The Week in Words: Framework needs work; cockamamie schemes

"We had expected both of these transformers to work."

- Oyster Creek nuclear plant spokesman David Benson, on news that one of two just-installed $16 million transformers must be replaced

"Keep in mind, we didn't actually write a bill. We put forward a framework. I'm confident that the [final] framework is going to look like the one that we put forward."

- President Obama, on how Democrats will react to his tax agreement with Republicans

"If it's take it or leave it, we'll leave it."

- U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D., Texas), on Democrats' response to the
Obama-GOP tax agreement

"They are up here peddling the same cockamamie borrowing schemes that helped get us in trouble."

- New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, on Wall Street bankers proposing government finance deals in the face of a $9 billion state budget deficit

"We have a totally failed bookstore essentially trying to merge with a bookseller that's the largest in the market that is having a hard time maintaining traction. They are going to say there are synergies. In a declining industry, synergies are that your competitors go out of business."

- Louis Meyer, an analyst for Oscar Gruss & Son Inc., on a proposed buyout of Barnes & Noble Inc. by Borders Group Inc.

"We commonly refer to the geek-mobile as the Prius. And I wouldn't be caught dead in a Prius. This actually looks good."

- General Motors Co. chief executive officer Dan Akerson, on the new hybrid Chevy Volt

"I'll have to cut back on gifts for my children."

- Hummer driver Chuck Miller, on the recent spike in gasoline prices