Joe Manchin Quotes

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

When I was in politics, I always got accused of image-making and trying to make them something they weren't. Truth was - and nobody ever discovered it, although I was in that business for twenty years - what I was trying to do was to get them to be themselves.

I think that's the beauty of elections: You can't hide from who you are. The more honestly and directly you communicate to people why you're doing this, the way in which you want to serve them, I just think that the better, more informed decision that they can make.

There's not a lot of conversation going on in my world about softening my image. I'm pretty much who I am.

Voters don't have to love him, Romney advisers say, but they will respect him.

We're an ideal political family, as accessible as Disneyland.

Voters crave authenticity.

What you see on the campaign trail is me. It's easy being me.

Every now and then, a presidential candidate surprises us with a truly human and honest moment.

What people are looking for are candidates and representatives that are going to work hard, tell it like it is. I'm unafraid to do things when it doesn't poll well.

Voters are looking for credibility and are wary of polish. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter which candidate can more deftly read a teleprompter.

For better or worse, when you're running for mayor, there's a little bit of a spotlight on you.

I will not change my beliefs to win votes. I will offer a choice, not an echo.

Honestly, if you are going to run for public office, I think it's incumbent... to speak up.

I think what is important, whether you are Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, is to embrace and own your identity. I think that's not political. That's good in life, and it certainly is the best way to be when you are running for office. If you don't do that, the voters will see through it.

The voters of Colorado deserve honest, straight-talking elected officials.

Voters are smart. They know the difference between a Democratic Party that wants their vote and a Democratic Party that believes in making their life better. They'll forgive you for pushing a policy they don't like as long as they believe you're doing it because you genuinely believe it's what's best for the country.

If you want to be transparent with your people, do not do anything cosmetic, whether to deceive your people or to get some applaud from the West.

Trustworthiness is the thing that you need the most going to a presidential election. Honest and trustworthy is one of the main questions in any presidential election.

How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are?

One of the things that attracted me to Barack [Obama] was his emotional honesty. Right off the bat he said what he felt. There are no games with him - he is who he appears to be.

I don't want to be a role model. I just want to be someone who says, this is who I am, this is what I do, I say what's on my mind.

Authenticity is your most precious commodity as a leader.

I'm not a politician; I'm an artist. So I always feel the need to give the unfiltered truth, (or) what I think is the truth, at least.

The only way you can truly control how you are seen is by being honest all the time.