Gail Collins Quotes

I can't sit here and be a hypocrite and say I'm for limited government, but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies.

Conservatives say a lot about wanting the government stay out of our lives and businesses. We need to make sure the government stays out of our uteruses.

It's often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census.

It's easier to sell cotton candy than it is to sell broccoli to somebody, but the broccoli is better for you, and the same thing with a limited government.

This is not about abortion or the antics. This is about pro choice versus anti-choice and government intervention in a woman's personal decisions about her life.

Liberals are very much afraid of conservative women, and here's the reason why - more people agree with us. They want the government to have less control over their lives.

No American conservative has ever argued that the government should never be involved in peoples' lives. That is anarchy, and we don't argue for that.

Managing people's sex lives is something that I don't think is a good role for government.

Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from birth what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government to do good.

I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.

We must not let politicians who believe they are above the Constitution interfere with the personal health decisions of women. It is the job of a woman, not a politician, to make informed decisions about her own pregnancy.

I have a traditional Catholic personal position, but I am very strongly supportive that women should make these decisions and government shouldn't intrude. I'm a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade and women being able to make these decisions. In government, we have enough things to worry about.

We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from contempt for all government.

Conservatives want smaller government. They want to focus on market-based solutions wherever one can. They want to have as little regulation as possible. But in general, they recognize that government must play an important role for a society to operate.

Mr. Obama is proud of his belief that government knows best. When he told the world that individuals were not totally responsible for their personal success, that government has a major role in it, many Americans were taken aback. But Barack Obama sincerely believes that.

Obama is trying to paint us as a caricature, as if we're some bizarre individualists who are hardcore libertarians. It's a false dichotomy and intellectually lazy. Of course we believe in government. We think government should do what it does really well, but that it has limits.

While many of Mr. Obama's ideas warrant skepticism, conservative opposition to any expanded role for government is a mistake.

Just as the left has to be more willing to question 'Government knows best,' the right has to rethink its laissez-faire attitude toward government.

President Reagan was elected on the promise of getting government off the backs of the people and now he demands that government wrap itself around the waists of the people.

These are the same people who believe, in some cases, the federal government should not play any role in providing health care to our people or protecting the environment.

I believe in less government interference in people's personal lives, including whom to marry, when and whether to bear a child and how to raise kind and compassionate children.

It's just, for me, the natural standard: a woman should be able to decide over her own body.

This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions for every American in every area.

While I am a fervent believer in free markets and limited government, there are rare instances in which government involvement is necessary.

And I don't think that government has a role in telling people how to live their lives. Maybe a minister does, maybe your belief in God does, maybe there's another set of moral codes, but I don't think government has a role.