Nicholas Kristof Quotes

Obama has been the victim of bad luck in having an implacable Republican Party.

For a person who promised hope and civility in politics, Mr. Obama has shown a borderline obsessiveness in blaming Mr. Bush.

You've got the brain-washed, that's the Democrats, and the brain-dead, that's the Republicans!

When Democrats lose, they're pathetic. When Republicans lose, they're bitter and mean.

The name 'Republican' in some ways has been hijacked by obstructionists.

Today, I think the attitude is that governing is not necessarily good politics, and the result is that it's much more partisan and much more divided.

In American politics, finger-pointing is an Olympic sport.

The President has become increasingly the depository of all national ills, especially if things go wrong.

There is only one thing that gives me hope as a Republican, and that is the Democrats. It's going to be hard to do a worse job running American than the Republicans have, but if anybody can do it, it's the Democrats.

The Republicans have bought into the idea that people hate them because they're opposed to everything.

There's no question that a Democratic Congress plus a Trump presidency would equal gridlock. Nothing moves, nothing changes, nothing gets accomplished, nothing gets reformed. Voters know this.

Everybody in this race is against Obama, okay? So saying you're against Obama, against Obamacare, all the rest, it's all fine, well and good, except it doesn't move you forward.

While countless Americans are pulling together to lend a helping hand, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are pointing fingers in a shameless effort to tear us apart.

All people are born alike - except Republicans and Democrats.

How many times will this Congress waste time on an issue that a majority of Americans do not want?

I would like Obama to be tougher on going up against the Republicans, I don't think he should try to be so moderate.

I'm very concerned about the tone of politics in recent years. We've seen a decline in civility and bipartisanship, and a rapid increase in hostility between those who have differing opinions. I think this has led to the alienation of the public in governance, which jeopardizes democratic participation.

I think we're probably more unified than ever before because we're in a battle for survival. Not only for survival as the Republican Party, but survival of the check and balance system in our government.

In America, we have this bell curve of certain values. And then we have another bell curve of different values, which is the Republican Party. And they're out of sync right now.

For 50 years, the Republicans have been accusing the Democrats of being soft on national security.

The only place that the left hasn't placed the blame is on their agenda, so some advice for our friends on that side of the aisle: that's where you've gotta look because that's what got you into this mess.

Partisanship particularly increased after the 1994 elections and then the appearance of the first unified Republican government since the 1950s.

Gingrich was a far more volatile and aggressive individual than Boehner, but the institutional norms of self-restraint, and perhaps even self-interest, have broken down under the pressure of an increasingly abnormal Republican Party.

Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.

Incumbents are safe, but party majorities are not. This fosters symbolic votes, message politics and little serious legislating in Congress.