Opposition Strategy Quotes

When you are in the government, you have to demonise your opposition.

In opposition, you move to the centre. In government, you move the centre.

Here's the real thing. Democrats got to understand that the first line in the Republican playbook is going to be smear, you know? And there's nobody who's going to be able to avoid it.

Being against other people's policies eventually puts you in a downward spiral. It's fine to be principled and oppose views that you don't agree with, but you also have to have an alternative.

There are smart people on our side of the aisle who have known as early as I did who Obama was and should have been saying 'I hope this guy fails' right along with me. There should have been opposition to this guy all along.

Some are arguing that the Democrats should resist at every turn [to Donald's Trump administration], and some Democrats are saying that's the strategy that Democrats should now employ.

I'm not going to run to the left of Mitch McConnell; I'm not going to run to the right of Mitch McConnell. I am going to run right over the top of Mitch McConnell.

Trump can spend virtually an unlimited amount of his own money on this election, which makes him unlike any of the other candidates in the race. So those who oppose him will have to work very hard to make sure he doesn't win.

You can tell Gov. Bush to rest assured that I'm not going to leave the country because we have to get him out of office and we have to get his brother out of office in 2004. We're not resting until we get that done.

I don't blame the Democrats for fighting. They have got a very energized base. And there is a lot to complain about a lot of these nominees. But I think, if you are actually going to turn someone down from a president's [Donald Trump] own Cabinet, it better be a lot more egregious than the cases we have seen.

There are more than enough to fight and oppose; why waste good time fighting the people you like?

Democrats don't have reasons for people to vote for them. They're just trying to gin up anger and resentment for their opposition. And it's just not working anymore.

The strategy of any party would be to see how best it can defeat the party in power.

In a parliamentary system, the opposition would make an explicit case against the governing party’s policies and hope that voters shift their support in the next election, But in a non-parliamentary system such as ours, a unified opposition can try something different. It can keep those policies from being implemented, often through means that leave few fingerprints.

The real leadership of the opposition is never, ever gonna do anything but continue to ramp up efforts to stop [Donald] Trump or destroy Trump.

First of all, I can't forget my first responsibility - which is to be the Leader of the Opposition and that's to provide an alternative government.

Alliance is not to show individual strength, but win over the opposition by pooling in all the votes of like-minded parties and ensuring that they are not scattered.

Every opposition needs to be played in a different way and the formation depends on the opposition's strengths.

What I'm saying is that until somebody steps up and actually has a forceful attack on Donald Trump and actually takes him down a notch, Donald Trump is just going to keep plowing through.

I am sorry to upset my colleagues by saying we wasted four years in opposition, but if you do get so badly defeated as a party you do have to face up to some painful facts and you do have to change.

I don't think there's any clever way for the establishment to take Donald Trump down. It's very simple. Another candidate is going to have to find a way either to out-maneuver him, or to just frankly beat him in the argument.

The most important political task facing the out-of-power party - the Democrats for now - is creating a villain to run against. It's certainly easier than developing some grand new ideas or policies on which to campaign.

We were terrified that Jones would settle. It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the president.

In politics, sometimes the best measure of success is the reaction of your enemies.

Minority parties don’t have to be responsible and have policies. Their job is to throw rocks. If they put forth policies they lose whatever advantage that they can have as then they too will be attacked.