Jean Chretien Quotes

Clinton was the most formidable politician I have ever encountered.

I hear from people all the time and it infuriates me that 'President Obama's a brilliant politician.' No he absolutely is not.

There's no smarter politician out there than Bill Clinton.

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

My view of Sarah Palin is she is the most dynamic figure maybe in politics, even more in some ways than President Obama, who is a little more scripted than she is. He is great with the teleprompter.

Many senators have developed a canny sense of what will play best for the audience.

To say that Jimmy Carter does not understand politics or is not a good politician denies the phenomenon by which he got to the White House. He is without question the best politician, when he's working at it, of anybody I have ever seen.

In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't qualified to be governor of California.

I believe that [Bill] Clinton is the best tactical politician, certainly in my lifetime.

You're going to find that, intellectually, the [governors] as a whole are a cut or two above what they were 10 or 20 years ago.

… the most sophisticated politician in the country … familiar with every subterranean channel of politics … the most cunning in the devious ways of politics … the most artful politician in the tricks of the craft

I have covered Pelosi for years, and always wondered how she learned to operate and excel in politics the way she does.

Is Bill Clinton so good at politics, or are other politicians so bad?

I want to point out, there are a lot of politicians who enjoy the political end of politics, but they're not interested in governance. And then, there are some that are really interested in governance and are just terrible at politics.

I am better at politics than I am at anything else.

The smartest person in the United States Senate, and he knows it, is John Sununu. Thank God he had his mother's temperament.

In politics almost all of us are nerds, so that's just a given... but we're cool nerds.

First and foremost, when I think of him - I'm prejudiced; I worked for the guy for six and a half years - when I think of him, I think of him first and foremost as an idea politician.

In the end, I think part of my problem was that I was a better legislator than I was a politician.

I may not be the world's best glad-handing politician, but I've been elected mayor twice. I understand politics. And I definitely understand where the state line is.

Only very intelligent people don't wish they were in politics, and I'm dumb enough to want to be in there.

He has the best political mind of all the generals I have.

Why, this fellow [Dwight D. Eisenhower] don't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday.

You don’t become a statesman unless you are first a good politician.

To tell the truth, I'm more comfortable now that the amateurs are back in charge [of the White House].