“By their own admission, leaders of the Republican Revolution of 1994 think their greatest mistake was overlooking the power of the veto. They gave the impression they were somehow in charge when they weren't.” ThinkingMistakeLeaderRevolutionRepublicanImpressionAdmissionVetoOverlooking Author:Mitch McConnell
“I think the important thing to remember here is that we haven't been attacked again at home since September of 2001.” ThinkingImportantHomeRememberHavensImportant ThingsSeptember Author:Mitch McConnell
“What we do know is that the American people, regardless of how they feel about the abortion issue, don't think that taxpayer money ought to be used to pay for abortions.” PeopleThinkingKnowsFeelsUsedPayIssuesOughtAbortionTaxpayers Author:Mitch McConnell
“I'm in favor of doing tax reform, but I think tax reform ought to be revenue neutral as it was back during the [Ronald] Reagan years. We've resolved this issue.” ThinkingYearsIssuesOughtTaxesFavorsReformRevenueTax Reform Author:Mitch McConnell
“I think it's not just Republicans who would like to see the Senate run differently. I think there are a reasonable number of Democrats as well.” ThinkingWellsRunningNumbersRepublicanDemocratReasonableSenate Author:Mitch McConnell
“The classic example I've used - I'm sure you've heard me say it before - was Mark Begich in Alaska who was here for a full six years and never had a roll call vote on an amendment on the floor of the Senate, which Dan Sullivan tells me he used on virtually a daily basis. So the notion that protecting all of your members from votes is a good idea politically, I think, has been pretty much disproved by the recent [Barack Obama] election.” ThinkingYearsHas BeensIdeasUsedHeardExampleMembersSixVoteBasesMarkElectionNotionBarackClassicGood IdeasSenateAmendmentsAlaska Author:Mitch McConnell
“What I said to the members [of Congress] who hoped they would be chairmen: let's don't have that problem. Be thinking now about legislation that you have, preferably that enjoys some Democratic support because we certainly didn't think we were going to have 60 and we don't.” ThinkingSaidProblemWould BeEnjoySupportMembersDemocraticCongressLegislationChairman Author:Mitch McConnell
“We [Democrats] are looking for things that we think would make a difference, improve the country, and enjoy some bipartisan support.” ThinkingCountryEnjoyDifferencesSupportDemocratMaking A DifferenceBipartisan Author:Mitch McConnell
“I think there were two messages in last year's election. One is pretty obvious. People were mad as hell at the president [Barack Obama] - and wanted to send a message. We all got that. Our new members were also hearing, and I was hearing as well, that people didn't like the fact that the Congress was dysfunctional. Now they may have been confused about where the dysfunctionality was cause the president kept pointing to the House. Factually, that's not accurate. The dysfunction was in the Senate.” PeopleThinkingYearsWellsMayHas BeensTwoFactsWantedLastsHouseCausesPresidentHellMembersMessagesElectionMadCongressObviousHearingBarackConfusedSenateAccurateLast YearPointingPresident Barack ObamaDysfunction Author:Mitch McConnell
“I think it is to the advantage of my state to have the opportunity to come to meetings occasionally and to vote in person, rather than just by proxy.” ThinkingPersonsStatesOpportunityAdvantageVoteMeetingsProxy Author:Mitch McConnell
“I don't think there's any equivalency between the way that the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does.” ThinkingWayDoeStatesUnitedUnited States Author:Mitch McConnell
“I'm not going to critique the president's every utterance, but I do think America is exceptional. America is different. We don't operate in any way the Russians do. I think there's a clear distinction here that all Americans understand, and no, I would not have characterized it that way.” ThinkingWayDifferentAmericaPresidentClearDistinctionExceptionalCritiqueUtterance Author:Mitch McConnell
“I honestly thought we wouldn't hold the U.S. Senate. I thought we'd come up short and I didn't think President Donald Trump had a chance of winning. Given my expectations, doubly exciting because I thought we'd come up short on the Senate. We had a lot of exposure. That was really something. But it never occurred to me that he might be able to win as well.” ThinkingWinningPresidentChanceExpectationsExcitingHonestly Author:Mitch McConnell
“You'll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.” ThinkingMayRegretMemorable Author:Mitch McConnell
“All Citizens United did was to level the playing field for corporate speech. We now have, I think, the most free and open system we've had in modern times.” ThinkingLevelsUnitedModernFieldsCitizensSpeechCorporatePlaying FieldsModern TimesCitizens United Author:Mitch McConnell
“For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't.” ThinkingI CanRepublicanClimate Change Author:Mitch McConnell
“Americans don't think we should be raising taxes on anybody, especially in the middle of a recession.” ThinkingShouldMiddleTaxesRecessionsRaising Taxes Author:Mitch McConnell
“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this - it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.” ThinkingMayDoneMightChanceIssuesMembersCongressShootingTake A ChanceDefaultHostageConservative Values Author:Mitch McConnell
