Mark Shields Quotes - Page 5

Quotes about:

• 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

  Lonely, Skills, Office

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Scandal, Eras

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Thinking, Ideas, Four

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• 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

  Broken, Nominations, Accepted

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Simple, Light, Voice

  Source: www.pbs.org

  5 Copy quote

• Washington is a city of money. It's a flood of money.

  Mark Shields

  Cities, Flood

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• 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

  Running, Presidential, Reform

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Interesting, Levels, Bills

  Source: www.pbs.org

  5 Copy quote

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

  Mark Shields

  Thinking, Tradition, American Values

  4 Copy quote

• Politics is a contact sport - a question of accepting an elbow or two.

  Mark Shields

  Sports, Two, Elbows

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Cities, Community, African American

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Past, Order, Iowa

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Crush, Party, Thinking

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Country, Mistake, Two

  "David Gergen and Mark Shields on Bill Clinton's 100 Days". "PBS Newshour" with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. April 29, 1993.

  4 Copy quote

• We have weakened the parties and strengthened all the special interests.

  Mark Shields

  Party, Special, Interest

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Politics, they all - talked to the insiders.

  Mark Shields

  Insiders

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Lobbyists, Subsidies, Pay

  Source: www.pbs.org

  5 Copy quote

• 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

  Thinking, Scandal, Shame

  Source: www.pbs.org

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Years, People, Support

  Source: www.pbs.org

  11 Copy quote

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

  Mark Shields

  Real, Lobbyists, Doe

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Mean, Weekend, Vegas

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Strong, Home, America

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• I mean, this is a group [Republicans], don't forget, that gave its presidential straw ballot to Ron Paul, Ron Paul, and Rand Paul and Rand Paul. So, they have abandoned what - their libertarian values and instincts to embrace [Donald] Trump.

  Mark Shields

  Mean, Presidential, Libertarian

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• The problem is that every study I'm aware of, which is probably not that many, has indicated that a dollar spent in preparation and avoidance of natural disasters is worth $15 that is spent in relief. But there's no political payoff for preparation. So, who benefits? I mean, the governor or senator or the president? Bill Clinton at Oklahoma City, his performance there helped him enormously. And there really hasn't been any regulation that would, in fact, interfere with environmental disaster.

  Mark Shields

  Mean, Political, Preparation

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• I don't hear any clear, coherent message [from Democrats]. I mean, when you're a party out of power, it's the time to be a national party chair.

  Mark Shields

  Party, Mean, Messages

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

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