Sam Reed Quotes

We must govern from the middle, or we will not be able to govern at all.

I'm someone who believes in centrist governing philosophy.

Leaders willing to demand centrist government and less alienating politics are rare. Moderation is not considered sexy; bipartisan initiatives are frequently deemed boring. Ironically, it has been left to a media celebrity to fill part of the yawning gap in the middle.

I will do everything to make sure you never have reason again to vote for extremes.

We need to punch back against the extremes of both the left and the right and define the terms of the debate ourselves.

We need to tell the far-right and the far-left to go away and have people in the center solve the problem.

When most presidents get in, they move to the center because they realize that this is a centrist country - even Reagan.

I'm what you would call an 'independent moderate.'

Things happen in American politics in the political center. If the President will meet us in the center, there are things we can accomplish.

You can't rule America from the fringes. You must rule America from the middle.

… triangulation is the idea that you demonstrate to some set of swing voters that you are politically palatable by poking the extremes of both parties in the eye.

The antidote to frenzied partisanship won’t be found in politics as usual but in problem-solving leaders who govern from the center.

Despite the forces pulling politicians to the extremes, Americans must remember that the United States is not Europe. The American political tradition is pragmatic and centrist.

The only way Democrats can govern in this country is by making common cause with moderates and independents.

I know a moderate, more centered candidate like myself doesn't get as much attention as people who tend to say more extreme things.

Most people want a normal centrist approach. But politicians in the center have to show them results.

To those who would divide us or drive us to the extremes of either political party, I remind you that Maryland has been called 'a state of middle temperament.' Our politics need that middle temperament as well.

The Democratic Party needs to look carefully at moving towards the middle, where the American people are.

We are in a period when old questions are settled and the new are not yet brought forward. Extreme party action, if continued in such a time, would ruin the party. Moderation is its only chance. The party out of power gains by all partisan conduct of those in power.

From the political angle, I'm trying to be apolitical if you will. I mean people say, 'Are you a red state or blue state?', I say, 'I'm purple.' I think there are great ideas on both sides of the aisle and neither side has cornered the market.

I'm a moderate. I hang out in the middle. I vote against my party with some regularity and try to compromise. It doesn't appear right now that the Republican Party is welcoming moderates any more.

By temperament and disposition and emotions, I'm a liberal; but in my beliefs about what's best for the country, I'm a centrist.

The things journalists should pay attention to are the issues the political leadership agrees on, rather than to their supposed antagonisms.

In politics the middle way is none at all.

In fact, I think that Governor Clinton, when he was running, and President Clinton, when he was serving, actually governed with a wide range of advisors and a perspective that blended the best of ideas from the center and the left.