Thomas Frank Quotes

Two truths are all too often overshadowed in today's political discourse: Public service is a most honorable pursuit, and so is bipartisanship.

If ever there was a time for true bipartisanship, it is today.

I hear from everybody, and they say 'Joe, nowhere but in Washington do they think not working together makes sense.' We're not hired to fight.

I'm a strong believer in bipartisanship.

Rhetorically, President Obama is a champion of bipartisanship. In practice, though, he is almost always its enemy.

The only bipartisan place in D.C. is Brooks Brothers.

I'd like to see that bipartisanship come back that we used to have in the House of Representatives, in the Clinton years. I think there's a possibility that the voters are going to send the message that everybody running - Congress, the Senate, the presidency - that they want us to come together.

We don't need bipartisanship, we need application of principle.

If I'm the president, I will call in all the different political opinions to come together and to make one front to the benefit of Mexico.

I'm a believer in bipartisanship.

We aren't as divided as we think we are. We're not just Republicans sitting in one corner, and Democrats sitting in the other corner.

Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship.

Bipartisanship may be abnormal, but it does occur. The challenge is to explain why it occurs at all, and why it never lasts.

I wouldn’t be too serious about bipartisanship. It’s a great myth that ought to be fostered. And don’t bring too damn much scholarship to bear on it. You’ll prove it out of existence if you’re not careful.

President Bush said that he wanted to change the tone in Washington. He has; it has gotten worse.

True bipartisanship isn’t talking about it. It’s delivering it.

If someone agrees with you they're a statesman. If someone disagrees with you, they're a politician.

Bill Clinton worked with a Republican Congress. They certainly had their differences on many issues, but look at what they also accomplished. Welfare reform - that was maybe the most significant social policy achievement in two generations.

The system requires bipartisanship.

I think the amount of love and trust on Capitol Hill is often in short supply, and having more dogs here would probably make this place work better and maybe in a more bipartisan manner.

I will do my part every day to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to unite us, and not divide us.

Everybody in the world has to compromise. I don't know one person that gets everything they want, so the politicians are going to have to figure that out and stop pointing out, "He shook hands with a Democrat in 1989. He ate with a Republican last week." It's petty high school, even junior high stuff going on. It's junior high politics going on, so it's a shame.

It used to be that Democrats and Republicans would disagree, but they could be social to each other. There were times during the year that we acted together in the good of the country.

Well, I don't know too many governors who are flaming ideologues.

I will not be making appointments to a committee that is not bipartisan.