Jon Lovett Quotes

Blame the Tea Party? Geez, no wonder Kerry did so well in an election. If it wasn't for the Tea Party, they would have passed the debt ceiling thumbs up; we would have been rated BBB.

I think that what is truly unfortunate is when an entire party makes a decision that they're going to block every single thing that a president wants to accomplish. It's very - it's very hard to get anything done in those circumstances.

To be honest, I haven't seen much serious budget planning since the Republicans took control of the House after the 2010 elections and grabbed onto the Senate filibuster. It's not the White House's fault that John Boehner couldn't deliver on a bigger deal.

The Republicans can't say no to military spending, and the Democrats can't say no to social spending.

Republicans believe an obstructionist, do-nothing Congress will deny Obama momentum and keep their base energized.

The shutdown may have temporarily sidetracked the Republicans, yet Obamacare threatens much worse for the Democrats. By 2014 the former will be ancient history, while the latter will be an ongoing mess.

You remember had this gigantic clock in the arena showing the size of the national debt. And Paul told America, if you elect Republicans, we can fix that. But, if Paul Ryan was being honest, he would've pointed to the debt clock and said, we built that.

You could accuse Republicans of a lot of things, but you could never convict us of being too conservative!

We've clearly seen that Tea Party Republicans are willing to take our economy hostage just to score political points, but I'm not willing to do that.

People ask me about if, being a Republican, you guys want to cut everything and stop everything and not help people. I find that patently false.

Republicans have nothing but bad ideas and Democrats have no ideas.

Congress needs strong parties, but it also needs the capacity to deal with budget and entitlement challenges that are likely beyond the reach of pure partisan exertion.

While 2013 will not see a major national election, we can be sure that most Republicans will obstruct and some Democrats will appease.

The myopic obsession of the Tea Party with destroying health care reform and wounding the president has led Republicans astray.

Why would Senator Allen want to oppose saving money for the state? It's simply another example of Republicans fighting the governor tooth and nail against any measure where she might be able to turn the state's budget around.

Obama rammed through Obamacare legislation without a single Republican vote.

Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the House right now seems to have been strangled by the tea party.

Today's Republican party is too beholden to factions generally.

I've never seen a constructive Social Security debate that started with one side digging in, in one place and another side digging into another.

We cannot deal with the debt. The Democrats are not going to allow reductions in entitlements like Social Security. The Republicans will not allow one dime of additional taxes. We have a deadlock of democracy.

The Republican Party was threatening to close down the government and hassling President Obama about his birth certificate when he is trying to get Osama bin Laden.

After a national crisis, it’s never too early for a partisan debate in Washington.

The Republicans, specifically those of the House of Representatives, are responsible for undermining the confidence of the public that Government can help people.

The wheels of compromise lose traction as Congress sinks into an ooze of dysfunction.

I don't see people who are eager for shutdowns. While some people have a romantic ideal about shutdowns, the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats believe you have to try to work problems out rather than having a shutdown.