Saxby Chambliss Quotes

I see myself as more of a policy maker than a political leader.

The issues are by some geometric number - 100 or 200 or 500 - times more complicated today than we appreciated them to be when Franklin Roosevelt was around.

Government should steer, not row.

And I think the American people look to the leaders to lead. They look to the leaders to take on the big problems. And the president deserves a lot of credit for doing that.

I've always thought Anne-Marie Slaughter would make a fantastic United States Senator or something. She's a real intellectual, but she's got enormous communicative skills and she's got government experience. The thing that drives me slightly crazy is the way we think about intellectuals as wooly, hopeless, arrogant, self-deceived, incapable.

I don't want to come to Washington to be just another vote. I want to lead on issues that are important.

I really don't have tremendous political ambition. I have policy ambition.

As governor, I learned the importance of having an agenda.

The person who knows HOW will always have a job. The person who knows WHY will always be his boss.

There is no substitute for accurate knowledge. Know yourself, know your business, know your men.

I had hoped to hear the President tonight tell the Congress and the American people exactly how he plans to tackle some of the important issues facing this country, unfortunately I did not.

I'm strictly for Stevenson. I don't dig the intellectual bit, but I'm telling you, man, he knows the most.

Secretary of state is far superior to vice president, because it's involved in continuously solving problems and making policy and not being on standby.

I have the experience and ability to step in on day one in Washington and start working on the challenging problems facing our country.

If you [as a Presidential candidate] identify a problem, you are going to be expected to have a solution.

Governing is hard. If you’re in the majority, you’ve got to do the hard work of governing

The person who knows "how" will always have a job. The person who knows "why" will always be his boss

If you are a U. S. senator, you can give an ideological response to a serious problem and probably never be held accountable for it. Whereas the [state] governors are dealing with the real world—they have to run things, to make them work.

Government is about hard choices.

If the American people are going to support a policy than they had better be made to understand the rationale.

Fotball strategy does not originate in a scrimmage. It is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign.

Politicians can’t just point to problems. They need to propose solutions.

I’m going to take Tennessee ideas to Washington and make them work for the country.

When you get into an airplane, you expect a pilot who knows how to fly. Running a Government is also an expertise.

Hope is not the basis for policy. Wise policymakers analyze major issues such as immigration carefully and look at facts and probabilities instead of just hoping for the best.