Mark McKinnon Quotes

I haven't given up on working... across the aisle on issues and maybe it'll take an election or two for that to fully ferment, maybe it you know sometimes it takes awhile for people to realize what the best path is.

The Republicans are coming - make nice.

In a common project, we can bring together well-meaning people from the Left and the Right.

I see good ideas on the Republican side as well as the Democratic side. You have to return civility and statesmanship to governance. If you don't do that, it doesn't matter what portfolio of issue you're pushing, nothing is going to get done.

I did look for compromise. I worked in a bipartisan way.

The one thing I'm convinced George W. Bush is good at is bipartisanship. It's clearly something he enjoys personally.

I sure tried to help deliver compromise, consensus, bipartisanship.

Let's clean up the Senate and return to politics of common ground.

In the United States Senate, we cannot do great things without reaching across the aisle and working together - and I look forward to the challenges ahead.

I believe any time that both parties are talking, it's a good thing.

Compromises may not make great heroes, but they do make great democracies.

In campaigning, you want to slay your opponent. In governing, you want to make love to your opponent.

I bet the hard liners in both our countries are bleeding when we shake hands.

We need a lot more respect in this country for compromise…. There is in compromise a lot of integrity, especially political integrity.

Compromise is the oil that makes government go.

Moderation and bipartisan consensus go hand in hand.

I wasn't looking for a hobby. If I were looking for a hobby, it wouldn't be the United States Senate. That's one of the toughest jobs I'd probably ever do. I just felt there wasn't enough compromise going on: People were too far to the left, too far to the right, with no one trying to build a compromise.

Virginians want you to work across the aisle.

I hope you'll find that my campaign was a reflection of how I plan to govern - bringing people together, building coalitions, and finding common ground.

After some of the most contentious years in state government, I've made it clear that I will, and can, work with anyone to get things done.

We have to stay away from the personal attacks. I think it turns off a lot of Canadians.

We've got to take confrontation out of the centre of politics. With fighting, no one wins; with dialogue, everyone wins.

I was ranked the fifth most bipartisan freshman when I went to Congress, and I think that my motto really is, 'Agree where you can and fight where you must.'

What Lincoln did is he gathered people around him the way that I believe President Obama is doing by calling Republicans, talking to them, trying to work with them. And when that happens, big things get solved.

I believe in friendly compromise. I said over in the Senate hearings that truth is the glue that holds government together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go.