Successful democratic politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle, or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies.
I can’t afford to have my Vice President who knows every reporter in town, go around saying we’re all screwed up, so we’re going to keep him happy. You are dealing with a very insecure, sensitive man with a huge ego. I want you to literally kiss his ass from one end of Washington to the other.
Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him.
A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.
We're not big on taste. And actually, if you don't pander to undue sensitivities, then it ends up usually not being much of a problem.
Truth does not appease but inflames the curiosity.
God was treated like this powerful, erratic, rather punitive father who has to be pacified and praised. You know, flattered.
You can't pander to your audience. You might in the short term, but ultimately you can't hoodwink them, either.
Obama's foreign policy has three parts: Abandon our allies, appease our enemies, and apologize for America.
I don't 'handle' people. It's so much easier to manipulate actors than to really have an earnest discussion with them. It's very easy to say whatever's going to appease them and then turn around and do whatever you want to do. It's difficult to be forthright with people, because the job does not lend itself to that.
The more we oblige, the more we self-censor, the more we appease, the bolder the enemy gets.
