Tony Blair Quotes

Television has shortened our political discourse.

Television has become the primary precinct of politics.

I hope we can use television somehow to begin to reengage people in this conversation of democracy.

Many newspapers have become players as well as spectators in the political debate.

Television is the medium through which 80 percent of the people see their leaders….They get all their information about their government and their leaders from television.

Politics is power, and communications is power,

In a democracy, everyone has the right to criticise the Government. Normally, the opposition gets more media space and even the people find it interesting to listen to voices against the government of the day. Ever since I took office, my friends in the opposition have been levelling baseless allegations about my foreign trips. Had these trips been a failure, then they would have based their comments on specific issues. When opponents keep harping on one point, it is a sure sign of success!

Listen, in the same way that politics and government allow people to engage in large issues, media does the same.

I'm in awe of what it takes to run a nation, especially our great nation.

I care deeply about the direction of our country.

Democracy or politics done without values and ideals is dangerous for the country.

I would never want to pass a law limiting freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean we have to condone statements that undermine basic national unity and respect. Imagine being asked to defend a country where some citizens say the man in the White House isn't their president. Or a major presidential contender accuses the commander in chief of not even being a U.S. citizen. Those kinds of statements erode trust in our democracy, and it's up to both parties to publicly reject them. We have to restore confidence that we are a nation that loves and believes in itself.

Some people think elections are a game: who's up or who's down. It's about our country. It's about our kids' future. It's about all of us together. Some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some difficult odds. We do it, each one of us, against difficult odds. We do it because we care about our country. Some of us are right, and some of us are not. Some of us are ready, and some of us are not. Some of us know what we will do on day one, and some of us haven't thought that through.

The last thing America needs is four more years of Barack Obama.

I think it's inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.

I first interviewed Fidel Castro 39 years ago. He was charming and fiercely guarded about his private life. He called our interviews 'fiery debates.' During our times together, he made clear to me that he was an absolute dictator and that he was a staunch opponent of democracy.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were political enemies, but they became fast friends. And when they passed away on the same day, the last words of one of them was, The country is safe. Jefferson still lives. And the last words of the other was, John Adams will see that things go forward.

I served in Washington, DC for twelve years in the Congress of the United States, and I served with many Republicans and Democrats, men and women of goodwill. The potential is there to really change the direction of this country, but it's going to take leadership do it.

The idea of a liberal media bias is simply a myth. If only it were true, we might have a more humane, open-minded, and ultimately effective public debate on the issues facing the country.

Democracy depends on citizens being informed, and since our media, especially television (which is the most important source of news for most Americans) reports mostly what the people in power do, and repeats what the people in power say, the public is badly informed, and it means we cannot really say we have a functioning democracy.

Thank you to everybody who voted for me, and to the British public for their encouragement over the last 17 years

Presidents by six years have been there long enough for the media and the country to see their flaws.

India is a democratic country & anyone can become a PM.

After starting a blood feud with Fox News, something no Republican presidential candidate has dared to do before, [Donald] Trump seems to have successfully undermine the network in the eyes of its core audience with perception of the Fox News brand among Republican adults hitting its lowest point in three years according to a new YouGov survey.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.