Political Showmanship Quotes

Political debates, which are considered central to modern American political campaigns, appear useless as they put pressure on each candidate to put on some sort of act, to show in an impossibly brief time a superior, distinctive personality and command of the issues; the debates therefore are…fake

The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate, consultant, pundit, and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now, a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops.

Politics is a lot like acting. You have to be on all the time.

On August 28, 2010, Fox News messiah Glenn Beck hosted a 'Restoring Honor' revival meeting featuring sexy guest star Sarah Palin, much as Bob Hope would roll out Raquel Welch in white go-go boots on his U.S.O. tours to give our fighting men a morale lift in their khakis.

In politics, it's very theatrical. There's a lot of stage craft. The campaign is trying to tell a story that they want people to believe in, and candidates are playing the role, like actors, by a creative personae that people will be attracted to.

I don't like my politicians entertaining me and I don't like my entertainers politicianing me.

The demagogue ... is a good showman, whether at Nuremberg at a youth conference, or in Georgia at a political barbecue. He knows the tricks of the ham actor, the gestures, the tones of voice that can arouse passions. Always he dresses himself up as the little man come to life, grown to Brobdingnagian stature and become the "Duce" or the "Leader" or, maybe, "Ploughboy Pete.

The future of politics is performance.

I'm here in Whoopi Goldberg's office trying to choose some shoes. We've seen [Marco] Rubio has those cool new boots and I don't want to be outdone.

Donald Trumps' senior advisor said on CNN that the US Presidential election was the ultimate reality TV show! Appeal to those you want to reach!

Contemporary politics is all about phony energy, about running around slamming doors for the sake of it-or, more to the point, opening them and tossing through a huge sack of taxpayer dollars.

Politics has become entertainment.

Donald Trump has added a whole different factor that we've never seen before, but the audience loves it.

If politics were a musical, it would be "Promises, Promises".

I sometimes call Donald Trump the placebo president. He will talk a big game, but for domestic policy I think change remarkably little.

Our politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.

The pleasure politicians take in their limelight pleases me with a sort of pleasure I get when I see a child's eyes gleam over a new toy.