Elizabeth Warren Quotes

Think tanks are chiefly supposed to provide independent expertise to policymakers. But they also seek to be politically relevant.

What people demand is what the policies serve.

The best episodes of 'The West Wing' that dealt with policy and stuff, in my opinion, were the ones where they were in the middle of a crisis, and they were trying to figure out how to solve problems.

The BBC should not have a cheerleader. It should have somebody who runs the organisation in the interests of the public and that should be a chairman.

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.

Groups that advocate open government have argued that it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an outsized influence on policy matters.

Obama has no power to change American policy because there are people who specialize in drawing these policies, which have been and still are hostile towards Islam.

'Fairness' can be an important quality for legislators to consider when they are passing public policies. But it is a subjective standard. And it has no place among judges on a court - whose duty is to dispassionately judge a law's constitutionality.

Journalism is a flawed profession, but it has a self-correcting mechanism. The rule of journalism is: talk to everybody.

Public policy has been a passion of mine. For three decades, I've had some involvement in the political process.

Congressional investigations are for the benefit of photographers.

Legislating is perceived as governing and governing is perceived as legislating. Legislation—conceiving it, proposing it, fighting over it, winning or losing, making the proper proclamation when passed or signed—not only is the main ‘action’ seen in Washington but is the key political currency in dealing with the voting public.... The President must necessarily consider legislative initiatives and actions as central to his own interest and his own leadership efforts.

What Congress does is respond to pressures that are upon it.

Members of Congress often have to have testimony to hang their hat on if they wish to do something for you or do something for the country.

It is a great impropriety for a President to use the power of his office to induce men in Congress to vote for or vote against a bill that will affect the welfare of ninety millions of people.

One of our most solemn obligations is to state the truth as we see it and to refuse to allow any of our courses to become instruments of propaganda. The world has seen the dreadful consequences of Aryan History instead of history, and of Communist Genetics instead of genetics. Courses whose primary purposes are political or racial indoctrination have no place in our educational system—no matter who demands them or what noble purposes they seem to serve.

Access is an earned, essential raw material for the lobbying process but vastly overrated as a finished product all by itself. No dam was ever built ... solely on the basis of access.

If you don’t find out who’s paying for these groups then you don’t know what they’re up to.

Regulations are a form of legislation and should be decided by a political process, not more or better benefit-cost analyses.

Ethics and Washington DC. Are they mutually exclusive?

When you pass legislation, it is not tied to a particular problem. It can have unintended consequences.

Legislation is a matter of more or less intelligent improvisation aiming at palliating conditions by means of patchwork policies.

Politics is a leading indicator.

A law is simply a reflection of the momentary perception of self-interest by a majority of a legislative body.

A lot of folks look at the political calculation and then determine the policy. I think that's backward.