Mark Shields Quotes & Sayings

Hillary Clinton has emphasized that she is afflicted with or possessed of the responsibility gene. — Mark Shields

He who speaks the truth must keep one foot in the stirrup. — Mark Shields

The person you're choosing is going to be 90 feet down the hall for four years. That's a pretty intimate and close relationship, and it better be somebody you're comfortable with, you like, you trust, you look forward to seeing, not someone you're coming up with creative ideas on how to avoid. — Mark Shields

I didn't realize the president was such an historian. — Mark Shields

They're still a subject beholden to special interests, but at least they have a national constituency. At least they have to think about national majorities. — Mark Shields

Big money buys access in Washington, and access purchases influence. It is as simple as that. And they have basically given a green light, a further green light, after Citizens United, to the biggest money to have the bigger voice in our politics, and to sound out and drown out the voice of just ordinary citizens. — Mark Shields

Ronald Reagan four times accepted the limits in contributions of what he could take, what he could spend, and the public funding for the general elections. So I just think the idea that it didn't work, and didn't work - it did work. It worked brilliantly. — Mark Shields

Character is destiny and character is important to American campaigns. — Mark Shields

Politics, they all - talked to the insiders. — Mark Shields

You have to understand that Republicans are on lockstep on one issue. They will not raise taxes. Democrats are in lockstep on another issue, pro-choice in all cases on abortion. — Mark Shields

John Kerry's biography was central to his campaign. — Mark Shields

From 1976, Judy to 1996, we had six presidential elections. And it was run under the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 1974. In all six of them, every candidate agreed to limits of what he could collect in contributions and what he could spend in seeking a nomination. And they all abided by it. — Mark Shields

The problem with smear campaigns is that too often they work. — Mark Shields

Drones are sort of the perfect weapon for a country that doesn't want to go to war. It only - there's no fingerprint. There's no direct involvement. There's human beings killed on the other end. You never see them. You don't have to worry about them. You don't have to meet their widows. It's sort of an antiseptic warfare. — Mark Shields

Donald Trump is writing a different theme, which is it's midnight in America and that things are bad, and they're bleak, and they're gloomy and they're doomy, and the only thing that is going to save you is someone with the authority and power of somebody like me. — Mark Shields

Whether it's her [ Hillary Clinton] guarded privacy or whatever else, I mean, there has got to be some sense that this is a human being that I can identify. — Mark Shields

I think any advocate who is effective has fully acquainted himself or herself with the legislator they are going to meet. Know what committees they are on, what issues they are interested in, all in an effort to build a bridge for communicating with them. — Mark Shields

The people who are rising, they're super ambitious. They have relationships with people above them. They have relationships, hierarchical, sort of people below them. A lot of people do not have relationships horizontally. And there's a lot of people who reach high political offices, but who are weirdly lonely, weirdly lacking in intimacy skills. — Mark Shields

In the past, in order to continue as a candidate, a serious candidate, you had to be in the top three finishes in Iowa. You had to be in the top two out of New Hampshire. All our presidents elected in the past half-century finished either first or second in New Hampshire and in the top three in Iowa. That changed with the Citizens United, when we gave unlimited amounts of money. — Mark Shields

I have my disagreements with President Obama, but President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him. He's chosen people who have been pretty scandal-free. — Mark Shields

I think Guantanamo, has been synonymous with the staining of American values and American legal tradition. — Mark Shields

Let's not pretend that all of a sudden, this is some new system. — Mark Shields

Politics is a contact sport - a question of accepting an elbow or two. — Mark Shields

I saw money change votes.I mean, they just seem unaware of this, that money is something - if they want to see the appearance of corruption, all they had to do was look in Las Vegas last weekend. — Mark Shields

Sometimes, you just let the country have its way, and you don't try to determine the shape of the country. You sort of modestly step back and let the country figure out what it believes. — Mark Shields

Let's give the president some due. — Mark Shields

The failure to invest in our public transportation and public life, I think, is a scandal and a shame, and it should be a national embarrassment. — Mark Shields

There is always strength in numbers. The more individuals or organizations that you can rally to your cause, the better. — Mark Shields

