Donald Rumsfeld Quotes on Politics (13 Quotes)

We have had a pattern of increasing the number of coalition forces during periods when there was an expectation that the insurgents and terrorists would like to try to disrupt the political process,

We don't want any delays. ... It's time for compromise. That's what politics is about.

As the president said in April, The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a crushing defeat for the forces of tyranny and terror, and a watershed event in the global democratic revolution. ... Political progress is necessary to defeat the insurgency.

Success will only occur if there's progress on the political front so that the Iraqi people see that in fact it is their country. It is a sovereign nation. They are in control of it,

First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.

It will take a broad, sustained effort that will have to use our diplomatic, our political, our economic, our financial strength, as well as our military strength, ... It will take time. It's not a matter of days or weeks. It's years. It's going to take the support of the American people and I have every confidence it'll be there.

The Iraqi people who are involved in this process are relatively new to the political process. It will take them some time I suspect.

If I felt I could not be effective, I'd resign in a minute, ... I would not resign simply because people try to make a political issue out of it.

Politics is human beings; it's addition rather than subtraction.

The progress that he has been able to make in proliferating the terrorist states all across the globe is a serious one, ... I guess there's room for all types of efforts -- political, economic, diplomatic and military.

Our goal is to be able to bring them down (US force levels) as the Iraqi security forces develop greater capability and as the political process goes forward so the Iraqi people help to suppress the insurgency,

In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it.

I am encouraged and ... it suggests that the Iraqi people have developed a political maturity in political compromise. That is not an easy thing to do,