"I'm not going to give you a yes or no answer. I think it's far more complicated than that. … More to the point, our war in Iraq, I think, was the most fundamentally bad, dangerous decision since Vietnam.”  

-- Ex-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to John McCain (R-AZ) in a tense exchange with McCain pressing Hagel on whether he was right or wrong about the surge in Iraq. McCain proposed and supported the surge. Hagel opposed it. It’s the issue many believe came between the two previously longtime friends and Vietnam veterans.

These were pretty close runners up that may have summarized a day that saw Hagel on the defensive in rocky testimony, as he tried to defend past comments:

"The bigger point is, what I was saying, I think..."

"I suppose if I had a chance to edit a lot of things in my life, I'd be pretty busy."

"I said what I said, but I'll say this to you..."

"What I meant to say, should have said..."

"That's exactly correct; I guess I didn't say it that way."

“In fact I've often felt that if we want a real get-tough policy with the Castro brothers, we should force them to deal with Spring Break once or twice.” 

-- Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake joking during the confirmation hearing for Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to become Secretary of State.

Flake is an advocate of lifting the Cuba travel embargo.

His comment offended acting committee Chairman New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D), who is Cuban and very much against lifting the embargo. "To suggest that Spring Break is a form of torture to the Castro regime. Unfortunately, they are experts in torture," Menendez said.

Video edited by NBC's Domenico Montanaro.

“Had I been president at the time and I found that you did not read the cables from Benghazi, you did not read the cables from Ambassador Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post.”

– Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her testimony Wednesday on the attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans.

"I don't pick the rooms we meet in.” -- Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) on the optics problem of holding a meeting about how the party can appeal to women and minorities in a room named after an 18^th Century slave-holding family.

Walden heads up the committee responsible for electing Republicans to the House.

"In his later years. I think we have to take that into account." – Erich Pratt, head of Gun Owners of America, referring to Ronald Reagan’s support for the 1994 assault-weapons ban on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports.

Ex-Presidents Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter sent a letter in 1994 to all House members urging them to support the assault-weapons ban. 

"We now look forward to what we hope will be quick Congressional action on a full, clean Sandy aid bill — now, next week — and to enactment by the President. We have waited 72 days, seven times longer than victims of Hurricane Katrina waited. One thing I hope everyone now clearly understands — New Jersey, both Republicans and Democrats, will never stand silent when our citizens are being short changed."

-- Chris Christie Thursday in his State of the State address.

FLASHBACK: Jan. 2, Chris Christie news conference:

"Americans are tired of the palace intrigue and political partisanship of this Congress, which places one-upmanship ahead of the lives of the citizens who sent these people to Washington, D.C., in the first place. New Jerseyians and New Yorkers are tired of being treated like second class citizens. New York deserves better than the selfishness we saw displayed last night. New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw displayed last night. America deserves better than just another example of the government that has forgotten who they are there to serve and why. Sixty-six days and counting, shame on you. Shame on Congress."

"The White House has portrayed him as a priestly figure that sits in a room in the White House with no windows and decides each day who he’s going to execute."

-- Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, suggesting that liberals might not exactly wrap their arms around John Brennan for CIA director because of his ties to President Obama's increased use of drones.