Joe Klein Quotes

Nixon's pretense was to be less than he was—less thoughtful, less introverted, less skeptical and analytical, less cerebral—to present himself deliberately as an Average American: patriotic, conventionally religious and responsible, gregarious, sports-loving, hardworking and hard-nosed.

Politics is television and whoever masters it is likely to win.

Without television, Richard Nixon would not have a chance. He would not have a prayer of being elected because the press would not let him get through to the people.

The losing side is comforted, I think, by this idea of magical gurus [masterminding the opponent’s campaign], because it’s less disconcerting than the fact that people just didn’t like them very much.

In politics, familiarity doesn't breed contempt. It breeds votes.

Nobody understood how to use television for his own purposes better than Nixon, despite his poor showing against John F. Kennedy in the televised presidential debate.

What matters most in politics is personality. It's not issues; it's not image. It's who you are and what you represent.

I think the age of the modern media campaign has created a new icon, the celebrity-in-chief. Political elections have become wars fought by candidates with opposing values.

With television, you can make anyone look larger than life.

I firmly believed throughout 1971 that the major hurdle to winning the presidency was winning the Democratic nomination. I believed that any reasonable Democrat would defeat President Nixon. I now think that no one could have defeated him in 1972.

I don't find any presidents all that sexy. They're not very rock'n'roll.

I'd rather be underestimated by the polltakers than by the voters.

The Republicans always looked bad three years out of four. But the year they look good is election year.

A politician wants to come off as a happy warrior. To be contemplative seems almost effete, fancy – dispiriting somehow to much of your audience. He [Barack Obama] is not afraid to be this way at all.

Likability shouldn’t be what we are voting on, but never-the-less, it matters.

Don't fall in love with the map. The map doesn't win elections.

The big story today, Barack Obama was accused of insulting Sarah Palin when he criticized Republican policies by saying, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. Political experts say that if Obama keeps insulting Palin, he could lose the election and win a job at MSNBC.

John Kerry suspended his campaign for five days this week in honor of President Reagan. And right now, he's ahead in the polls. How's that make him feel? Disappears for a week and he's up in the polls. What else can he do now but go into hiding.

Spin is overrated. It is strategy, not spin, that wins elections.

Dogs are great assets to candidates, and the feeling seems to be engendered that if a dog loves the candidate, he can't be all that bad.

I do think Hillary Clinton should have pivoted and say, I am change, I am change, because people do want some change.

The media cannot come separate [Donald] Trump from his supporters. Only Trump can do that. They're trying, they're gonna keep trying because they think they can. They did it with [George W.]Bush. They did it with [Mitt] Romney. They did it with [John] McCain. They did it with Bob Dole.

Richard Nixon said it best. It makes no difference whether they hold your nose or whether they go would through a wall to vote for you. It counts the same with the X.

I watched the way Hillary Clinton talk now about how lovely everything is and how wonderful she is. It doesn't work that way. She was after him, she was trying to - she even sent out or her campaign sent out pictures of him in a certain garb, very famous pictures. I don't think she can deny that.

Tainting the Tea Party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There's no evidence that Tea Party adherence are any more racist than other Republicans and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats in November, having one's opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.