Quote of the Day: In Mother Russia, our Oil and Gas Drills You...

Palin’s nomination for vice president and her desire to allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness “reminded me of a lunch I had three and half years ago with one of the Russian trade attachés,” global trade consultant Edward Goldberg said to me. “After much wine, this gentleman told me that his country was very pleased that the Bush administration wanted to drill in the Alaskan wilderness. In his opinion, the amount of product one could actually derive from there was negligible in terms of needs. However, it signified that the Bush administration was not planning to do anything to create alternative energy, which of course would threaten the economic growth of Russia.”

-Tom Friedman, NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/opinion/03friedman.html?ref=opinion

p.s.
While this quote underscores why I'm now frightened of republicans (instead of merely disagreeing with them), what's up with Tom's weird use of quotes? [... her desire to allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness “reminded me of a lunch...] It reads like he's attempting to put his own words in quotes (which is strange, to say the least...) but after careful analysis, and a good handful of words later, it becomes clear its Edward Goldberg who's speaking. I thought the Times had good copy editors...

Are they not the "PAPER OF RECORD"?