He was just speaking for McCain, not saying what he believed himself. “It says ‘he believes,’ and I was speaking as a spokesperson for Senator McCain,” Mr. Pawlenty said. “But I didn’t support and don’t support bailing out places like Wall Street, General Motors and the like with respect to federal and government spending.”

4. Mr. McCain offered his most positive review yet of his one-time rival, President Obama, in an op-ed in The Washington Post on Sunday. Mr. McCain praised the president’s speech in Tucson last week and said that people on both sides of the political aisle — including himself — were responsible for a lack of empathy and civility in political conversations. “I disagree with many of the president’s policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country’s cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals,” Mr. McCain said.

5. Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, echoed Mr. McCain’s call for civility on “Fox News Sunday” but defended his own blunt and sometimes caustic style, saying there’s nothing uncivil about it. After viewing a heated exchange between himself and a teacher at a town hall meeting, Mr. Christie said: “I don’t think there is a thing about that that is not civil. What I think we’ve become in this country, and this is why I make a distinction between hostility and vitriol and straight talk, is we’ve become so politically correct. And we have so gotten into this figuring out how not to answer a question, how to be completely neutral about things. And people have become fogged over listening to political conversation that’s like that.”

6. Reince Priebus, the new — and interestingly named — chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview with the Times’ Jeff Zeleny that he started courting his wife when the two attended a Lincoln Day Dinner in Kenosa, Wis., featuring speeches by Representatives Henry J. Hyde of Illinois and James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin. “I know. Nerd alert,” Mr. Priebus said. “But we went to a movie after that.”

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From Today’s Times:

A new week, a new gavel: Reince Priebus emerged from several rounds of voting on Friday as the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Rejecting the incumbent Michael Steele, Republicans chose the Wisconsin party chairman in the hopes that he can overcome the party’s financial struggles and lead it to victory in 2012, The Times’s Jeff Zeleny reports.As Representative Gabrielle Giffords slowly recovers, The Times’s Sheryl Stolberg and Jim Yardley offer an intimate look at the Tucson congresswoman, who cleaned horse stalls as child and borrowed her designer wedding dress. Thrust into the national spotlight, Ms. Giffords and her seemingly contradictory political views have become a topic of conversation.Some Democratic lawmakers were back on the Congress on Your Corner circuit Friday, showing constituents they would not be shaken by the shooting in Tucson. But The Times’s Jennifer Steinhauer says law enforcement officials are stepping up their presence at such events.Cuba just got a little closer. The Obama administration loosened travel restrictions to the island nation Friday, hoping to empower Cuban citizens without lifting the embargo against the Cuban government, The Times’s Ginger Thompson reports.

Weekly Addresses:

Following his emotional address at Wednesday’s memorial service in Tucson, President Obama carried over its message of unity into his weekly address. “I look forward to working together in that same spirit of common cause with members of Congress from both parties — because before we are Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans,” Mr. Obama said.The Republicans issued a rebuke of last week’s attack in the party’s weekly address . “It is our duty to uphold our oath, to listen and to represent,” Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona said. “We will not let this inhumane act cow us into doing otherwise.”

Washington Happenings:

Marking 20 years since the United States first bombed Iraq during the Gulf War, the Washington Peace Center will hold an all-day event, protesting the war in Iraq in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message of non-violence. Dr. King would have been 82 today.

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From Today’s Times:

William M. Daley is no stranger to Washington. But in his new position as White House chief of staff, his decisive management style — honed by years of experience in the political and financial realms — is in the limelight, The Times’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports.The White House found itself caught between a rock and a hard place Friday as President Obama signed major defense legislation. The bill authorized billions of dollars for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but also restricted the government’s ability to move Guantanamo Bay detainees. The Times’s Charlie Savage reports that this will only make it harder for Mr. Obama to achieve his goal of closing the prison.It’s déjà vu all over again on Capitol Hill as House Republicans push to repeal the health care law passed last year. The Times’s David M. Herszenhorn reports on the resurrected debate about the law’s costs and benefits.Should states be allowed to block elected officials from voting if there’s a conflict of interest involved? The Supreme Court agreed to consider this issue Friday at the urging of eight states, The Times’s Adam Liptak reports.

