“A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word 'BUT' which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative - before they tell you. Thus: 'I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but...(a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” WayFirstsPoliticsBeliefStrongCuttingListeningPoliticianOppositesConservativeActiveSentencesDefenseBillionsMaximumAlways BelieveProposeComprehensionClausesNational Defense Author:Frank Mankiewicz
“If some Western politician claims he is in a position to use the normal Western methods to feed and clothe 1.2 billion Chinese, we would be happily prepared to elect him president of China.” IfsUseWould BePresidentPositionPoliticianNormalClaimsMethodPreparedWesternChinaBillionsChinese Author:Li Peng
“The rules in this new 'post-partisan' era are pretty simple: If the Democratic Party wants it, it's 'stimulus.' If the Republican Party opposes it, it's 'politics' - as in headlines like this: 'Obama Urges GOP To Keep Politics To A Minimum On Stimulus.' These are serious times: As the president says, it's the worst economic crisis since the Thirties. So politicians need to put politics behind them and immediately lavish $4.19 billion on his community-organizing pals at the highly inventive 'voter registration' group ACORN for 'neighborhood stabilization activities.” IfsWantNeedsPresidentCommunitySimplePartyBehindsGroupsEconomicWorstSeriousPoliticianRepublicanActivityCrisisDemocraticBillionsErasPostsNeighborhoodUrgesVotersMinimumRepublican PartyDemocratic PartyStimulusHeadlinesPartisansGopPalsEconomic CrisisAcornsRegistrationCommunity OrganizingVoter Registration Author:Mark Steyn
“A system that rewards politicians skilled at campaigning - which is the art of creating an illusion - and that puts hundreds of billions of coerced taxpayer dollars at the disposal of the winners will tend to attract men and women with a comparative advantage in manipulation.” MenArtPoliticianCreatingIllusionMen And WomenAdvantageDollarsRewardsBillionsWinnerManipulationTaxpayersCampaigningComparative Advantage Author:John Stossel
“Note even Jonathan Swift would dare to write a satire in which politicians argued that - in a world where species are vanishing and more than a billion people are barely able to afford to eat - it would somehow be good for the planet to clear rain-forests to grow palm oil, or give up food-crop land to grow biofuels, solely so that people could burn fuel derived from carbohydrate rather than hydrocarbons in their cars, thus driving up the price of food for the poor. Ludicrous is too weak a word for this heinous crime.” PeopleWorldGivingWritingAbleGrowsPoorClearLandCarCrimePlanetsPoliticianGiving UpRainWeakNotesSpeciesDareOilBe GoodBillionsDrivingForestsFuelSatirePalmsCropsVanishingCarbohydratesBiofuelsHydrocarbonsHeinous CrimesPalm Oil Author:Matt Ridley
“The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want [...] Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat. And if we're terrified, and we share that fear, we help.” IfsWantWritingRealHelpingStoriesUseSharePoliticianPressesThreatKillingTerrorismBillionsCampaignsTerroristReactionsPlotTargetScareTerrifiedTactics Author:Bruce Schneier
“Politicians like Prime Minister David Cameron have lost all sense of reality. The people have seen how billions were spent on Greece and Turkey, on deals with Erdogan or for asylum seekers.” PeopleRealityLostDealsPoliticianBillionsMinistersPrimePrime MinisterTurkeysGreeceSeekersAsylumsCameronErdoganAsylum Seekers Author:Geert Wilders
“There are big questions about the sort of skills you need in modern government today. You put politicians in charge of billions of dollars with absolutely no training and very little support system around them. It's an extraordinary thing.” NeedsLittlesBigsGovernmentTodaySupportModernPoliticianSkillsTrainingDollarsExtraordinaryBillionsExtraordinary ThingsBig QuestionsSupport Systems Author:Tony Blair
“People who are disenfranchised politically and people who are poor often don't vote. They often don't elect politicians, so the politicians who are supporting them are really being very charitable, because they're not going to give them billions of dollars in campaign funds.” PeopleGivingPoorPoliticianVoteDollarsBillionsCampaignsFundCharitableDisenfranchised Author:Joyce Carol Oates