Lobbyists Quotes - Page 2

• Those who do not know the plans of competitors cannot prepare alliances. Those who do not know the lay of the land cannot maneuver their forces. Those who do not use local guides cannot take advantage of the ground.

  Sun Tzu

  Land, Lobbying, Use

  Sun Tzu (2005). “The Art of War”, p.167, Shambhala Publications

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• There is the old boys' club, but there are ­people who are "conviction lobbyists" coming from the heart.

  Gugu Mbatha-Raw

  Heart, Boys, People

  Source: www.glamour.com

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• One comment by a female lobbyist really shocked me. She said, "Washington is a contact sport." I asked, "What do you mean by that?" And she just said, "Well, it's all men - and they're very contact-y. They touch a lot." Women say that's just part of the game.

  Jessica Chastain

  Sports, Mean, Men

  Source: www.glamour.com

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• I've never needed a lobbyist personally to put my case. I'd rather put my case myself. But I don't understand how other people look at things. A lot of people in business haven't been involved in politics. They are frightened of ministers and the whole procedure. It's not something to be frightened of. It's something to go in and realise that people who go into politics, regardless of being Labor, Liberal or Nationals, primarily go in to serve the community.

  Clive Palmer

  Business, People, Community

  "Sunday Profile" with Monica Attard, August 07, 2009.

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• Donald Trump represents not the lobbyists, not the elected officials, not the establishment types. These are people that have nothing to do with government; they don't work there; they have much taken from them by government. They get very, very little of it back. And that is, I think, a good point in understanding Trump's popularity and who it is that's supporting him.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Taken, Thinking, Government

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• As a lobbyist he had long ago concluded there was no difference in how Democrats and Republicans conducted the business of government. The game stayed the same: It was always about favors and friends, and who controlled the dough. Party labels were merely a way to keep track of the teams; issues were mostly smoke and vaudeville. Nobody believed in anything except hanging on to power, whatever it took.

  Carl Hiaasen

  Team, Party, Government

  Carl Hiaasen (2001). “Sick Puppy”, p.94, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

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• Barack Obama's large contributor was Goldman Sachs - same thing on the Republican side. If you go to both their conventions, you see the same lobbyists paying off both sides so they win either way.

  Jesse Ventura

  Winning, Way, Sides

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• My four years as governor, I never met with a lobbyist once, never. Not one lobbyist got in my office.

  Jesse Ventura

  Years, Office, Four

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• The ability of big money to shape perceptions - where you have four anti-climate lobbyists for every single member of the House and Senate - is a big factor.

  Al Gore

  House, Perception, Climate

  "Al Gore: 'The message still has to be about the reality we're facing'". Interview with Brad Plumer, www.washingtonpost.com. September 12, 2011.

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• There is something uniquely depressing about the fact that the National Portrait Gallery’s version of the Barack Obama “Hope” poster previously belonged to a pair of lobbyists. Depressing because Mr. Obama’s Washington was not supposed to be the lobbyists’ Washington, the place we learned to despise during the last administration.

  Thomas Frank

  Depressing, Portraits, Lasts

  "Obama and the K Street Set" by Thomas Frank, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 30, 2009.

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• Nowhere else in the world do the laws on firearms become the playthings of politicians and lobbyists intent on manufacturing cultural conflict. Nowhere else do elected officials turn the matter of taking a gun to church into a searing ideological question. But then, guns are not a religion in most countries.

  E. J. Dionne

  Country, Gun, Law

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• I got into lobbying kind of against my will at first. I frankly didn't want to be a lobbyist, but I realized that in lobbying I could do things politically that were interesting to me and do some what I thought would be good. I'm not sure it all turned out like that, but at least that was some of the initial thinking.

  Jack Abramoff

  Thinking, Interesting, Would Be

  "Tavis Smiley", www.pbs.org. April 3, 2012.

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• Inequality also distorts our democracy. It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions, and runs the risk of selling out our democracy to the highest bidder. And it leaves everyone else rightly suspicious that the system in Washington is rigged against them - that our elected representatives aren't looking out for the interests of most Americans.

