There is nothing more basic to our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders. Mark Shields More Quotes by Mark Shields More Quotes From Mark Shields Donald Trump is not an unintelligent man. Mark Shields unintelligenttrumpmen The reality is that the Republicans twice had Mitt Romney as a potential nominee. They chose him in 2008 - 2012. In 2008 and 2012, he had been the most get tough on illegal immigrants, on undocumented immigrants, illegals, as he called them, accused John McCain of wanting to give them Social Security checks, accused Mike Huckabee selling out to them with the DREAM Act in Arkansas, was really the most strident. Mark Shields dreamgivingreality All about midterm elections is turnouts. And turnout is measured by enthusiasm, intensity, how interested are people. And President Obama - candidate Obama had it on his side in 2008. The Democrats had it on their side in 2006. The enthusiasm, the intensity, the passion was all on their side. Mark Shields passionpresidentpeople Barack Obama did get a higher percentage of the vote than anybody has in this country in 20 years. I mean, it was a resounding victory. I mean, whether his core constituency was 20 percent or what, his electoral constituency, which is how we measure elections, was 53 percent, which was, you know, historically high, the highest of any Democrat, other than Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Mark Shields meancountryyears I saw money change votes.I mean, they just seem unaware of this, that money is something - if they want to see the appearance of corruption, all they had to do was look in Las Vegas last weekend. Mark Shields vegasweekendmean The lobbying over China most favored nation trading status was disgusting. There's no way in hell that MFN would have passed in '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000 if all these companies hadn't come in flooding and making campaign contributions and ask for people's support. That drove the debate. Every year was the allure of corporate dollars flooding into members' bank accounts. Mark Shields supportpeopleyears Politics, they all - talked to the insiders. Mark Shields insiders Big money buys access in Washington, and access purchases influence. It is as simple as that. And they have basically given a green light, a further green light, after Citizens United, to the biggest money to have the bigger voice in our politics, and to sound out and drown out the voice of just ordinary citizens. Mark Shields voicelightsimple Human trafficking is a human tragedy. It's an outrage against any decent people. Mark Shields human-traffickingtragedypeople The person you're choosing is going to be 90 feet down the hall for four years. That's a pretty intimate and close relationship, and it better be somebody you're comfortable with, you like, you trust, you look forward to seeing, not someone you're coming up with creative ideas on how to avoid. Mark Shields feetyearsideas The Democrats are standing on one side, and the Republicans are playing games on the other. Both sides are playing games. Mark Shields playing-gamesrepublicansides The studies that show the reason Washington real estate is booming and there are so many lobbyists in town, it does pay. Mark Shields lobbyistsrealdoe The corporations who invest in lobbyists, it pays in terms of tax loopholes, tax subsidies, all the rest. It pays. Clearly, the money has a big effect. Mark Shields subsidieslobbyistspay The Sheldon Adelsons, the Koch brothers, the George Soroses, what we want to try to do is force them into the parties, not so that Kasich or whoever is going to straight to them and trying to kiss up to special interests, but so the parties have the power and they can direct the money. Mark Shields kissingpartybrother They're still a subject beholden to special interests, but at least they have a national constituency. At least they have to think about national majorities. Mark Shields majorityspecialthinking I'm a little nervous about public funding. It's better than what we got now. Mark Shields fundingnervouslittles I think that "Arabs coming out in droves" is so violative Jewish values that non-Jews admire so much about Jewish people throughout history, of welcoming the stranger, of standing up for the outsider, of defending the marginalized. This was classic us against them. This was the narrowest and meanest of politics, to which Jews, sadly and tragically, around the world have been subjected to. Mark Shields jewish-valuespeoplethinking Benjamin Netanyahu is no Winston Churchill. Whatever else he, is he's not a Winston Churchill. He basically violated the great rule, which is it's better to mislead the people and to lose an election than to mislead the people and win an election. Mark Shields electionwinningpeople I think Guantanamo, has been synonymous with the staining of American values and American legal tradition. Mark Shields american-valuestraditionthinking Clinton's major problem, and the two aren't separable really because there is hope in the country, the hope - - optimism has slipped dramatically, make no mistake about every measurement shows that. But the hope is still there. Hope is with him. People want change. They see him as the best chance for change. Mark Shields mistaketwocountry
