DEBORAH SIMMONS: Who said what in the year that was 2015

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Whew!

The newsworthy things people said in 2015 could fill pages of The Washington Times newspaper and then some. There are so many quotes, in fact, the sheer volume might break Al Gore’s greatest invention: the Internet.

I’ve selected several notable quotes to refresh your memory, some that you might have missed and a couple on one of my favorite topics, sports.

I’m including a mention of a quote by Frederick Douglass, a slave born in Maryland who later became the first African-American to win a major party vote for the U.S. presidency, courtesy of the 1888 Republican convention, and a U.S. diplomat. His legacy includes his thirst for freedom, and fight for liberty and justice for all.

First, though, Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, is at the starting gate. C’mon, I’m a Washington-based journalist. Didn’t you expect me to start at ground zero?

Mr. Paul answered a top-asked Google question while live streaming from Iowa in October. Simple question: Are you still running for president? Mr. Paul’s potty-mouthed response: “I don’t know, I wouldn’t be doing this dumb #?*! livestreaming if I weren’t. Yes, I’m running for president. Get over it.”

And he’s still in the race.

TV producer Shonda Rhimes may not be a household name, but “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy” are. Here’s what Miss Rhimes told Oprah Winfrey during a November interview when the topic turned to Shondaland Productions, mommyhood and marriage: “I have so much going on inside my head in terms of writing, there’s such a large space in my life taken up by that. I can’t imagine it being taken up by a husband and children and writing, and everything getting its due. I don’t believe there is room for all of it. I really don’t.”

And every day can be take-your-daughters-to-work day because there are two rooms at her offices just for her three girls.

Under the heading “Can You Believe It” is a celeb’s birthday. Tiger Woods turns 40 on Wednesday, y’all, and it’s not a change in his golf game that’s uppermost on his mind: “It would be having a more open, honest relationship with my ex-wife.”

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20.

I dub this item “the silence of Camden Yards.” People in Baltimore grew so nasty, violent and dangerous, the gates to the Baltimore Orioles’ ballpark were shut to the public for an O’s game against the White Sox in April. Remarked then-White Sox second baseman Micah Johnson on playing in an empty stadium: “It’s quiet. There’s nothing going on. You hear everything. The atmosphere, it’s not how baseball is supposed to be played.”

And remember the whodunnit of NFL? Deflategate. Here’s New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick — who rarely (and I do mean rarely) explains himself — at a press conference on Deflategate allegations: “I’m not a scientist,” he said. “I’m not an expert in footballs. I’m not an expert in football measurements. I’m just telling you what I know.”

He’s a coach who don’t know nothin’ ’bout no footballs.

While we’re on sports, in the unsportsmanlike-conduct category, this year’s winner is retired Olympian and former Wheaties spokesman Bruce Jenner, who told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in his coming-out interview in April: “[F]or all intents and purposes, I’m a woman.”

Does that mean he will not pose with a shot put or throw a discus in stilettos?

Voters, pay attention. Hip-hopper Kanye West said he’s going to run for president in 2020, and he admitted that he was under the influence when he announced his political ambition at the Video Music Awards. Lindsay Lohan has as well — that is, she’s interested in a run, too. But see, people, this is what happens because you didn’t follow Nancy Reagan’s instructions and tell your kids to “Just Say No.”

Mr. West, though, might have additional competition. Said actor Will Smith recently on CBS’ “Sunday Morning”: “If people keep saying all the crazy kinds of stuff they’ve been saying on the news lately about walls and Muslims, they’re going to force me into the political arena.”

A sobering thought, eh?

But wait, there’s more.

The Rev. Al Sharpton is always good for a sound bite, and Monday was no exception. He was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” talking about crime, justice, Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the, ahem, un-American way: “You talk about a crisis on steroids. You are in the middle of a recall vote, they are circulating petitions in Chicago to recall you, the state Legislature is going to have to deal with it and you don’t even come back [from vacation]? This is the height of either insensitivity or lack of intelligence or arrogance, or a reasonable combination of all three.”

There’s no need to fear, Rev. Al, your Democratic brother is on his way.

I’m still smiling over the Redskins’ victory on Saturday, so I searched high and low for the perfect 2015 Washington Redskins quote. Here’s NFL Network commentator Deion Sanders’ setup remarks during a live postgame interview of quarterback Kirk Cousins on owner Dan Snyder: “I’ve had tremendous dealings with him. I love the dude. He’s a good man, very misinterpreted, very misread.”

Hail to the Redskins and Mr. Sanders, a former Redskin himself.

Now, back to life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom. Here, in part, is Frederick Douglass’ New Year resolution for all three: “I AM [sic] now at the beginning of the year — 1836 — when the mind naturally occupies itself with the mysteries of life in all its phases — the ideal, the real, and the actual. Sober people look both ways at the beginning of a new year, surveying the errors of the past, and providing against the possible errors of the future. I, too, was thus exercised. I had little pleasure in retrospect, and the future prospect was not brilliant. ’Notwithstanding,’ thought I, ’the many resolutions and prayers I have made in behalf of freedom, I am, this first day of the year 1836, still a slave, still wandering in the depths of a miserable bondage. My faculties and powers of body and soul are not my own, but are the property of a fellow-mortal in no sense superior to me, except that he has the physical power to compel me to be owned and controlled by him. By the combined physical force of the community I am his slave — a slave for life.’ With thoughts like these I was chafed and perplexed, and they rendered me gloomy and disconsolate. The anguish of my mind cannot be written.”

1836 was the year of his first attempt to escape. Douglass never gave up the fight for liberty, even after the Civil War, for which he helped recruit blacks for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry — America’s first black regiment.

Onward to 2016.

Happy New Year!

• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.