Political Ability Quotes

Many have ruled well who could not perhaps define a Commonwealth.

He [President Warren G. Harding] is a kind, companionable fellow to go with on a fishing expedition or to play cards with; but he is not the man to have as President or leader.

In short, that politicians do or don't have families should no longer have any bearing on their abilities to hold office or to care more or less about the future of the country.

I believe being a good senator requires two things. Number one, acumen. Number two, interest.

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

Every cook or every laborer cannot govern the state.

He was a superb military officer but he was also an extraordinarily gifted politician. That he was an unusually open, honest and no-nonsense politician did not make him unsuited for the profession, only uncommon. In uniform and in politics Barry's purpose was always the defense of freedom. And nobody before or since managed the task more ably or more colorfully than Barry Goldwater.

[Mitt Romney is a] Massachusetts moderate who, in fact, is pretty good at managing the decay." He's "given no evidence in his years in Massachusetts of any ability to change the culture or change the political structure.

If you think a candidate is electable and has the adeptness to be president, that's one thing. Elect him for these factors, not because he's likeable.

We have at least learned that the offspring of presidents don't necessarily make good politicians themselves.

I am sure of my ability to form a good government.

I don't think the standard of our politicians is very high. And when you get good ones, world-class ones, like a Blair or a Brown or a Thatcher, then they do stand out - they are head and shoulders above everybody else.

Jason McDermott can be the most ingratiating young man: a born politician.

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 have no question that Newt Gingrich has the heart of a conservative reformer, the ability to rally and captivate the conservative movement.

There are actually no political aspirations. I think you need to have the right attitude and aptitude for it. I don't think I have the right aptitude for it. I think it is unfair to push somebody in that direction just because my father happens to be a politician.

It must be that to govern a nation you need a specific talent and that this may very well exist without general ability.

Marco Rubio is a talented young man, but record trumps rhetoric.

Most academicians are not too good politicians. Schumpeter, for instance, was a great economist, but he didn't do too well as minister of finance for Austria

We have to acknowledge that Donald Trump knows our country better than we do. I think he figured out that anger and frankly fear were way more powerful than appealing to people’s better angels. That anger and fear were going to work in this election, whether you’re afraid of immigrants or afraid of people who are trans, he figured that out. And I think we all thought everyone’s better angels would prevail. Turns out the better angels went on vacation when Donald Trump came down the escalator and they haven’t returned.

A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities.

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

Rove, of course, is an exceptionally good, exceptionally skillful campaign guy, and Bush himself is really gifted at the political end of politics. But he's always been, as he says, misunderestimated.

My congressional record speaks for itself, and my ability to build coalitions locally, nationally and across the aisles in Congress is transparent.