political misconduct Quotes

If everybody in this town connected with politics had to leave town because of chasing women and drinking, you would have no government.

We have a culture of political corruption in Jefferson City. We have corrupt politicians, well-paid lobbyists and special-interest insiders taking the state in the wrong direction.

The average politician was crooked. That was my ambition, to be a crooked politician. I'd see them in these restaurants, and they'd all hold these conferences. I'd see politicians who were supposed to be on opposite sides of issues all together at one table.

It is very rarely that a man of brains, honor and good manners gets into public life. In most instances the man who holds an office is a rogue, a vulgarian or an ignoramus; commonly he is all three.

What type of politics is the Congress practising, wherein its leaders commit the sin of looting money meant for the welfare of pregnant women and poor children?

Give politicians power and it certainly will be abused eventually - if not by today's politicians, then by their successors.

There are more hooligans in the House of Commons than at a football match.

Contact with the affairs of state is one of the most corrupting of the influences to which men are exposed.

Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.

Fellow senators balked at punishing Senator Alfonse D'Amato of New York though he was caught in a series of transactions that earned him the label "Senator Sleaze." D'Amato explained their reluctance as he defended his own behavior. "There but for the grace of God go most of my colleagues," he said.

[Mark] Twain called Congress "the only distinctly native criminal class in America. We've lately sent a United States Senator to the penitentiary." That was a fact.

Representative Gingrich failed to exercise the discipline and caution of his office and so is subject to penalty today.

A politician is just like a pickpocket; it's almost impossible to get him to reform.

You know, if government were a product, selling it would be illegal. ... Government contains impure ingredients - as anybody who's looked at Congress can tell you. ... government practices deceptive advertising. And the merest glance at the federal budget is enough to convict the government of perjury, extortion, and fraud. ... in a nutshell: government should be against the law. Term limits aren't enough. We need jail.

If I had to use a single word to describe what is fundamentally wrong with government today, I would use the word fraud.

The American people might have a criminal syndicate running their government.

It's very simple. If the American people care about a lot of things including corruption in government, then, in fact, if you use the power to appoint in order to do political business, to clear fields, to save your party money and so on, if it's not a crime - and I believe it is - it certainly is business as usual, politics of corruption.

… the polluted harpies that, under the pretense of governing this city, are feeding day and night on its quivering vitals. They are a lying, perjured, rum-soaked and libidinous lot

The senator's actions in the hours and days after emerging from that pond tell us something ugly about Kennedy the man. That he got away with it tell us something ugly about American public life.

As always, imagine how great the press corps would be if it devoted 1/1000th the energy to dissecting non-sex political wrongdoing

The usually travelled route for a great many Members of the last Congress was an exceedingly crooked one, even for politicians.

You know you have a problem in American politics when they're making 'House of Cards' look normal.

One or two of these scoundrel statesmen should be shot once a-year, just to keep the others on their good behavior.

Donald Trump abuses his power, games the system, puts his own interests ahead of the country's.