Mondale Quotes & Sayings

My parents are always supportive of anything their kids do. They point out the pros and cons, but they let you make your own decisions, and when it's bad they stick by you. — Eleanor Mondale

You have got to be careful quoting Ronald Reagan, because when you quote him accurately it is called mudslinging. — Walter F. Mondale

The Queen of England is Defender of the Faith but the President of the United States is Defender of the Constitution, which defends all faiths. — Walter F. Mondale

The last man to try to run for president advocating a tax increase was Walter Mondale. He lost 49 states in 1984, and the "I'll raise your taxes" reputation haunted him all the way to Minnesota last year, where he lost his 50th state in the Senate election. — Dick Morris

Gun bans don't disarm criminals, gun bans attract them. — Walter F. Mondale

I like fashion. I like being in shape. I like to look nice and I like to make money, but I don't think that's the most, No. 1, important thing. — Eleanor Mondale

Despite an unimpressive first term in office, which featured huge tax cuts
for the wealthiest Americans and tax increases for everyone else, Reagan was
reelected in 1984 in an unprecedented landslide, winning forty-nine of the
fifty states against hapless Democrat Walter Mondale. While he has become
the patron saint of all Republicans, especially those who revel in wearing the
"conservative" mantle, Reagan's record is far, far removed from his rhetoric.
Despite this, the collective delusion of his supporters is best exemplified by
noted Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan's claims, regarding his 1980
campaign promises, that they were "Done, done, done, done, done, done and
done. Every bit of it. — Donald Jeffries

When I first started working in politics, as a junior aide on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, it never occurred to me that I would one day work in the White House. There were plenty of women among the volunteers who stuffed envelopes and walked precincts. But there were fewer and fewer on each successive level of influence and access. — Dee Dee Myers

[If the Democratic nominee turns out to be] Walter Mondale, I hope he picks Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. It would be a desperate move, but that's what it'll take to get rid of Reagan. Ms. Ferraro is no more unqualified than a lot of Vice Presidential candidates have been, and anyhow Mondale's in good health. — Hendrik Hertzberg

Bill Proxmire represents almost the last of one of America's most remarkable generations. — Walter F. Mondale

For decades, Barbara Walters has been described as a broadcast pioneer - and with good reason. In 1974, Walters became the first female host of the 'Today' show. In 1976, she became the first woman to serve as a network-news anchor. In 1984, she moderated the first presidential debate between Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan. — Michael Specter

Political image is like mixing cement. When it's wet, you can move it around and shape it, but at some point it hardens and there's almost nothing you can do to reshape it. — Walter F. Mondale

At the first Holocaust memorial commemoration in the Capitol Rotunda, both President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Mondale referred to the 'eleven million victims.' Carter also used Wiesenthal's figures of 'six million Jews and five million others' in his Executive Order establishing the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. I have attended Holocaust memorial commemorations in places as diverse as synagogues and army forts where eleven candles were lit. More significant is that strangers have repeatedly taken me and other colleagues to task for ignoring the five million non-Jews. When I explain that this is an invented concept, they become convinced of my ethnocentrism. — Deborah E. Lipstadt

I don't want to spend the next two years in Holiday Inns. — Walter F. Mondale

Today, the religion clauses of the First Amendment do not need to be fixed; they need to be followed. — Walter F. Mondale

Walter Mondale once said God has no place in American politics and it turned out that God felt the same way about Walter Mondale. — Argus Hamilton

To choose Norm Coleman over Walter Mondale is like going to a great steakhouse and ordering the tuna sandwich. — Garrison Keillor

I like being involved in the lighter side of journalism because it serves a purpose, and it's fun. And I can keep my opinions off camera if I want. — Eleanor Mondale

By instinct and tradition, I don't like the thing. I like to look someone in the eye. — Walter F. Mondale

It was not malaise we suffered from; it was Jimmy Carter - and Walter Mondale. — Jeane Kirkpatrick

I started out pursuing an acting career out of college when I lived in Los Angeles. When I got an entry into broadcasting, I preferred it. I liked being me, rather than dressing up to be someone else. Now I'm 30 and doing a career of my own and have been in this career for eight years. — Eleanor Mondale

Tomorrow, I'm going to a soup kitchen in Mobile. I think that will symbolize the insensitivity of this administration to human needs. — Walter F. Mondale

If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused. — Walter F. Mondale

The biggest hurdle is figuring out who your friends are. Your real friends. — Eleanor Mondale

My good friend Walter Mondale is a good lapdog. He'll give them [special interest groups] everything they want. He'll lick every hand. — Ernest Hollings

Whatever his private beliefs and religious practice, a president must be the guardian of the laws which ensure America's religious diversity. — Walter F. Mondale

We're Norwegians. You know, the Vikings. My deadlift was 310 pounds. I mean, I was very, very strong - and I didn't take steroids. I did it all on my own. — Eleanor Mondale

I like to get wild. — Eleanor Mondale

In our system, at about 11:30 on election night, they just push you off the edge of the cliff-and that's it. You might scream on the way down, but you're going to hit the bottom, and you're not going to be in elective office. — Walter F. Mondale

Modern politics today requires a mastery of television. I've never really warmed up to television and, in fairness to television, it's never warmed up to me. — Walter F. Mondale

Right now, if there's a gender gap problem, it's not Ronald Reagan with women; it's with Walter Mondale with men. — Patrick Caddell

