Monday, January 24, 2011

Politics in Quotes

With so much dirt and horse handicapping in the news, and maybe even a little here, I wanted to take a moment to show politicians for who they really are, and I find no better vehicle for this then their most insightful quotes, and especially those insightful about themselves. These quotes were extracted from various places over the internet, primarily BrainyQuote but a few others as well, and I hope you'll learn a thing or two about how people who agree with you and disagree with you come to their conclusions.

Most of the politicians quoted here are current, but a handful of quotes from previous generations, and especially Ronald Reagan, Malcom X and LBJ, are provided as well due to the continuing impact of these figures and their political heirs:

"One thing about the Senate, it is not the most efficient organization." -John McCain

"You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” -Rahm Emmanuel

"I respect people who feel things passionately. I do. But when someone is a judge, that is not what they should bring to the bench. It is not really passion, except in rare instances, that serves the bench well. It is, rather, an ability to understand the law and follow it." -Charles Schumer

"
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them." -Ronald Reagan

"I didn’t come here to be partisan, I didn’t come here to be bipartisan..." -Nancy Pelosi

"
After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land." -Barack Obama

"I sat next to [Sarah Palin] once, thought she was beautiful, and I think she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there." -Barbara Bush

"A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made." -Sarah Palin

"Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy." -Rudy Giuliani

"You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, `You are free to compete with an the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair." -Lyndon B. Johnson

"I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence." -Malcom X

"Faith crosses every border and touches every heart in every nation. " -George W. Bush

"A mere forty years ago, beach volleyball was just beginning. No bureaucrat would have invented it, and that's what freedom is all about." -Newt Gingrich

"She wants a new California, I want the California of my forebears." -Jerry Brown

"Blunt? Direct? . . . maybe you might say honest and refreshing. Maybe we can see that in your paper tomorrow." -Chris Christie

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