Every measurement of where you have more public confidence in creating jobs, American prosperity, controlling crime, health care, providing education, all of these standards, Bill Clinton has considerably high marks. The sole exception is on protecting taxes, which is initially his attack. — Mark Shields

My church [Catholisism] is hurting from arrogance and from its indifference to the suffering of children that were abused and the inclination of the leadership to protect the institution, rather than the children. — Mark Shields

I don't think he should make foreign policy on the basis of peak,but I don't think it can be overstated that Israel has been an embattled democracy that has enjoyed the bipartisan and overwhelming support of Americans. It has been a moral force. — Mark Shields

At a time when the public is sour on politicians, have no use for them, Bill Clinton has risen to a different level. Bill Clinton is endlessly interesting. — Mark Shields

I think that "Arabs coming out in droves" is so violative Jewish values that non-Jews admire so much about Jewish people throughout history, of welcoming the stranger, of standing up for the outsider, of defending the marginalized. This was classic us against them. This was the narrowest and meanest of politics, to which Jews, sadly and tragically, around the world have been subjected to. — Mark Shields

Now Republicans are a more interventionist party than they have been at any time since George W. Bush left office. — Mark Shields

If I were John Bolton, I'd take great consolation in the words of my principal supporter on the committee, who gave a ringing endorsement, which was, There is no evidence that he has broken any laws. — Mark Shields

I think that the people that are publicly on Hillary Clinton's short list all are very congenial people. They're not people with personality or Captain Queeg problems. — Mark Shields

Democrats, if they're smart and they're not brain-dead, are doing two things right now.They're having self-deprecating humor written for them. There was no humor in Cleveland. And they are not making this a Donald Trump. — Mark Shields

The Republicans, they are in the danger of rooting for the country to fail. They look bad that way, I mean, and I want to say to them, cheer up, Republicans. Eventually, things will get worse. — Mark Shields

I am struck the whole litany of people, especially of that era, who were involved in some scandal or another. Some of it was sexual. Some of it was more financial. And it was just all concentrated in a lot of people all at once. — Mark Shields

If an abduction is reported, it is dealt with in the same way as a kidnap. — Mark Shields

George Bush says what John Kerry did was noble. Yet he sees him being savaged by his own supporters. — Mark Shields

Dan Coats, retiring senator from Indiana, a mild-mannered man, a former United States ambassador to Germany, former congressman, said of Ted Cruz he's the most self-centered, narcissistic, pathological liar I have ever seen.And he said, you can quote me on that. — Mark Shields

The studies that show the reason Washington real estate is booming and there are so many lobbyists in town, it does pay. — Mark Shields

John McCain was victimized in the South Carolina primary. — Mark Shields

The corporations who invest in lobbyists, it pays in terms of tax loopholes, tax subsidies, all the rest. It pays. Clearly, the money has a big effect. — Mark Shields

John McCain has become the de facto running mate of George W. Bush. — Mark Shields

George W. Bush in 2000 went to private financing for the nomination, but he accepted public funding in the general. And, quite frankly, so did - it was broken in 2008, when Barack Obama decided he wasn't going to do that. — Mark Shields

Washington is a city of money. It's a flood of money. — Mark Shields

There's no question that there's been a breach in the trust between urban - especially urban community, African-American and minority communities and the police in major American cities. — Mark Shields

Health care, it's going to be political. It's going to be, let's say, the confluence of the politics and the messy implementation. — Mark Shields

Everybody who served in John Kerry's boat under his command, save one, has stood with him. — Mark Shields

Since the election, since the formation of a government, the death in Iraq has increased. The United States stands by, helpless to do anything about it. That's the reality, not George Bush's revisionist history! — Mark Shields

Benjamin Netanyahu is no Winston Churchill. Whatever else he, is he's not a Winston Churchill. He basically violated the great rule, which is it's better to mislead the people and to lose an election than to mislead the people and win an election. — Mark Shields

Human trafficking is a human tragedy. It's an outrage against any decent people. — Mark Shields

The Sheldon Adelsons, the Koch brothers, the George Soroses, what we want to try to do is force them into the parties, not so that Kasich or whoever is going to straight to them and trying to kiss up to special interests, but so the parties have the power and they can direct the money. — Mark Shields

