Tom Coburn Quotes

In Washington, every closet has a revolving door.

We live in a country where Wall Street owns Washington.

If you look at Washington right now, we do not have a system that the Founding Fathers envisioned, where people go to Washington and be part of the servant class. Instead, we have a permanent political class that fashions itself the rulers of the people.

There is something uniquely depressing about the fact that the National Portrait Gallery's version of the Barack Obama 'Hope' poster previously belonged to a pair of lobbyists. Depressing because Mr. Obama's Washington was not supposed to be the lobbyists' Washington, the place we learned to despise during the last administration.

People in Washington do things that they shouldn’t do because they owe somebody.

A congressman would rather be called a pervert than a protectionist right now. And he'd probably get better treatment from the press if he was.

The special interests are protected in Washington and the public interest is submerged.

The only accountability-free zone in America: Washington DC.

Washington is rigged to favor people who have an army of lobbyists.

In Washington, they do take money—I know it’s open, though it’s hard to identify—they take money from the same people they regulate. Now, in New York City, you would never get away with that …

Anybody who covers Washington and Wall Street knows that there is an awesome amount of self-dealing, most of it perfectly legal.

… lobbyist-larded Washington

Jon Tester became a multi-millionaire in the Senate, even bought a Cosmopolitan Castle on Capitol Hill. I don't want a castle in Washington, and I don't think becoming a senator should make you rich enough to buy one.

Washington is dominated by big money.

My sense was that most of the elected officials in Washington - in their heart of hearts - really believe that the system can't be too bad because it produced them.

Oh, that all the things my father had told me about how disgusting Washington is are true. And again it's the system - there are lots of nice, well-meaning people there. But it's a sleazy place. And politics is all about doing favors.

Washington's a cesspool of money.

I don't want anybody suspecting I am some sheep and part of the Washington D.C. establishment.

People need to understand that in Washington, the process is the punishment.

I know the activists I deal with, we sort of try and check each other to make sure that we haven't gone native, that you come to Washington thinking it's a cesspool, you don't want to end up thinking it's really a hot tub and getting used to it. So that's something one has to keep an eye on all the time.

Every year, the White House Correspondents' Dinner inspires two competing varieties of coverage: celebrity-obsessed fawning and angry tirades about how it represents everything twisted about our broken democracy. It doesn't, really.

The theory is that election to Congress is tantamount to being dispatched to Washington on a looting raid for the enrichment of your state or district, and no other ethic need inhibit the feeding frenzy.

People who think the might in Washington can be persuaded, or corrupted if you will, by anything less than voters just doesn’t understand what its about and never will. They don’t know what Washington juice is made of.

Washington is not a geographical entity, it is a state of mind.... People understand how Cleveland works. They even understand how New York City works, but they can't figure Washington out.

Clinton talks reform, but it's business as usual in Washington with different pigs at the trough.