I worked in the Senate in the 1970s. I worked for the Labor, Public Welfare Committee, and we had Ted Kennedy and my old boss, Bill Hathaway, and Walter Mondale. — Angus King

I didn't like not having work and not having people return my calls. — Eleanor Mondale

When you're nearing 35, going, 'Hey Dad, I can't make these payments,' just isn't cool. — Eleanor Mondale

Don't forget to vote for Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Stay home if you're voting for Dole. — Eleanor Mondale

Actually, I'm 130, but 125 is what I put on my resume, because that's what I look like I weigh. — Eleanor Mondale

[Mondale] was not born; he was appointed. — Ernest Hollings

There was a point when I almost gave up. I couldn't feed myself. I couldn't feed my pets. — Eleanor Mondale

Ever since John Kennedy, Democrats have had a weakness for dashing younger men like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, I suppose, Jimmy Carter. They balance their tickets with senior statesmen - Lyndon Johnson, Joe Biden, Walter Mondale. (Al Gore was young but played ancient). — Joe Klein

I wanted to be an actress. I think it had a lot to do with being a kid and watching how every time my dad would stand up to talk people would applaud ... that was pretty cool. — Eleanor Mondale

I was a Great Society liberal on domestic issues. People ask me, 'How do you go from Walter Mondale to Fox News?' The answer is, 'I was young once.' End of answer. — Charles Krauthammer

Do not despair. In every defeat are found the seeds of victory. — Walter F. Mondale

How rude would I be, walking around and saying: 'Hello. I'm Eleanor Mondale. My father was vice president of the United States. Treat me differently.' — Eleanor Mondale

I have to prove myself five times over. — Eleanor Mondale

The idea behind Reaganomics is this: a rising tide lifts all yachts. — Walter F. Mondale

I make bad choices. I've got such dodgy tastes in men. — Eleanor Mondale

I've traveled more this year than any other living human being, and if I'd traveled any more I wouldn't be living. — Walter F. Mondale

Do you want to tear your life apart and get rid of everything you've known as a lifestyle? Like seeing your family? Being with your friends? A fishing trip? A hunting trip? A night's sleep? — Walter F. Mondale

The meeting [in San Antonio of the National Women's Political Caucus] featured a cattle show at which a herd of Democratic candidates- Glenn, Cranston, Mondale, Hart, and Hollings- pantingly pantomined their fidelity to feminism, stopping just short of a pledge to use nuclear weapons against any states that omit to ratify the Equal Right Amendment. — Daniel Seligman

Reagan "has conducted an arms race on earth," boomed Mondale. A race generally implies two parties. The Soviets contributed a little bit to this problem, if Mondale had not noticed. — Hugh Sidey

I've always considered myself a physical person. I don't call myself a farm girl, but I did spend a lot of years shoveling manure and throwing hay, because I worked to pay most of my riding expenses. — Eleanor Mondale

Fritz Mondale is not some synthetic Masked Marvel or Mystery Man. He is not made of silicon and micro-chip flakes. He is made of flesh and blood and brains. — Lane Kirkland

Eleanor Mondale and Monica Lewinsky could not satiate the president's horndog sexual desires. There were many others. I saw plenty of awkward run-ins and drama with other officers and staff. President Clinton had difficulty managing where he saw his many mistresses, whether it was at the White House or on the road. It baffled the Uniformed Division as to how he could manage all these women without any of them realizing there were so many others. We wondered how he got any work done and joked that he would have been better at running a brothel in a red-light district than the White House. — Gary J. Byrne

Running for President is physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually the most demanding single undertaking I can envisage unless it's World War III. — Walter F. Mondale

I've seen the film. And I'll tell you this, I'm glad Chuck Yeager isn't running for President. — Walter F. Mondale

Let's tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did. — Walter F. Mondale

Walter Mondale has all the charisma of a speed bump. — Will Durst

What I feel I can do is help people become aware of how pervasive and extensive the arts are, how they affect each one of us in our daily lives - what kind of [buildings] we live in, what kind of clothes we wear, what we see with our eyes. We are often blind to the beautiful things around us. What I'm mostly concerned about is how often we're blind to our own talent. I think that within each human being there is a creative spirit, and some of us have been fortunate enough to have good teachers and parents who've brought this out and encouraged it, but others haven't. — Joan Mondale

It could well be the end of justice in America. Do not let Mr. Reagan get his hands on that court. — Walter F. Mondale

There will be no veterans of World War III. — Walter F. Mondale

I didn't want to get married. What I knew of most men was something I didn't want any part of. I just wanted to work on my career. — Eleanor Mondale

I said I didn't want to spend most of my life in Holidays Inns, but I've checked and they've all been redecorated. They're marvelous places to stay and I've thought it over and that's where I'd like to be. — Walter F. Mondale

The arts are the signature of a nation. — Joan Mondale

What do we want our kids to do? Sweep up around Japanese computers? — Walter F. Mondale

Who is ready to be a truly independent representative of Minnesota? Who is free of entangling alliances and big money that allows them to represent? What do we need
that sort of person who can truly independently represent Minnesota, or something else?. — Walter F. Mondale

I'd like to be the ambassador to the Bahamas. — Eleanor Mondale

I have more self-confidence than I did when I was in my 20s. — Eleanor Mondale

The reporting I did was mostly entertainment or lifestyle. I took a very different approach than most reporters. I approached it more casually than you would think a reporter would. Now I'm a morning radio personality, and radio is really casual. — Eleanor Mondale