Joe Lieberman Quotes

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.

We need less bipartisanship in Congress.

I think partisanship is probably the greatest problem in Washington, D.C.

You've heard me question whether the partisanship in Washington has made us, as a nation, ungovernable - and, indeed, Democrats are doing their very best to make sure of it.

At its worst, Washington is a place where name-calling partisan politics too often trumps policy.

Folks are really tired of this rabid division between Republicans and Democrats. Folks want people to come together and solve the problems and the challenges of America.

You used to get legislation done by getting the moderates to agree. But we have no moderates now so it doesn’t get done

The middle in Congress is gone now. That is where we got most things done.

These days everything is discussed in terms of political partisan perspective including the weather—especially the weather.

I wasn't looking for a hobby. If I were looking for a hobby, it wouldn't be the United States Senate. That's one of the toughest jobs I'd probably ever do. I just felt there wasn't enough compromise going on: People were too far to the left, too far to the right, with no one trying to build a compromise.

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

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

While I have worked hard to bring folks to the middle to craft common-sense solutions to the many problems that confront our nation, Washington is mired in gridlock, gamesmanship and constant partisan bickering.

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

I see good ideas on the Republican side as well as the Democratic side. You have to return civility and statesmanship to governance. If you don't do that, it doesn't matter what portfolio of issue you're pushing, nothing is going to get done.

I've decided to cut out the part of the speech where I say anything nice about Democrats.

I'm very concerned about the tone of politics in recent years. We've seen a decline in civility and bipartisanship, and a rapid increase in hostility between those who have differing opinions. I think this has led to the alienation of the public in governance, which jeopardizes democratic participation.

Partisan rancour and party politics and ideology have got in the way of compromise - and compromise is the only thing that has ever made politics successful.

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

If the parties get too close together they lose their identities, if they get too far apart you're not going to get a whole lot done because you almost always need to have some folks on the other side of the aisle to accomplish anything.

In Washington, compromise has become a dirty word.

I do hope that next year Republicans and Democrats will do nothing.

The United States is a very difficult country to govern.

In government, consensus is more important than command; persuasion not only works better than arrogance, it's vital to the democratic process.

We live in a world of competing sorrows ... to govern is to choose.