Nancy Gibbs Quotes

I am not a politician. A politician is someone who does things to get elected. He's a guy who says things to please the public, that he thinks the public wants to hear, and his story changes with every passing day. I want to be elected, but I am not going to say a damn thing for your benefit, or that person's benefit out there on the street, or anybody's

Does one ever read a politician's books?

A prime minister must not promise things that can't be fulfilled.

You know, everybody knows some of what politicians say is malarkey, and having somebody there to call them on it is good. I'd be happy to do that any time and any place.

Weary of wily politicians who say one thing and do another, voters and advocacy groups insist presidential contenders commit to the cause du jour in writing, but candidates are foolish to comply. Words matter.

We see more and more of our Presidents and know less and less about what they do.

Politicians must let voters know what they think about issues before the election. Judges should not.

The President of the United States should be very careful about the veracity of his public assertions.

The longer presidents go without a press conference, the greater the suspicion that there is something to hide.

Politicians... say what they say - you might get every now and again a genuine one, innit? But I think people, like, as a whole make the difference.

The Bush administration doesn't particularly like public participation. It makes them look bad.

I think issues and substance, policy and vision and record should be the meat of politics.

Concealing one's true medical condition from the voting public is a time-honored tradition of the American presidency.

In politics, there's a kind of literal-mindedness. It's what you say, not what you mean, and you have to say only what you mean.

I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business.

We've got to trust the politicians with these decisions.

I think Canadians are tired of politicians that are spun and scripted within an inch of their life, people who are too afraid of what a focus group might say about one comment or a political opponent might try to twist out of context, to actually say much of anything at all.

Politicians must set their aims for the high ground and according to our various leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, we will follow. Politicians must be told if they continue to sink into the mud of obscenity, they will proceed alone.

Any politician in a democracy has to be mindful of public opinion.

Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise.

If you [as a Presidential candidate] identify a problem, you are going to be expected to have a solution.

Every day they [politicians] must weigh in on things of which they have little or no reliable knowledge or about which they just don't care.

Truth telling in politics is the mark of an inexperienced politician.

There comes a time in every political convention where I eat my words.

Presidential politics has to be about truth telling and not pandering to the public.