On President Obama’s recent handling of the oil leak in the Gulf:

I think it’s very smart for him, politically smart, to propose the escrow account, because it does put him, finally, in control … BP would have to put the money into, then … the money would be independently distributed by supposedly the government or some independent agency. …
It’s somewhat extra-legal instructing BP. After all, the liability limits under the law today is $75 million. The fund he wants is $20 billion.
But that’s why you have White House lawyers. They create loopholes in the law or they find them, or they give Obama ammunition by saying when he meets with the president of BP: You know, our lawyers have looked at this and there are 18 possible laws that you may have violated. And the penalties would amount to a lot more than a $20 billion escrow. How about we make a deal?
I’m not sure how legal it is. He doesn’t have the authority to order BP, but I think he has the leverage to make BP do it. And it’s very politically smart, because whereas up until now he was theoretically in charge, or saying he was, that really puts him in charge of BP at least as to restitution and compensation.

On Congress considering a law that would raise the liability cap:

If you do it retroactively it’s a bill of attainder. It’s absolutely illegal.

On a new $50 billion stimulus proposal primarily for state and local governments:

I love the ploy that when a state [or] local government is wildly overspending, corrupt, completely out of control, and anybody dares suggest a 1 percent cut in the budget, immediately what is said is: If you do that, you have to shut down the fire stations and policemen.
It’s always the ‘firemen and policemen first’ strategy, as opposed to maybe cutting a person at the back of the DMV or in the records department who hasn’t worked in ten years. It’s always the firemen and policemen, who are a small percentage of the whole workforce.
But that is how you do it. They’re [the Democrats] going to try to sell this new mini-stimulus as saving the firemen or policemen. Remember when you hear it, it’s a fraud. You could easily [save] all of those jobs and cut elsewhere, which is not done. The private sector has had huge cuts in employment [during the recession], has gotten lean, but not state and local.