Favorite Political Quotes

[SuBe]

This is a place to share quotes from Politicans, Commentators, Founding Fathers, Essays, etc. Either from your Political Beliefs, or from those you disagree with.

It could be old or new, just share.

I'll Start:

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." Ben Franklin

 

[Wesley Dodds]

The relevant portion of that transcript follows.

Tom Brokaw: Senator Quayle, I don't mean to beat this drum until it has no more sound in it. But to follow up on Brit Hume's question, when you said that it was a hypothetical situation, it is, sir, after all, the reason that we're here tonight, because you are running not just for Vice President — (Applause) — and if you cite the experience that you had in Congress, surely you must have some plan in mind about what you would do if it fell to you to become President of the United States, as it has to so many Vice Presidents just in the last 25 years or so.

Quayle: Let me try to answer the question one more time. I think this is the fourth time that I've had this question.

Brokaw: The third time.

Quayle: Three times that I've had this question — and I will try to answer it again for you, as clearly as I can, because the question you are asking is, "What kind of qualifications does Dan Quayle have to be president," "What kind of qualifications do I have," and "What would I do in this kind of a situation?" And what would I do in this situation? [...] I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration, if that unfortunate event would ever occur.

Judy Woodruff: Senator [Bentsen]?

Bentsen: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy. (Prolonged shouts and applause.) What has to be done in a situation like that is to call in the —

Woodruff: Please, please, once again you are only taking time away from your own candidate.

Quayle: That was really uncalled for, Senator. (Shouts and applause.)

Bentsen: You are the one that was making the comparison, Senator — and I'm one who knew him well. And frankly I think you are so far apart in the objectives you choose for your country that I did not think the comparison was well-taken.

A classic moment. I'm sure we can all agree...

 

[SuBe]

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

Alexander Tyler

 

[The Senator]

"We can see Russia from Alaska."-- Sarah Palin discussing her foreign policy credentials.

 

[SuBe]

"Liberals want the government to be your Mommy. Conservatives want government to be your Daddy. Libertarians want it to treat you like an adult."

~ Andre Marrou

 

[Hobgoblin]

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Its also one of my guides to life.

Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

[Addendum]

The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else. - Theodore Roosevelt, 1912

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. - James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son

...from where I sit, the American Eagle has to have a right and a left wing in good working order or it ain't gonna get off the ground. - J Michael Straczynski

 

[SuBe]

"Competition is merely the absence of oppression" ~ Frederic Bastiat

 

[Matt]

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president.. is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonous to the American public."
----- Theodore Roosevelt

 

[Matt]

Also, a classic from the former mayor of Los Angeles:

Mayor: Now Drebin, I don't want any trouble like you had on the South Side like last year, that's my policy.

Frank: Well, when I see five weirdos dressed in togas, stabbing a man in the middle of the park in front of a full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards, that's my policy.

Mayor: That was a Shakesphere In The Park Production of Julius Caesar, you moron! You killed five actors! Good ones!

 

[Marx]

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ... We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation." --Sarah Palin at a fundraiser in Greensoboro, N.C., Oct. 16, 2008

 

[rdh007]

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president.. is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonous to the American public."
----- Theodore Roosevelt

Great one. I'd forgotten about that.

Two from Kennedy:
"Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing."

"But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.""

Two from Churchill on politics, though there are many more less directly related:
Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

 

[SuBe]

"Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should be just; it must be philanthropic. Nor is it sufficient that the law should guarantee to every citizen the free and inoffensive use of his faculties for physical, intellectual, and moral self-improvement. Instead, it is demanded that the law should directly extend welfare, education, and morality throughout the nation.

This is the seductive lure of socialism. And I repeat again: These two uses of the law are in direct contradiction to each other. We must choose between them. A citizen cannot at the same time be free and not free"

Frederic Bastiat

 

[Addendum]

You know, I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately, and you know, I couldn't agree with them more - John McCain

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we - George W Bush

 

[Marx]

You know, I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately, and you know, I couldn't agree with them more - John McCain

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we - George W Bush

 

[SuBe]

"I've reminded the prime minsiter-the American People, Mr. Prime Minister-over the past months that it was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship"

GW Bush, June 29, 2006.

 

[Franklin Richards]

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[BlackestNight]

“It depends on the what the meaning of the word is is.”
-Bill Clinton

Well done Sr. well done.

 

[SuBe]

“It depends on the what the meaning of the word is is.”
-Bill Clinton

Well done Sr. well done.

It gets better:

""It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement"

Ha!

 

[BlackestNight]

It gets better:

""It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the&#8212;if he&#8212;if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not&#8212;that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement"

Ha!

I don't care what anyone says, Pres. Clinton was the master of Deception. That is the most awesomest, *****ebagyest, and Splendiferous(had to throw some Don King in there) statement I have every read.

 

[Matt]

My favorite quote of current Commander-in-chief:

(When asked to name the foreign minister of Mexico by a reporter) "Can YOU name the foreign minister of Mexico?"

I just love how it is the presidential equivilant to the grade school classic "NUH UH! YOU'RE THE POOP HEAD!"

 

[Marx]

My favorite quote of current Commander-in-chief:

(When asked to name the foreign minister of Mexico by a reporter) "Can YOU name the foreign minister of Mexico?"

I just love how it is the presidential equivilant to the grade school classic "NUH UH! YOU'RE THE POOP HEAD!"

George W. Bush is a never-ending amount of interesting quotes. I still like...

'MOST of our imports come from outside the country.'

 

[Kelly]

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government."

Thomas Jefferson

 

[Kelly]

As some may have figured out, I'm a fan of Jefferson.....this is one of my favorites.

We have had a few around these parts that cannot understand how some of us can have friends that have truly differing opinions from our own......this is a quote that I can totally understand....

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

Thomas Jefferson


BTW, my quote for the next 4 years is in my signature.

 

[Matt]

What ever could've made you pick that one, Kel?