Brian Schatz Quotes

Democrats have long held an advantage over Republicans on health care, mostly due to a perceived empathy problem in my party.

While Democrats fussed with the details of health care reforms, conservatives spent months telling the nation that the real issue is freedom, that what's on the line is American liberty itself.

What is at stake in the debate over health care is more than the mere crafting of policy. The issue is now the identity of the Democratic Party.

Some Democrats deserve to be criticized.

I love the Upper West Side. I walk down the street all the time and am stopped by Democrats. I don't think they've ever actually met a Republican before.

I've been studying the Constitution for myself but also as a way for me, as a Democrat, to comprehend the Right. I think it's important that people who are politically active understand both sides.

Seven presidents before him - Democrats and Republicans - tried to expand health care to all Americans. President Obama got it done.

For Democrats, nothing is any less complex than a 'West Wing' episode.

Because of the president's leadership, every American will have access to affordable, quality health care.

As usual, the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.

The Republicans do not believe that health care is a right. They believe that health care is a privilege, no a right. We Democrats believe taht health care is a right.

Politics, which really is about the art of expression, ought to be a logical profession for writers (it's very hard to explain to politics- and policy-addicted people that language is the basis of all ideas - if you can't say it, you can't think it), instead of a refuge for lawyers and apparatchiks.

I think a common sense approach that provides health care coverage to all Americans is the best way forward.

The Fair Indexing for Health Care Affordability Act is a simple, common-sense solution that will protect costs and make health care more accessible for South Jersey individuals and families. We should be working on solutions to lower out-of-pocket expenses, not increase them.

Too great a love for the presidency has caused Democrats to neglect state and local politics and to overly prize compromise and a futile quest for bipartisanship. It has made liberals too allergic to federalism and too shy about grassroots politics.

Historically, Democrats have been far more united than Republicans when it comes to policy, ideology and public debate.

I ran as a Democrat. I am a Democrat. And, frankly, the values that I hold, I think, are consistent with the values of the Democratic Party. In fact, I think they are the values shared by the majority of Floridians.

The Democrats' radicalism does not end with illegal immigration and health care. It extends into other aspects of their policy platforms.

It is unimaginable that anyone, right or left, can aspire to be president without having thought about this. Every candidate has the stage; the Republicans have used it to fuss unproductively over the Common Core. The Democrats have all but refused to speak.

Ya know what's fun? When Democrats start calling each other sexist.

I can't see the point in being in politics if you're not yourself. If you're simply interested in implementing other people's policies, then you should become a civil servant. If you have ideas and some form of ideology, then it's exciting because you can argue forward.

I think that one of the things that Democrats, in particular, need to recognize is that the way we have sometimes thought about issues as just affecting a particular group of people is not necessarily right.

I ended up working on over 150 political campaigns in 42 states; over a third of those were for Republicans. I want to be clear about that. Approximately two-thirds were for Democrats, so, I worked on both sides of the aisle, across the United States.

It is part of our political thinking that democracy is a battle of ideas.

If you're sort of interested in politics but sort of upset about contemporary politics, it's kind of wonderful to read about periods who were very eloquent and admirable - generally. People are articulating ideas you can sympathize with or understand both sides of. Or at least feel like one side is saying the right things.