Charlie Pierce Quotes

Let's give the president some due here. They had a mess, and he fixed it, and they mobilized a lot of authority, and they did it.

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

As a citizen, I would rather have a President McCain that we fight with 20% of the time, than a President Clinton or a President Obama that we fight with 90% of the time.

President [Ronald] Reagan never has tried to become an expert on military matters. He never has endeavored to learn the most important details in that field, which lead to a situation in which his aides played a much greater roles than aides would have played under President Ford or let us say in the whole Nixon-Ford-Kissinger era.

He was a great president in his first term; in his second term, he wasn't the same Grover Cleveland he was to begin with. ...Cleveland reestablished the presidency by being not only a chief executive but a leader.

All my life I've dealt with politicians. I know politicians better than anybody. And honestly, if you can't deal with a politician, there's something wrong with you.

Governor Romney has been successful. I think, that's what we want in a President of the United States.

Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter has filed papers to run for president. But in his official filing, he misspelled the word 'president.' Political experts say it's all part of Hunter's plan to attract Bush supporters.

Being a president is being a CEO, essentially.

Maybe a vague president and an incompetent and somewhat corrupt administration is what the nation needs.

I think what the American people want more than anything else is a strong and decisive leader.

Donald Trump came out as a birther, which is Republican for, 'I'm running for president.'

When you succeed (with legislation), that feeling is exhilaration. And it takes leadership from a president, which means you meet with members of Congress 24/7 and you talk and you listen.

The Republicans didn't get rolled by anybody. Chuck Schumer didn't outsmart Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi sure as hell did not outsmart Paul Ryan. I don't care what you think of Ryan, he's not an idiot, folks. These people are not dumb. They're not sitting up there thinking, "All we gotta do is be nice to the Democrats and the media."

You have the same mandate whether it's a close result or - you're the President of the United States, you have to act like the President of the United States. You're the person in charge. You have to set the agenda. That's how you get yourself reelected by a much bigger number, if you want to get reelected. And that's the way you govern the country.

You've seen President Trump act decisively when it comes to Syria. It didn't take him long to pull the trigger in regard to a response to the chemical attack. That's a decisive leader and that's who the G20 leaders saw in Hamburg, as someone who is decisive, someone who is not afraid, someone who doesn't kowtow, and stands up for himself when it comes to issues of disagreement like trade and the Paris agreement.

Want to accomplish something, any-damn-thing? Sharpen your political skills!

I think that most of the candidates [for presidency] can't run the railroad, and I still worry that whoever gets elected will have policies designed for political rather than practical reasons.

A politician can do what he thinks is right, he just has to be sophisticated in how he goes about it. Those who seek a president who 'will disregard the polls and just lead,' ask for the political equivalent of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade.'

The liquor of statecraft is distilled from the mash you got.

Republicans in Congress are getting concerned that President Obama will try to use the final year of his term to push through too many controversial laws. Obama would've responded but he was busy drafting his new 'mandatory Mexican gay weed' bill.

In order to obtain and hold power, a man must love it.

It may be objected, that I am now recommending dissimulation to you; I both own and justify it. It has been long said: Qui nescitdissimular nescit regnare: I go still farther, and say, that without some dissimulation, no business can be carried on at all.

It's important to use executive orders. Every president since Washington has.

Was all of Stephen A. Douglas's promotion of 'popular sovereignty' a plausible device for getting him elected president? With his death in June, 1861, any possible answer to that question went to Douglas's grave with him.