Politiquotes of the Week: May 9

Obama and Romney on opposite sides of gay marriage debate.

Same-Sex Marriage - The three words uttered most often this week were “same-sex marriage,” after Vice President Joe Biden brought national attention to the issue, forcing Obama to take a definitive stand. Mitt Romney had what friends and foes alike are calling an Etch A Sketch moment and claimed “a lot of the credit” for the auto industry bailout that he actually opposed. —Joyce Jones(Photos: Scott Olson/Getty Images; Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

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Same-Sex Marriage - The three words uttered most often this week were “same-sex marriage,” after Vice President Joe Biden brought national attention to the issue, forcing Obama to take a definitive stand. Mitt Romney had what friends and foes alike are calling an Etch A Sketch moment and claimed “a lot of the credit” for the auto industry bailout that he actually opposed. —Joyce Jones(Photos: Scott Olson/Getty Images; Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Barack Obama - "When people ask you what this election is about, you tell them it is still about hope. You tell them it is still about change," said President Obama at a rally in Ohio where he formally launched his re-election bid on May 6.  (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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Barack Obama - “When people ask you what this election is about, you tell them it is still about hope. You tell them it is still about change," said President Obama at a rally in Ohio where he formally launched his re-election bid.(Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Joe Biden - “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that,” said Vice President Joe Biden on this week’s Meet the Press, spurring three days of furious debate on the issue.(Photo: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images)

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Joe Biden - “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that,” said Vice President Joe Biden on this week’s Meet the Press, spurring three days of furious debate on the issue.(Photo: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images)

President Obama Backs Same-Sex Marriage - Marriage equality remained a contentious issue during the 2012 election cycle. President Obama became the first U.S. president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage during an interview with ABC News in May. However, he said that the decision to legalize same-sex unions should be left to the states. (Photo: Pete Souza/White House Photo via Getty Images)

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Barack Obama - “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” President Obama announced in an interview with ABC News.(Photo: Pete Souza/White House Photo via Getty Images)

Mayor Bloomberg: “We Will Conduct a Full and Fair Investigation”  - "Our hearts all have to go out to the family of this young man," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an unrelated news conference. "So far, all indications are that the young man had a gun, and I can promise you that we will conduct a full and fair investigation."(Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The Robin Hood Foundation)

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Michael Bloomberg - This is a major turning point in the history of American civil rights. No American president has ever supported a major expansion of civil rights that has not ultimately been adopted by the American people — and I have no doubt that this will be no exception,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in response to Obama’s support for same-sex marriage.(Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The Robin Hood Foundation)

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Mitt Romney - "I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name," Mitt Romney said in an interview with Denver-based KDVR-TV. "My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

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Mitt Romney - "I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name," Mitt Romney said in an interview with Denver-based KDVR-TV. "My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Mitt Romney - "I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy, and finally when that was done and help was given, the [auto] companies got back on their feet. So, I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry has come back," Romney said in May, although he famously wrote a New York Times op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," in which he argued that federal loans weren't the solution to saving the auto industry.  (Photo: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

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Mitt Romney - “I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy, and finally when that was done and help was given, the [auto] companies got back on their feet. So, I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry has come back," said Mitt Romney, who famously authored a New York Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” that argued that federal loans weren’t the solution to save the auto industry.(Photo: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Ben LaBolt - "This is a candidate who will literally say anything, who thinks that his record and his statements don't matter, who thinks that he can reinvent himself in front of any new political audience that he's in front of with the magical power of the Etch A Sketch," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a conference call with reporters about Romney’s taking credit for helping save the auto industry. "There've been a lot of unbelievable statements during this campaign from this candidate, but this may be most preposterous of them all."(Photo: Courtesy Obama for America)

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Ben LaBolt - "This is a candidate who will literally say anything, who thinks that his record and his statements don't matter, who thinks that he can reinvent himself in front of any new political audience that he's in front of with the magical power of the Etch A Sketch," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a conference call with reporters about Romney’s taking credit for helping save the auto industry. "There've been a lot of unbelievable statements during this campaign from this candidate, but this may be most preposterous of them all."(Photo: Courtesy Obama for America)

Bob King - "Mitt Romney has made a long list of absurd statements but this one might be at the top of that list. This one is hard to believe. The statement is tone deaf and blind to reality," said United Auto Workers president Bob King of the GOP candidate’s claim that he helped save the auto industry, adding that Romney “is out of touch with reality.”(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

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Bob King - "Mitt Romney has made a long list of absurd statements but this one might be at the top of that list. This one is hard to believe. The statement is tone deaf and blind to reality," said United Auto Workers president Bob King of the GOP candidate’s claim that he helped save the auto industry, adding that Romney “is out of touch with reality.”(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)