Stephen Hess Quotes (57 Quotes)

There's been a renewal of corruption. I think all of these things have lowered America's faith and approval of the Congress and politics in general.

She would be better off politically not making a commitment that she wouldn't run for president if she were re-elected, ... Clearly, if (her Senate race) were going to be a squeaker, she'd better give a lot of thought to how she responds to that. But, if, as it appears, she's going to have a pretty easy time of it, why put herself in a position of looking hypocritical or devious

Had this been handled expeditiously, quickly, it might have been a story on the style page, or limited to the late night comedians and the cartoonists. There's simply no question they fumbled this one.

They either refuse to comment or say rather pleasant things.

He has come to symbolize how unprepared this administration was for this disaster, fairly or unfairly,

Suddenly the campaign is over, they wake up and the press is not seeking their opinion. There's no more entourage, no Secret Service. It's very, very difficult.

There's a feeling that he's genuine, ... And that can be strange for a fellow with his dynastic history. But he's more Midland (Texas) than Greenwich, Connecticut.

A big, bipartisan vote sends a message to the Iraqis and the White House. It's very, very significant.

Cindy Sheehan had one glorious shining moment and she took advantage of it and the peace movement took advantage of her as it created the attention that the movement hadn't had previously.

It was not a speech of surprises. Assuming other foreign ministries have been listening, I don't what they would have learned today that they already didn't know.

Those that are elected on Tuesday, we're likely to have as presidential candidates six and 10 years from now.

That's big guns, ... wants it clear that the administration is behind him.

But life did not work quite as he designed it in the next year. He picked the wrong major item, Social Security. And then the war got worse and he had the hurricane. So now it's not only the sand that has run out of the hourglass but also the political capital has run out of the bank.

His name is thrown into the mix. Big time.

This White House's problems are not personnel, they are basically problems of policy.

There isn't any money. For presidents to make pronouncements it usually means they have to spend money and he's not in a position to spend any more.

Bill Clinton is taking the biggest public policy risk of his career and Gore just has to be there with him all the way. Otherwise what happens -- it becomes a Hubert Humphrey situation.

They took a story that was going to be laugh lines for late-night comedians and turned it into a front-page story. There was something in their attitude there that I think is going to have a lingering effect, about how a certain arrogance seemed to have crept into the White House complex.

The president looks across the cabinet table at the vice president and has to realize, 'The only reason he's there is in case I die.

By never having used a veto, either everything has gone his way--which is never true in this world--or he's been able to reach an agreement. When politics gets into this range of right and wrong, religion and morality, it is increasingly difficult to compromise.

But it's embarrassing when they're caught at it. This time, we caught them leaking from the top.

Presidents never get everyone they want -- no one does. There's simply no doubt that while these are fascinating jobs and interesting times ... some people are pleased to be mentioned and happy not to accept.

I don't think they the White House can use the standard procedure of delay or the standard procedure of attacking their attackers. I think they have to deal with this because this is probably the first charge in the campaign finance deal that the American people will want, if not demand, an answer to.

It's more likely that a president will be there -- wherever there is -- and will speak more promptly after a disaster to a very large audience,

That showed me he'll carry loyalty to a point - which is part of what presidents do,

I mean this is primarily about Iraq. There is no sense talking about his education policy or something like that. I mean he has been in office now for nearly six years. He has got one major policy in which he has thrown all the chips into the game. Is it going to work We shall see.

At this stage of an administration, nearly six years into it, it's incredibly difficult to get new people. Time is short. The most creative, interesting things have already been done.

Polls are a reflection of the headlines. When the news is bad, the president's numbers go down, and when the news is good, they go up,

The year's gone well economically. The president has had moderate success in his legislative program, probably more than the public has given him credit for.

Even in this context, I am not going to get too uptight about it. When (officials such as Griffin) make statements that can be interpreted as political statements, the government should not be underwriting it. You just caught the fellow with a little egg on his vest, looking untidy.

If it were an ordinary year, a traditional year, sort of a simple first year of a president's second term, you would have to say he had a pretty good year.

It doesn't change the nature of the court.

There's no question it's a new strategy. Coming to Charlotte, as well as going to Cleveland, is not what used to be known as a 'Rose Garden strategy.' It's not to jolly people up. It's an attempt to ... keep Americans behind him -- and patient.

They don't get much credit for charitable giving when they're rich, and most of them are.

Last year, he came out with a very robust agenda in the State of the Union.

It's very often a good thing in a second administration, because it's difficult to bring new people in from the outside time is short, all the creative things have already been done. Quite often the best you are capable of doing is moving things around.

As Democratic prospects get better and better for winning back Congress in 2006, there is less and less desire to cut any deals.

The most important thing in the long run in the United States was the appointment of two new justices to the Supreme Court.

This is not a full-fledged mea culpa. But by presidential standards, it's there, or pretty close to it, ... The government did screw up, and he is president of the United States.

We need to know how bad it is x2014 but we want a little good news, too. We've heard a lot about how bad Americans are, or some Americans were in Katrina, but we're not a bad people.

It has more than the usual quotient of political weight with an election coming up. The fate of his administration is so closely linked to what happens on the ground in Iraq.

Whenever a president is in trouble, as this one is, the pundits and observers in Washington say, 'Don't just stand there, do something.' So they give a speech -- he's done that. They appoint a blue-ribbon commission -- he's done that. They change personnel -- they are doing that. The point is, that is not what really ails this administration. They've got a policy problem, and either they can change the policy or they have to hope the policy starts working better for them.

The speech is sandwiched between a big fight on Republican leadership in the House and the Supreme Court fight in the Senate.

He has two major problems the price of gas and the number of Americans killed in Iraq. Basically nothing is going to change for him until one or both of those problems are alleviated.

This is a situation in which the vice president by definition is a shadow, ... He must move the way the president moves, he can't move independently and at this point he should move forcefully.

If he loses two houses of Congress, or even one, the last two years of his presidency are toast.

Do not forget that it is a Congress in which the president's party has the majority.

We're talking on a week in which a woman president was inaugurated in Africa and a woman was elected in Latin America, so this is not any longer so unique.

People said it would be very hard for Eisenhower to get along without Sherman Adams, but he did, ... We quickly realized that it was Eisenhower who was running the administration all along.

The president has made it very clear no looking back, no regrets. He feels this was the right thing to do.