Joe Sestak Quotes

A little tough talk in the midst of a campaign or as part of a presidential debate cannot obscure a record of 30 years of being on the wrong side of defense issues.

After Vietnam, the Democrats became fundamentally the anti-military as a party.

It's the fault of the liberals and the media and the Democrats, that from the very beginning have tried to undermine the will of the American people to fight this [war on terror]

I think it's encouraging that President Trump is talking about strengthening our national defense, something he ran on again.

Republicans always try to paint Democrats as weak on defense. This time, they can't. After all, Mitt Romney's idea of an overseas accomplishment is sending U.S. jobs there.

Many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview.

For 50 years, the Republicans have been accusing the Democrats of being soft on national security.

The current attitude is pretty much the attitude we had in the CIA during the 1950s. When we analysed the operational climate and all the political forces in any given country, we had our friends and we had our enemies. There was no one in between. The friends were centre and Right wing social democrats, conservatives, liberals, in some cases all the way over to neo-fascists. The enemies were Left wing social democrats, socialists, Communists, all the way to those advocating armed struggle.

The mainstream of both the Republican and Democratic Parties are equally committed to militarism today.

The Republican Party is the party of national security. There's hardly a national security wing of the Democratic Party anymore. So if we turn away from it, that'll be a big problem.

Carter's hopes died when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and he ended up having to reverse policy and launch the military buildup that Reagan continued. Mr. Obama would be forced back into a war on terror if terrorist groups pull off enough damaging or frightening attacks to force this issue to the fore.

We have to defend America and be strong.

The American people need to tell their member of Congress that we need a strong defense to protect us and to prevent wars. We can't get away with simply leading from behind and gutting our defenses.

The truth is that I oppose the Iraq war, just as I opposed the Vietnam War, because these two conflicts have weakened the U.S. and diminished our standing in the world and our national security.

A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory.

Americans have long trusted the views of Democrats on the environment, the economy, education, and health care, but national security is the one matter about which Republicans have maintained what political scientists call 'issue ownership.'

When I was younger, I thought of myself as a Nixon Republican because he was the anti-Communist.

I think you will find scientists that think like you in Germany and Britain, and you will find politicians that think like Weinberger. I think the most bellicose ruling group in the Western world at the moment is the British.

The Department of Defense took 40 years to get where it got.

I left the Democratic Party basically on issues of national security during the end of the Vietnam War.

We can go to the American people on this issue of winning the war [against terrorism]. We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America.

Let no one expect us to disarm unilaterally. We are not a naive people.

The Democrats are the party of war.

I knew we were going to get into this sort of a mess when we went in there. And I don’t see how we’re ever going to get out of it without fighting a major war with the Chinese.

James Forrestal is the most dangerous man in America. If he is not removed from office, he will cause another world war.