John Podesta Quotes

The Blue Dogs are a group of conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives.

The Democratic chairman doesn't need to be a household name. Most people didn't know who Ron Brown was when he was chairman of the Democratic Party, but he put the party in a position where Bill Clinton could come in and he had a solid base to run from.

In my mind, the re-election of Richard Nixon, compared with what was available on the other side, was so much more important that I put it in just that context.

I've always avoided expressing an opinion about where I think the republican movement should go - if it should go anywhere at all.

Traditionally, Young Republicans have been a leading indicator of the direction of the party.

The Democratic Party has taken the black community for granted and said, 'This is the most loyal constituency we have. They're not going anywhere.' But the Republican Party has said, 'That's the most loyal constituency Democrats have. They're not going anywhere. We've got to win without them.'

One of the things I give Nancy Pelosi a lot of credit for is that she's able to get things passed and hold her members together because she shows us that she's doing everything possible to get our views into these bills.

Vote Democratic. The party for you, not just the few.

The way the Democrats go about seeking equality is to lower people at the top.

The pro-Hillary groups needed to quit fighting each other and get down to business fighting Republicans.

I joined a Republican Party that was used to losing, used to being browbeaten by the Democrats. I represent a totally different style.

The more Democrats try to abandon the values and policies embodied in our platform, the more we will continue to lose. We can't win by running on incrementalism.

I don't think it is ever enough for a governing majority to simply be opposed to things. We have to be for things.

I believe that our party, the Democratic party, must be a party that fights fire with fire.

I've always said the left needs to be ready for government.

Over the years, Democrats have had a lot of very talented individuals, but they have lacked fighters.

I think the Democratic Party has got to make fundamental choices.

I think his [Bernie Sanders] campaign was good for the Democratic Party, good for our country. And I know how passionate he is about the issues he cares about. So we'll have a long list of matters to discuss when we sit down.

What the hell is the sense of trying to hold the Democratic party together, if it's really a party of expediency, something that's put together every four years?

I'm a 'bleeding-heart liberal,' one of those card-carrying Democrats that Rush Limbaugh thinks is a communist. And I'm proud of it.

We have our nominee, and it's is Secretary [Hillary] Clinton. I do hope that Secretary Clinton will take into account the huge resonance of the vision that Senator ["Bernie"] Sanders was putting forward.This has inspired millions of citizens - a style of campaign we've never seen before winning 22 states, extraordinary number of caucuses. Now the challenge is to bring the two halves of the party together.

The Republican - conservative Republican answer has always been when we lose it's because we're not ideological enough. If they lose midterm elections, that's why. If Obama defeats McCain and then Mitt Romney, it's because those two Republican candidates were not ideological enough.

Libertarians should say, 'I love this country too much to take away votes from the Republican'

I've heard [Bernie] Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, [Barack] Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; [Joe] Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; [Jeanne] Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for DOMA.

For me, the battle isn't Hillary [Clinton] vs. [Bernie] Sanders. And I understand that for some people that's the battle. But for me, more than anything, it's stopping a Republican president.