Chris Matthews Quotes (57 Quotes)


    The most incredible thing about Austin is how far been his attitude and work ethic have come. I'm really proud of the way he's taken on the leadership role.

    We talk about 'the big one' out in San Francisco.... Well the big one in America is race -- that's the San Andreas fault of this country. And to see it so vividly displayed between poverty and middle class and white and black, right out there with those people begging for water, a basic human need, and to see that in way that looks like it's racial, really rips the scab off of this country. This is the thing we don't want to face, and now we're going to have to face it.

    We've got to recognize that when we march into Iraq, we're setting up the card tables in front of every university in the Arab world, the Islamic world, to recruit for al-Qaida.

    I mean, if somebody said to me, junior year of college, you can go anywhere, your old man's paying for it, I'd have been gone in a flash. But I had to work. Every summer my mother would say, 'Get that job and hold on to it until August 30.'

    I mean, the idea that Bar could have sent him off on a Grand Tour. But he wasn't the least bit interested. Why? Why isn't he interested in the world? Because here's the bad news for him: He's in the world now.


    Just look at who won the third debate between Bush and Gore. I knew Bush won, because people liked him more. People just didn't like Gore. But all the journalists thought Gore won big, he cleaned the guy's clock.

    Unity is the most important thing on the road to stamping out terror. You need global rules of law and order, and they have to be enforced. Start with that principle.

    I know one thing: There are a billion Islamic people in the world today, and there will be about 2 billion by the time we're dead. They're not going to give up their religion.

    Once it was suggested that Saddam Hussein might give his weaponry to terrorists, or might use weapons himself in the region, then it became hard for the Democrats to say, 'Well, that can't happen.'

    Those who want to . . . who feel the desire, who have the passion to go over to Iraq.

    C'mon. He'd be embarrassing upstairs at the White House. So I think she'd have a hard time. I think a woman president would have to be very conservative to get elected.

    Daniel could challenge for a starting spot on the defense, but all those guys are important because we can make changes and move people around if we have to. This is the fastest team by far that I've ever been involved with. And that's always a good thing.

    I don't know why his lawyers didn't tell him, 'You don't have to answer any questions about your private life, Mr. President. Let them sue you. Take the heat. You don't have to answer.'

    I tell my staff, we're riding a tour bus around, and we're going to stop and look at some weird stuff - but we're taking our viewers around safely. They're just looking out the window at it. I'm trying to create a sense of comfort for my center audience.

    You know, there were 29 Democratic votes for censure in the Senate. And if the Republicans had any sense, they would have censured him before the '98 midterm election, and they would have won the election.

    You don't know whether he's thought through how this is going to affect the Middle East.


    My audience is much more center right, or centrist.

    We thought of her with Barbra Streisand, Barbara Boxer, Rob Reiner, Charles Schumer, even. Now I see her on a drift to the center.

    We're awaiting a news conference at the bottom of the hour. New York City Police-

    And on the war, I think my numbers would be a lot higher if I were out there beating the drum for this war. In fact, I don't think it, I know it. But I can't be for the war.

    Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, 'We are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something.' I mean, in a way, Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world. He's sort of God. He's going to bring all different sides together.

    Seems like we're gonna be hearing Dusty Springfield and . . . the chopper blades again.

    Five years from now, 10 years from now, there's going to be a huge Islamic population in the world, they're going to be nationalistic, they're going to be religious, and they're going to be militant.

    We graduated five starters and eight kids in all from last year's team (which made its second trip in as many years to the state playoffs). Even with that nearly every kid we have on this year's team played some varsity last season.

    Katrina and Monica, huh Never made that connection, go ahead.

    And then there's Israel - a lot of people support Israel, and it's important to Israel to take out Iraq. So it's all mixed together. It's a combination of motives.

    Well, the right-wing policy with regard to Israel - the people who don't want to deal with Arafat, who don't want a Palestinian state - the whole sort of right-wing view is consistent with the view toward Iraq. It's the same policy and the same people.

    Jacob just wasn't himself tonight. He's been sick and so we didn't start him, but I thought he could go in the second half.

    Motives are so hard to get to. There are people opposed to this war who are trying to stop it, and there are people who are just posing as critics.

    We've always had a dual role in the region - friend of Israel, and honest broker. We've given up the honest broker role completely.

    The media elite thought Gore proved he knew so much, but the fact was, as they say, Gore knew a lot, but Bush knew enough. People liked Bush.

    The first (North Lamar) goal took us out of what we were doing. Our kids didn't expect it, and the second score was almost a fluke goal. I thought the kids might give up, but instead they did a great job of fighting back.

    Three years ago, the White House persuaded the media, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and a majority of the American people to accept their case for military action in Iraq -- largely based on a very powerful image, a nuclear mushroom cloud. The president, the vice president and others repeatedly warned of the looming threat of a nuclear weapon in Saddam Husseins arsenal that could be used against the territory of the United States.

    I still think I could defend myself by pointing to the value of the presidency. I don't think the Democrats protected the value of the presidency.

    Our trading statement in January showed 8 sales growth, but we feel this is the right time to move into the fast-growing online market. We are doing this from a position of strength.

    Any team in this district can give anyone else a good game. We're not taking anything for granted. We have to take these games on at a time, and that's what we're doing.

    I don't think they will run. I think they'll find a conservative who is one of them... a George Allen.

    It doesn't serve an American interest. It really doesn't really serve Israeli interests - it serves the interests of the political party that's getting the votes of the settlers on the West Bank.

    You don't say, like the Bush crowd, 'I got this guy over here and I don't like him and I'm gonna get him, whether you back me or not.'

    The Democrats just don't have a foreign policy that they're willing to defend, that they're willing to use to take down the president's. We're dealing with the power of suggestion here.

    They were unable to stand up and say: "Here's our policy. It's Unite the world against terrorism."

    Sarah Palin - now don't laugh - is writing a book. Not just reading a book, writing a book. Actually, in the word of the publisher, she's 'collaborating' on a book. What an embarrassment! It's one of these 'I told you,' books that jocks do.

    Then the administration tied it in to the regional dispute between Israel and its enemies, as if that's about international terrorism. No, it's not.

    The overall campaign launch is designed to break through the clutter and reach out to consumers. At the end of the day, consumers are the ones who benefit from the convenience and value never before seen in a free checking account.

    The difference between me and them is that I'll look at Jesse Jackson and I'll see four Jesse Jacksons, and they'll just see one, the clown ambulance chaser.

    Why don't we just go set up the card tables ourselves, right now Sign them up to commit suicide. And you never hear anybody talking about this.

    I can't find a reason to be for this war. I've looked, and I can't, so I'm not.

    I'm not just gonna go after the black Jesse Jackson they all want to make fun of, but I know the wrong people are gonna laugh at that. I don't want to play to that crowd. I don't.

    It not that bad. It's bad, but it could have been a lot worse.


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