Dan Bartlett Quotes (47 Quotes)

We hope Al Gore uses this opportunity to explain why during his term, teen drug use in America nearly doubled, the number of drug treatment beds in federal prisons were cut by over one-third, the office of National Drug Control Policy was cut by 83 percent and federal gun prosecutions have decreased by 46 percent.

It appears that Al Gore is more concerned about politics than policy. The citizens of the Pacific Northwest deserve to know where the vice president stands on an issue as important as breaching the dams.

We are disappointed with the judge's ruling and believe it does not represent a fair or accurate portrayal of Texas' efforts to provide health care to children on Medicaid.

Al Gore may think Medicare is at a crossroads, but his plan puts it on a highway to bankruptcy.

We've had a good week. We feel like the president heads out of the country on a strong note.

It's a program to make sure that we connect the dots. It's not some sort of roving domestic spying program. It's a carefully tailored program to survey the enemy.

The president's big message today is that our economy is growing strong, which puts us in a position to address other issues that workers are concerned about rising health care costs and energy issues.

Big companies have all the big tax advantages and breaks to provide health care. But if you are mom and pop, they don't enjoy those same types of advantages, and they should.

President Bush will show that the math speaks for itself. The bottom line is that the Social Security system, in 13 years, will be taking in less money than it's paying out. We'll go into the red.

He has chosen at this critical time, in the middle of a presidential campaign, to inject himself into the political debate. And he has every right to do so. But in so doing, his judgments -- his actions, or the lack thereof -- should also come under scrutiny.

The fact of the matter is when our nation faces these type of emergencies, it unfortunately requires us to deficit spend. It's nothing that anybody in Washington, or anywhere for that matter, likes to do but it's necessary.

If there is information that people bring forward that is relevant to the investigation, the first people that are going to ask for that information is going to be the prosecutor. And they haven't done that because they are not relevant.

President Bush gets his briefings from commanders on the ground. He has reason for his optimism because of the enormous amount of progress we have made.

Despite all of these grievances -- despite all of these fundamental concerns about the actions our country has taken -- it's only now, in the course of this campaign, that Dick Clarke decides to talk in the form of this book.

The president's priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire world recognizes. And those who are drawing broad, definitive conclusions based on normal defense and intelligence planning are ill-informed and are not knowledgeable of the administration's thinking on Iran.

He's going to make sure that we work at every level of government across the country to ensure that we learned the lessons from this experience so we can do everything we can to help make sure it doesn't happen again.

It shows the range of his personality, the humor. In a couple different ways, we've expanded his exposure.

Gore's attack on the Texas education system is a thinly veiled attempt to discredit the education reform and accountability measures that have taken place in states around the nation. While Gov. Bush is offering bold reforms for our public schools through accountability, high standards, and reading, Al Gore is making the case for the status quo.

The worst thing that we could do is raises taxes. It would only hurt the economy.

He'll talk at length about leadership in our country -- what it means, why it's important to our security, and why it is critically important to maintain our economic leadership in the world.

Al Gore is running more than 60 million in attack ads, making his campaign the most negative in history. When it comes to experience, America can't afford Al Gore's experience of raising taxes, increasing the size of government, opposing bipartisan Medicare and Social Security reform, and not making education a priority.

A policy of retreat and withdrawal will only make America more vulnerable.

When the president puts out a legislative and executive agenda, we'll make sure we reflect the fact that it's difficult for Congress to get anything done in an election year.

President Bush and Mrs. Bush are saddened by the news. It's a tremendous loss for our nation.

We're making sure that they have all the information necessary while we also protect the separation of government. That's something that everybody recognizes and I think everybody at the end of the day can be satisfied.

The plight of the Palestinians has always been on the president's mind and a part of his statements. But sometimes when we state our case not all of it gets out. So we reorder the priorities to make sure our entire policy and positions get out there.

You hit panic mode if you don't like the first draft at all.

Based upon where the state was in 1993, when the suit was filed, and where we are today, we've made dramatic progress and will improve upon that progress in the areas of outreach and enrollment efforts.

We're not going to question a convert on the day of his conversion, but we're glad Al Gore now agrees with Governor Bush's proposal to hold schools accountable for results.

We're a nation at war, but we do believe it's important, through privately raised money, that we ought to go forward with the inaugural festivities.

There will be a sustained hands-on presence from the president on down, across the board of his administration for the foreseeable future.

The president encountered and witnessed traffic for the first time in three years on the way to the airport.

You come to find out they have the same experiences and challenges you do a family, balancing a campaign and kids. I wouldn't want to say it was a surprise, but it was good to see.

Obviously there's an extreme deference to his own opinion. But I don't think you will find a situation where he is operating independent of administration policy or positions on anything.

The process was done by the book. If you start deciding these issues in a guilt-by-association method, you will have a situation which has deep and harmful ramifications to the economic interests of this country.

The accusations of racism and things like that is something that touched a chord with him. It wasn't one of the finest moments for our government.

It would be our choice not to have to talk about this at all, but the fact of the matter is that it was leaked to the New York Times.

We do have the legal authority to do what we are doing. We have the necessity to do what we are doing.

Oftentimes, people look at these challenges and only see those challenges. The president sees opportunities, and the history of our country shows that America always does best when we are shaping the events of the world, not being shaped by them.

This change will free (Rove) up to focus on strategic planning during a crucial time in the presidency.

The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana.

The physical security of the ports is at the charge of the Coast Guard. The actual cargo that comes in on the ships, is ... charged to the United States Customs Service. So it's critically important for America to understand that doesn't change not today, not tomorrow, not next week, not six months from now. They are in charge of the security of our ports.

Emotions are running high. People are tired. If we focused more of our attention on decisions that have already been made, rather than on those before us, there's potential for making far greater mistakes. ... We really don't have time to play the political game right now.

The president, during the run-up to the war, went out of his way not to make it political.

There are multiple checks and balances to make sure what we're doing is targeting ... international phone calls of terrorists, not the conversations between two families coordinating a family vacation. We have very strict laws, very strict oversight. This is a targeted program, and I think most of the American people would be very angry if they thought we weren't doing just this.

He understands that emotions are running high, that people are tired, people are angry and frustrated, particularly in the region. But at the end of the day, we've got to focus on improving the situation, saving lives and getting the recovery situation underway. The politics will be what they are. We will deal with it, but what the public wants more than anything else is to focus on the task at hand.

There were shortcomings. There were breakdowns in communication, things that we shouldn't be tolerating in our country in a post-911 world, and President Bush takes responsibility and accountability for that.