  Barack Obama

  Running, Voice, Giving

  "Obama Meets Occupy Wall Street" by Siddhartha Mahanta, www.motherjones.com. December 6, 2011.

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• Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president that he'll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys network in Washington.' Now I'm not making this up. This is somebody who's been in Congress for twenty-six years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he's the one who's gonna' to take on the old boys network. The old boys network? In the McCain campaign that's called a staff meeting. Come, on!

  Barack Obama

  Powerful, Boys, Years

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• President Bush insisted today that he was not caving in to big-money contributors, big-time lobbyists, and overall industry pressure when he broke a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. But the air was thick today with accusations from people who believe that's exactly what happened.

  Dan Rather

  Believe, Air, People

  "Clamoring for Kyoto" by Rich Noyes, www.newsbusters.org. May 24, 2012.

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• The President is the peoples lobbyist.

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  President

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• Factory-farm lobbyists are so powerful and so well funded and they do everything in their power to hide the truth about farming. They keep the farms and slaughterhouses in places that most people never visit; they execute huge marketing campaigns in an effort to make animal production look like a happy, nice, benign institution.

  Moby

  Powerful, Nice, Animal

  VegNews Interview, www.vegnews.com. December 1, 2008.

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• So what? A lobbyist cheated Indian tribes out of $25 million then laundered their money through phony Christian charities trying to stop other Indian tribes from getting casinos [on screen: 'Thou Shalt Not Compete'] and bribe congressmen in the process. Know what I call that? I call that business as usual in Washington. [on screen: 'Screwing Indians']

  Stephen Colbert

  Christian, Trying, Charity

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• The Bankers' New Clothes makes a simple, powerful argument: that banks need to raise more capital. It is entirely persuasive that the extent of their leverage makes the financial system fragile, and it clearly and patiently demolishes all the counter-arguments made by the banks and their lobbyists.

  Diane Coyle

  Powerful, Simple, Clothes

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• It's time for me to give out an award to newly elected Majority Leader John Boehner. Mr. Boehner was elected just a few days ago to reform House Republicans, who are feeling the heat from lobbyist scandals. Well, CNN found out that he rents his two-bedroom apartment from a lobbyist who had clients who had interests in legislation that Boehner sponsored. And for that, Mr. Boehner, you've just won a pair of Stephen Colbert's big brass balls.

  Stephen Colbert

  Two, Cnn, Awards

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• Having been a lobbyist myself you can't overstate how easy it is to get things done your way. It's a complicated policy and many lobbyists are trying to wreck amendments as we speak.

  Bryony Worthington, Baroness Worthington

  Trying, Climate, Done

  "Sandbagged: Dealing a blow to carbon trading" by Leo Hickman, www.theguardian.com. September 12, 2008.

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• As a lobbyist, I thought it only natural and right that my clients should reward those members who saved them such substantial sums with generous contributions. This quid pro quo became one of hallmarks of our lobbying efforts.

  Jack Abramoff

  Effort, Lobbying, Rewards

  Jack Abramoff (2011). “Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist”, p.86, BookBaby

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• If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make for themselves.

  Barack Obama

  Giving Up, Gay, Differences

  Second Democratic Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, delivered 6 September 2012, Charlotte, North Carolina

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• 'Cap and trade' generates special interests, lobbyists, and trading schemes, yielding non-productive millionaires, all at public expense. The public is fed up with such business. Tax with 100% dividend, in contrast, would spur our economy, while aiding the disadvantaged, the climate, and our national security.

  James Hansen

  Special, Spurs, Climate

  A letter to Obama by James and Anniek Hansen, www.theguardian.com. January 1, 2009.

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• Welfarism and excessive spending and deficits and socialism divide us, because everybody has to go to Washington. Those who have the biggest clout, whose who are the best lobbyists, those who go and they grab. And whether it's the medical industrial complex, or the banking industry, or the military industrial complex, that's who ends up controlling our government...

  Ron Paul

  Military, Government, Banking

  Ron Paul's speech at New Hampshire Homeschool Meet and Greet, www.youtube.com. September 30, 2007.

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