John McCain Quotes

Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him... the better off we all are.

Political criticism is our enemies' best friend.

First of all, the world criticizes American foreign policy because Americans criticize American foreign policy. We shouldn't be surprised about that. Criticizing government is a God-given right - at least in democracies.

I make a fortune from criticizing the policy of the government, and then hand it over to the government in taxes to keep it going.

It is only in the freest of nations that people can not only criticize the government, fairly or unfairly, but in extraordinarily few—only the greatest—do the negative criticisms get very wide distribution. Look for the nation where their media are full of criticisms, and there you will find a nation sufficiently free and confident to consider possible improvement from any and all sources.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive. ... And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment — the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution.

Our job is to bash the President.

Criticism, any amount, we welcome it. Come, let's have a discussion - in Parliament, all the better.

It's supposed to feel good to throw a brick at the right people. There is a long tradition of naming and ridiculing and shaming and calling the villains what they are. Usually it was the artistocracy of the day and satire was the only way to speak truth to power.

He's the President—it's the responsibility of every citizen to criticize aggressively when they think it's warranted.

Clearly while the president is overseas, he's at a conference and while the president is overseas I think it's appropriate that people not be critical of him or our country.

We don't think well of our presidents when they are serving. Even Kennedy, with such a short presidency, was beginning to lose his remarkable appeal to the American people when he was suddenly sainted by death.

I believe the reason why he media so hates me and the reason why they make a big deal of it. This is because I'm one of the few Americans, political Americans who think that we shouldn't be led by the nose by Israel.

I'm quite convinced in my own mind that those who were arguing that [the need to intervene in Iraq] was a more immediate one than some believed - were I'm sure convinced that they were right on fact, I don't think they were making it up. So as to lying, I don't think it has been established that any lies were told.

Most people who have told a lie think they got away with it … when in fact, they didn’t

If you say what you think don't expect to hear only what you like.

One should go easy on smashing other people's lies. Better to concentrate on one's own.

I can think of no better reason to vote against Obama than the prospect of an administration where any criticism of the President is treated as racism.

I can criticize your religion all I want, and you can criticize mine. I don't like this whole climate of, 'You can't ever say anything bad about the group I'm in, cause every group is untouchable.' We can all criticize each other and engage in debate all we want.

The citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal, he is a traitor. That he may be the only one who thinks he sees this decay, does not excuse him: it is his duty to agitate anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does.

Because of my politics, people think I'm anti-American. But I was quite the reverse. What I don't like about the United States is when the government acts like an old, imperial 18th- or 19th-century European power.

Sometimes I don't tell the truth, which is telling the truth about not telling the truth. I think people don't tell the truth when they're afraid that something bad's going to happen if they tell the truth. I say things all the time that I could really get into trouble for, but they kind of blow over.

Intolerance is a beautiful thing...There are people that are politically correct that want to say the cardinal sin of the hour is intolerance and I think that is a bunch of junk.

It's lies. It's all lies. Some of them are just prettier than others, that's all. People see what they think is there.

I think, you know, that Trump has been incredibly divisive. I think he's insulted almost every group in America. I think his policies are outrageous. But in America, people have a right to hold rallies. So I think my own feeling is it is absolutely appropriate for thousands of people to protest at a Trump rally, but I am not great fan of disrupting rallies.