Jake Tapper Quotes

In the end, I did not feel any cleaner than he was … I pretended once again now and then that [Senator Joseph] McCarthy was not a serious man; but I always knew that the devil in me and the larger devil in him were very consequential figures indeed

While I have worked hard to bring folks to the middle to craft common-sense solutions to the many problems that confront our nation, Washington is mired in gridlock, gamesmanship and constant partisan bickering.

From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned.

Challenging orthodoxy is a death sentence in Washington.

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.

I'd read a lot of thrillers about politicians and presidents, but never one where you flip the stereotypes and make good people bad and bad people good.

I grew up in that world of power and politics in Washington, but when you grow up around it, you are completely unfazed by it.

President Bush said that he wanted to change the tone in Washington. He has; it has gotten worse.

Politics is bad for me because I believe in the truth so much.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there's hardly any difference.

Afghans long ago resigned themselves to this sort of thing. Compromises must be made. Deals with the devil are better than ceaseless butchery. In the exigencies of post-conflict bygones, against the threat of collapse into more terrible bloodletting, the ugliness of realpolitik is the lesser evil.

Things have gotten so nasty in Washington.

Some day, the public might actually revolt against the undemocratic system of seniority that allows Congress to keep the old ways of Washington ingrained into the culture of Congress.

I think a lot of people start out full of idealism and fresh ideas. And then a lot of times, being re-elected becomes more important than staying true to your principles.

In every thriller written about Washington, particularly after 9/11, there are good guys and there are bad guys, and there's no gray area at all.

Today we ought to be able to see first that Booker T. Washington faced a situation in which he was seeking desperately for a way out, and he could see no way out except capitulation.

Something happened during the 1980s - perhaps the political climate of that time - that caused me to ask how a people would become part of a system that oppresses their own people.

If Mr. Obama wants to get things done, he must recognize that in Washington only the president has the power to make the first big move.

And I'm here to tell you, the reaction that I'm getting around the country, people are sick and tired of this word in Washington, compromise. This is why nothing ever gets done.

Most governments do have inbuilt biases in favour of the rich and powerful, and most do contain plenty of manipulators who love intrigue, who have lost whatever moral compass they may once have had and who protect themselves with steely cynicism.

The trouble with conservatives is that too many of them come to Washington thinking they are going to drain the swamp, only to discover that Washington is a hot tub.

As for life within a Legislature,— who can tell how warped and bent and twisted, and accommodated to the exigencies of party struggle become the faculties of belief?

The dominant color of politics is gray; difficult choices and compromise are required at almost every step of the journey toward a major new program.

He had no gifts for the compromises with human frailty which alone can grease the wheels of politics.

I noticed that the highly organized lobbies in Washington were producing results regardless of the justice or injustice of their demand.