If Donald Trump does lose, being revealed as this bizarre personality, Ted Cruz is not going to be what Republicans are looking for in 2020. — Mark Shields

The economy of the United States gross domestic product doubled from 1996 to 2015, doubled, more than, $8.8 trillion to $17.1 trillion. And the median household income went down. — Mark Shields

[In politics] when A goes after B and there's a C, and D and a Q all lined up there, you have no idea who's going to be the beneficiary. — Mark Shields

We have weakened the parties and strengthened all the special interests. — Mark Shields

There's no question that Stalin broke the agreements made at Yalta completely about elections that were supposed to be held immediately in Poland, and Eastern Europe was plunged into slavery as a consequence. — Mark Shields

When the size of the group supporting your cause reaches a critical mass, any legislator or elected official has to pay attention. — Mark Shields

Clinton's major problem, and the two aren't separable really because there is hope in the country, the hope - - optimism has slipped dramatically, make no mistake about every measurement shows that. But the hope is still there. Hope is with him. People want change. They see him as the best chance for change. — Mark Shields

The advantage that hospitals have over other institutions is that hospitals are community-based. You can't outsource your work; you can't move your emergency department to Pakistan. — Mark Shields

You've got people who didn't serve with John Kerry saying they did serve with John Kerry in the boat. With George Bush, we can't find anybody who did serve with him. — Mark Shields

As long as Republicans won't - won't raise taxes and as long as Democrats won't in any way make entitlements based on need, rather than just across the board, I really think that we're doomed to this deadlock. — Mark Shields

The uncritically admiring supporters and friends of the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu], in whose ranks I certainly don't include David [Brooks], but include Charles Krauthammer, the columnist, and Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, insist on comparing him to the incomparable leader of the British forces in country in part of - during World War II. — Mark Shields

You really have one bite at the apple. — Mark Shields

In the 2004 presidential election, we saw a wonderful example of citizens making contributions. In fact, individual giving to both the Kerry and Bush campaigns was the highest in our nation's history. — Mark Shields

Iraq is in a civil war. There is no road in that country that is safe. — Mark Shields

When you run for president of the United States, everybody does the same thing in the campaign-they talk about veterans, how much they admire them, how grateful they are. — Mark Shields

George Bush is trying to play it both ways. — Mark Shields

The Democrats are standing on one side, and the Republicans are playing games on the other. Both sides are playing games. — Mark Shields

You can't have someone with a pinkie out there at the U.N. or any other place. — Mark Shields

For many years, we have had these campaign finance reforms, and they have been failures. Money is more coursing through our system than ever before. Incumbents have used the laws to advantage themselves. And one of the reasons I think they have been failures is we have tried to crush down the money in places like the political parties, and it has squished out into opaque super PACs and sort of hidden channels. — Mark Shields

There is nothing more basic to our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders. — Mark Shields

As Bill Clinton said so eloquently at the convention, during Vietnam there was a chance to serve; there was a chance not to serve. — Mark Shields

The lobbying over China most favored nation trading status was disgusting. There's no way in hell that MFN would have passed in '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000 if all these companies hadn't come in flooding and making campaign contributions and ask for people's support. That drove the debate. Every year was the allure of corporate dollars flooding into members' bank accounts. — Mark Shields

This is America, where a white Catholic male Republican judge was murdered on his way to greet a Democratic Jewish woman member of Congress, who was his friend. Her life was saved initially by a 20-year old Mexican-American gay college student, and eventually by a Korean-American combat surgeon, all eulogized by our African American President. — Mark Shields

The way to solve all the money in politics is not to pretend we can get money out of politics. That will never happen. We have to channel it in ways where we can see it and hold it accountable. And I think the parties are the best vehicle for that. — Mark Shields

There are people who know Hillary Clinton who tell wonderful stories about her, how likable she is, how funny she is; 99 percent of American people don't - have never seen that side of her. — Mark Shields

What you have is two men seeking the White House; they're both products of prominent New England families. They both went to private boarding schools. They both went to a prestigious university. — Mark Shields

I'm a little nervous about public funding. It's better than what we got now. — Mark Shields

There is no tougher job in America than being a cop on the beat in a major city in this country, big and brawling. — Mark Shields

Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power. — Mark Shields