Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
The politician may change sides so frequently as to find himself always in the majority, but most politicians have a preference for one party to the other
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston
Politics is a herd mentality. Politicians don't really lead. Politicians reflect what they think is consensus opinion.
Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.
For most politicians, facts lead to conclusions. For George W. Bush, conclusions lead to facts.
Parliamentarians would prefer to follow the path of least resistance and vote for the myths that the public opinion polls show their constituents believe in, instead of taking the trouble to educate themselves and their constituents.
Most people have a healthy disrespect for politicians.
I don't think generally politician come from democratic country. I think not that thinking. But sometimes little bit short-sighted. They are mainly looking for their next vote.
[Commenting on negative campaigning:] On the eve of the first Tuesday in November, once again we are faced with the ugly paradox of 30-second-spot democracy: to prove they are worthy of governing us in all that we hold dear, America's politicians must behave in a way that proves they aren't.
My deepest feeling about politicians is that they are dangerous lunatics to be avoided when possible and carefully humored; people, above all, to whom one must never tell the truth.
Jim Sheridan, the MP who wants to ban sketchwriters from the Commons for being rude about politicians, is a blithering idiot. Sorry, scrub that - clearly a very thoughtful person with whom I might conceivably disagree on some marginal issues. A blithering savant, perhaps.
I haven't been in Washington long, but I have learned that it is a place filled with people who say one thing to get elected and do the opposite once they get there.
Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.
Washington is deeply frustrating because so many of the positions that politicians hold are a product of ephemeral self-interest. They reverse themselves, for themselves, all the time.
[When asked, as a prospective Presidential candidate, whether she had ever committed adultery:] No. But then most congresswomen don't have 25-year-old lifeguards throwing themselves at their feet around this place.
[There is] a type of which he [Theodore Roosevelt] is perhaps the master specimen—the politician who could not help being one if he tried…. when Mr. Roosevelt takes a step which the mass of his fellow citizens regard as carefully considered for its political effect, the chances are at least even that he is merely obeying a natural impulse, which may make for either strength or weakness.
Politicians are notoriously economically illiterate. And even when they know what would be the right thing, we don't really expect them to do it.
Spending is not caring. Spending is what politicians do instead of caring. Spending more does not guarantee success. Politicians like to measure spending because it is easier than measuring actual metrics of accomplishment.
Politicians are the same everywhere.
Maybe we're kind of predisposed to think that anything a politician does is calculated and therefore suspect.
Now Speaker Gingrich says interesting and insightful things. He can explain them well. On many occasions he also says outrageous things that come from nowhere and he has a tendency to say them at exactly the time when they most undermine the conservative agenda.
Bill Clinton strikes me as the kind of guy who goes wherever the polls lead him, rather than leading the polls.
When you start to think about politicians, you've got to realize these are strange creatures. Other than the fact that they can't tell directions, and they have very strange breeding habits, how do you actually work with these things?
One of the most fascinating aspects of politician-watching is trying to determine to what extent any politician believes what he says.
You can't control Ted Cruz for instance. No one has suggested you could do that and Marco Rubio, everyone tried to stop Marco Rubio from going against a sitting Republican governor in Florida. He did it anyway and won.
