Mike McCurry Quotes

The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion.

The essence of American politics consists of the manipulation of populism by elitism.

In Russia, as well as everywhere else, the true and lasting power is that of public opinion, and of those who know how to influence it.

What is any public question but a conglomeration of private interests?

The polls and the pundits and the media seem to talk to each other. It's sort of like an echo chamber.

Half a truth is better than no politics.

What's different now is that while political leaders used to give talking points to talk radio, now talk-radio hosts are giving talking points to political leaders. It's all part of the suffocating spin cycle we're in. In media, politics and publishing, the conventional wisdom is to play to this base.

American public opinion is like an ocean, it cannot be stirred by a teaspoon.

In both law and politics, I think the essential battle is the meta-battle of framing the narrative.

Healthy debate has been replaced by automatic sensors that eliminate the need for actual talking during a filibuster - a la 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.' Robust debate is necessary in a democratic society. Instead, our discourse has been relegated to media spin by expert entertainers.

The Press, which is mostly controlled by vested interests, has an excessive influence on public opinion.

For elites, the politics of governing is seen as a continual struggle to manage public emotions so that they do not overwhelm sound public policy.

The presentation of an issue can no longer be controlled.

Contrary to right-wing mythology, the press was not an institution dominated by leftists but a creature of the very richest of the rich and mightiest of the mighty in American society.... While the press shaped mass opinion, it reflected elite opinion.

You don't change anybody's mind with political humor. You just reinforce what people already believe.

The world is governed by opinions.

Critics intend on changing the balance of public opinion and of political power.

Public opinion can become polarized into a bimodal distribution with only a few people in the center and many more lying toward the extremes. But under such circumstances, democracy will probably break down …

We never heard a politician so desperate not to offend conventional elite opinion while pretending to be fearless and forthright.

Democratic politics—that is modern mass politics—is a battlefield in which the most important move is that which decides what the battle is about, what the issue is.

Men and not measures are, no doubt, the very life of politics. But then it is not the fashion to say so in public places.

I am so out of sympathy with what seems to be the prevailing currents of American opinion that I keep my judgment suspended as regards the political wisdom of certain [Republican] party moves

Bigger Than His Party.

Most of Washington punditry […] is private letters, written to other pundits, appearing in public space.

Individuals do matter and personalities matter in politics. But if issues are sidestepped due to personalities, then that is very dangerous.