Claire McCaskill Quotes

I think one thing we share [with my wife] is a complete bottomless disdain for Bill Clinton.

I am not a politician. A politician is someone who does things to get elected. He's a guy who says things to please the public, that he thinks the public wants to hear, and his story changes with every passing day. I want to be elected, but I am not going to say a damn thing for your benefit, or that person's benefit out there on the street, or anybody's

Why is there so much resistance among people who work in the Government to the seemingly obvious fact that, in our democracy, if the Government lies, it will eventually get caught

If you will refrain from telling any lies about the Republican Party, I'll promise not to tell the truth about the Democrats.

The public, by and large, trusts its leaders not only to tell the truth, but to get the job done. When they don’t get the job done, they get punished, and when they don’t get the job done and it comes out that they lied, they’re in really serious trouble. This is what happened to [Lyndon] Johnson and it’s what happened to [George W,] Bush. If you’re going to tell a lie, make sure the policy works out.

He [William Clinton] has terrible trouble with the truth. I don’t think Presidents should have trouble with the truth.

Sometimes it's important to watch what the president does rather than what he says.

For much of my career I had no authentic political voice. I had been campaigning all over the country not to change the world or shake up my audiences but to please the roomful of people to whom I was speaking... As a result, my words rarely had the ring of truth to the nonpolitical observer.

The most unusual thing about Clinton as a pol is that he listens. Listens and remembers. If he does dance with them that brung him, not them that gave him big money, we will have a populist on our hands.

A candidate is not going to suddenly change once they get into office. Just the opposite, in fact. Because the minute that individual takes that oath, they are under the hottest, harshest light there is. And there is no way to hide who they really are.

What gets you out of bed in the morning? This is a question I'm often asked as a politician. It tends to be closely followed by a dozen other questions about what I'll do in 'x' scenario or whether I'll resign if 'y' happens.

A lot of people have the expectation that politicians shouldn't just disappear into the woodwork even if they didn't win the election.

I'm very much aware of the need for politicians to be careful with language as well as what they do.

[Donald] Trump just said that he thinks his supporters will be okay and understanding with his decision not to prosecute the Clintons.

So I think it's important to understand that your duly elected representatives have been consistently informed about exactly what we're doing.

I think if there's anything that's important today, it's credibility with the voter, because the voter is tired of being sold a bill of goods.

You watch people run for president, and a large part of what they say, they don't ever follow through on. But I don't think you can afford to wait on this [trade agreements].

I think I need to be married. Having a wife and family makes some sense out of all that I do, because I can't make any sense out of 20,000 adoring fans watching me for two hours.

If you work in either journalism or politics... you will be flogged for being right and flogged for being wrong, and it hurts both ways-but it doesn't hurt as much when you're right.

Hillary Clinton was personally presiding over the dissolution of moral authority - particularly applied to presidents - because she looked the other way, because she tolerated it.

Everyone can lie, young Roger, given cause enough. Even me. It's only that it's harder for those of us who live in glass faces; we have to think up our lies ahead of time.

We must maintain the integrity of the White House, and that integrity must be real, not transparent. There can be no whitewash at the White House.

There's not a lot of room for un-ironic emotion in contemporary culture. I think that irony is an important tool in dealing with the world as we find it. It's a tool of protection, but it can also be a tool of incision to get to some truth. But along the way maybe we've lost some of what I think of as the power of straightforward emotion and earnestness and seriousness.

What I've tried to do in politics is two very simple things: tell the truth and do what I said I would do.

In the 13 months I've been in the Senate, it has become apparent to me the single thing that Republican politicians hate and fear the most, and that is when they're forced to tell the truth. It makes their heads explode.