Political Grandstanding Quotes

American politics is theatre. There is a frightening emotionalism at national conventions.

Republicans want to use Obamacare in the 2014 elections against Democrats who voted for it. They want to see it fail, even at the expense of people's health.

That’s what politicians do all the time. They promise you something, they don’t provide the money for it, and then they kick the can down the road and pass on the bill to the next generation.

For years, President Obama has chastised Republicans, used immigrants as props for political purposes, and time and again deflected responsibility from his own party's failure to act on immigration reform.

I worked on Capitol Hill for five years, and I saw how things work and how they do not. I saw the partisanship, the gridlock, the pettiness, and the corruption.

There are few things more amusing in the world of politics than watching moderate Republicans charging to the right in pursuit of greater glory.

The Democrats' obsession with the Kochs as a political target is, indeed, additional evidence of a truly Nixonian approach to politics.

The Republican game is hilariously transparent: if Obama doesn't shift to more muscular postures, he's not a patriot. If he does, he's a flip-flopper.

While Obama, the olive-branch poseur, has called for a restoration of 'civility' in Washington and liberal elites whine and whinny about the need for 'no labels,' class-warfare demagoguery has metastasized unchecked.

People [in politics] do go on and talk.

Everyone in Washington knows what needs to be done. They just don’t do it because there’s always someone else they can blame.

Politicians are ambitious not to make important decisions but to say important things.

Jon Tester's priorities are with the liberal, extreme minority of Democrats in the Senate unwilling to compromise. He does not have Montana's best interests in mind. He has failed to represent Montanans.

People have realised that for want of anything substantial, the Congress is using Rafale to question the government. But people are not responding or reacting positively to them. They've had enough of this muck-raking.

I hate it when Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi get to beat their drums and talk about what a great day it is for America that President Trump failed - when even they know ObamaCare is a total disaster.

You want to toe the line with tough investigations without falling into political grandstanding inherent in Washington on both sides of the aisle.

Every administration is theater because this is the nature of public life in America.

Referring to the 1960 Republican convention where the national ticket was determined well in advance:] The party itself was hyping the conflict to create interest in what otherwise might have been a very dull convention.

When you are working a Republican crowd, and want to throw out some red meat, you can’t do any better than jumping on Ted Kennedy.

It is not enough for us to merely continue to talk about and contribute to the echo chamber of white noise of what's wrong with America or for candidates to spout off silly poll-tested talking points about national security or foreign policy.

I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

If you construct political narratives around the psychodramas of politicians, even when they don't invite it, you open the way for those who can play this game more effectively.

[A] Senator who wants to stir up trouble ... can do so by introducing on the floor amendments which he was duty bound to present in committee. But presentation in committee makes no headlines.

Politics requires tolerance for triviality, artifice, nonsense I have found in short supply.

I have no message to give the politicians of the world. They're all completely addicted to promiscuous verbalization and I'm quite sure they would not be at all interested in hearing about cut-ups and hieroglyphics and still less interested to hear about silence.