Saturday Addresses:

A stubborn economy and persistent unemployment have given Mr. Obama few opportunities to pat himself on the back. But in his weekly national address today he credited his administration with putting the economy squarely on the road to recovery, saying that Friday’s jobs report was yet another sign that the pace of hiring is picking up. “Now we’re seeing more optimistic economic forecasts for the year ahead, in part due to the package of tax cuts I signed last month,” Mr. Obama said, echoing his comments at a manufacturing plant in Landover, Md., on Friday. He also issued a warning to Republicans, who have vowed to undo many of Mr. Obama’s accomplishments, including the health care law: “What we can’t do is re-fight the battles of the past two years that distract us from the hard work of moving our economy forward.”Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia reiterated the Republican mantra of make jobs, not debt in the party’s weekly address today, renewing its pledge to repeal the health care law. “At a time when we need to do everything in our power to encourage job creation, the health care law hangs around the necks of businesses small and large,” he said.

Around the Web:

Starting Feb. 1, new passports will list “Parent One” and “Parent Two,” instead of “mother” and “father.” The “improvements,” as the State Department calls them, are designed to provide a more accurate description of a child’s parents “in recognition of different types of families.” The move has already earned kudos from the gay community, and the scorn of conservative groups, The Los Angeles Times reports.Representatives Pete Sessions of Texas and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, the two Republicans who missed their formal swearing in but voted on the first day of the 112th Congress anyway, are really, really sorry. They sent notes Friday night to every member of the House apologizing for the trouble they caused, Talking Points Memo reports.Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader from Nevada, said the Tea Party is a power of the past. “The Tea Party will disappear as soon as the economy gets better,” Mr. Reid said in a pre-recorded interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” scheduled to air Sunday. “And the economy’s getting better all the time.”Representative Barney Frank, the 16-term Massachusetts Democrat, has told associates that he will run for re-election in 2012, quelling speculation that he might make a Senate bid, The National Journal reports.

Washington Happenings:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates makes his first official visit to China starting today, hoping to strengthen defense ties with the nation. But lately the two militaries have had a tense relationship, and it’s unclear whether Mr. Gates will return home satisfied, the Times’s Elisabeth Bumiller says.Supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who is recognized by the United States and other nations as the hamstrung president-elect of the Ivory Coast, plan to march to the Capitol today. On Thursday, Mr. Ouattara called for a raid to remove Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent who faces U.S. sanctions for refusing to cede power.

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Happy New Year. You may have been a bit too bleary-eyed from New Year’s Eve reveling to catch the best political commentary of the weekend, but we at The Caucus weren’t. Here’s a quick roundup.

1. Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, has made it clear that he intends to be a pain in the rear to the Obama administration when he takes over as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. But on Sunday, he walked back – just a bit – from his statement (on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show) that President Obama was “the most corrupt president in modern times.” What he meant, he told Ed Henry of CNN, was that the Obama administration is “one of the most corrupt administrations.”

2. Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina perfected the art of bad-mouthing Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, when Mr. Graham was stumping for Senator John McCain of Arizona during the 2008 campaign. But Mr. Graham now thinks the 2012 Republican nomination is Mr. Romney’s to lose. “Probably Romney.” Mr. Graham said after being asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” who the leading Republican contender was. “Mitt Romney has got his problems as a candidate, but so does everyone else.”

3. Austan Goolsbee,chairman of the president’s council of economic advisers, had a “welcome to Washington” message for Tea Party lawmakers on Sunday: Don’t mess with the debt ceiling. Mr. Goolsbee chided the new lawmakers for suggesting that they might vote against raising the amount the country can borrow. “This is not — this is not a game. You know, the debt ceiling is not — is not something to toy with,” Mr. Goolsbee said on ABC’s “This Week” program. “If we hit the debt ceiling, that’s the — essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history. The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. I mean, that would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008.”

4. Elections have consequences, and Representative Fred Upton of Michigan on Sunday promised that Republicans in the House would make good on their promise to vote to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care legislation before the president’s State of the Union speech this month. “Watch what happens,” Mr. Upton, who will be chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, predicted on the “Fox News Sunday” program. “There will be a significant number of Democrats, I think, that will join us.”

5. Back from his family trip to Disney World, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey  defended his absence from the state during the recent snow storm. At a New Year’s Eve press conference, an indignant Mr. Christie said that he had “made a promise to my children that at the end of my first year of governor that I was going to take them to Disney World. My first and most important responsibility, in my view, is as a husband and a father.” He also took a shot at Newark’s Democratic mayor, Cory Booker, who traveled around his city trying to dig people out and sending Twitter messages about his efforts. “I have to tell you, I would have been doing the same thing here [in New Jersey] as I was there,” Mr. Christie said. “I would not have been out driving a plow, O.K.? I would have been in a room someplace on a telephone saying, ‘What’s going on? What do you need? Why is this happening or why isn’t this happening?’”

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