James Carville Quotes

I think Karl Rove saw that in George W. Bush early on and understood the impact that he could have on Texas politics and probably on national politics.

I am not a fan of Mitt Romney, but I admit that he is, politically speaking, a good candidate for president. He has no personal baggage. He's as handsome as they come. And he's a talented orator.

Life itself has so much politics, why should I make it my profession? I'm just a politician's son, not a politician myself. Two politicians, that's my dad and elder brother, in the family are enough. I'm happy doing my own stuff in Bollywood.

And I remember looking at Gray Davis and, you know, Gray is the consummate political operative.

I'm not a career politician, so the ways of Washington may be a little obscure to me.

Mike Pence not only knows the Capitol. He knows the players in the House and the Senate. He knows how the committee system works. But he also knows all the governors. And so that really brings a unique talent to the picture.

He's a nice guy who will never change the Senate. He is the Senate. Eighteen years in politics, and he's got two cousins who are senators, too. Mark Udall's dad even ran for president.

Governor Granholm had all the right values but didn't have the right background.

I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with perhaps the exception of Hillary Clinton.

There was nothing exceptional about growing up as the son of a congressman.

I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as a curator emeritus, and I still plan to figure out what that means for me at this point in my life.

We forget that the most successful statesmen have been professionals. Lincoln was a professional politician.

I am not a professional politician.

I think when you've been a career politician for 34 years you have to run on your record.

When you're in a public profession like I was, and you stop doing it like I did, people think you're either crazy or dead.

I love Karl Rove. He elected Bush.

I like lots of career politicians; I'm not against all career politicians.

I never contemplated any kind of existence or identity after my career. I never thought at some point the entertainment industry is going to be through with me. And when it first occurred to me that my career was going to cease to be ascendant, then I freaked out.

I've been described as a grizzled political veteran.

My close proximity to many of the newsmakers can give me a different perspective about people in politics and what they might say than others who don't know them.

When I was elected, I was the youngest member of the Tennessee congressional delegation; now, I'm one of the oldest. In fact, I have members of my staff who weren't even born when I took office. That tells me it's time for a new chapter.

When I left office in 1979, I was about the only one who had really left public office on my own.

I didn't work for Jimmy Carter all those years to go to cocktail parties. I was there as a political adviser, a short-order cook, to work on topical matters.

I was raised in the Washington household of my grandfather Senator Thomas P. Gore of Oklahoma, and have known politicians intimately all my life.

I regard myself as someone who is retired but who occasionally goes out to work. In fact, I'm offered so much good stuff that it's not so occasional.