Torture doesn't work.
To equate Vladimir Putin and the United States of America, as Donald Trump was asked, you know, I guess it was Bill O'Reilly who said, "But Putin is a killer." And he basically said, "So are we." That moral equivalency is a contradiction of everything the United States has ever stood for in the 20th and 21st century.
I disagree with what the majority of the American people want.
We can't go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were born here - who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well... What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new appreciation on both sides of the aisle, maybe more importantly on the Republican side, that we need to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
I can tell you that I think America is safer today than it was on 9/11. But that doesn't mean that we don't have a long way to go.
Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies, which our economy and our technology is perfectly capable of. Then all we've done is given our kids a cleaner world.
Parents are not the all-knowing, ideal people we would like you to think we are. We've made wrong choices before, and will again, like everyone else, .. But our mistakes are not the measure of our love for you. You are that measure, and how well you are prepared to make better choices than we have made.
I think that when you look at the great politicians, the two greatest in my view were George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, they certainly had character traits. You also know Abraham Lincoln overcame severe depression problems that he had when he was younger, which gave him the strength and the character later on.
I am fully prepared to be commander in chief... I don't need on-the-job training.
What if there's another terrorist attack? I cringe at the ideas of our enemies watching this, knowing much like the president we have now. You can do anything you want, you can jerk us around, you can harass our naval ships the way Iran is doing right now, and we're not going to do anything. We're not going to react.
I have no rancor. I look forward, not backwards.
Many good people mistake their reputation for their character. It is a mistake I have made many, many times.
If we leave Iraq, terrorists will follow us home.
I owe America more than she has ever owed me.
Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice.
On my honor, I swear to you, that from my first day in office to the last breath I draw, I will do everything in my power to make you proud of your government.
Courage is the enforcing virtue, the one that makes possible all the other virtues common to exceptional leaders: honesty, integrity, confidence, compassion and humility
But please know, whether you believe campaign contributions are speech or property, that I learned to love very dearly the right of free expression when I lived without that freedom for a while a long time ago.
I believe that we're going to find out that America made a lot of mistakes diplomatically, economically, militarily, intel-wise. But, I also think we're going to find out the U.S. has done a lot of good things too.
I say to our enemies: We are coming. God may have mercy on you, but we won't
I admire Obama, and I like him. I think he has a great deal of talent. He should be applauded for his eloquence and for his ability to motivate millions.
Every time there's been an out-of-bounds remark made by a Republican, no matter where they are, I have repudiated them.
I put the Vietnam War behind me a long time ago, and what I wanted to (do) among other things was help veterans also be able to come all the way home as some of our veterans have not been able to do. But I harbor no anger nor rancor. I'm a better man for my experience, and I'm grateful for having the opportunity of serving.
I have the utmost confidence in General Mattis, General Flynn, General Kelly, Dan Coates. I couldn't have picked a better team. And so I'm confident that Donald Trump will listen to them and be guided by them.
Our country doesn't depend on the heroism of every citizen. But all of us should be worthy of the sacrifices made on our behalf.
All this money washing around Washington and all of these contributions taint all of us.
People want the truth, even if they disagree.
Even in this room full of proud Manhattan Democrats. I can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me ... I'm delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary.
When we're talking about a trillion dollars of taxpayer money, "trust me" just isn't good enough.
Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war.
I've been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. But I have been her servant first, last and always. And I've never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I didn't thank God for the privilege.
The Russians are succeeding in continuing their dismemberment of Ukraine, they're succeeding in exerting enormous influence in the Middle East, which they never had before. They are succeeding - they have succeeded in interfering with our election, and we know that they continue that in the French elections and other elections. And so far they have paid a little or no penalty for all of this misbehavior.
It's the only way that I see that it can be done," McCain said. "Obviously, it has failed in the past, but I also notice there is a somewhat changed attitude on the part of the American people about this issue.
The political tactics of division and slander are not our values. They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.
The fact that we did not give the demonstrators in Iran our moral support when a young woman named Neda bled to death in the streets of Iran will go down as one of the great mistakes of the 21st Century.
We are Americans first, Americans last, Americans always... Let us argue our differences. But remember we are not enemies, but comrades in a war against a real enemy...
I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live.
Washington is a Hollywood for ugly people. Hollywood is a Washington for the simpleminded.
What is good for my country is good for my party, Should my party abandon this principle, the American people will abandon us.
I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough, it will be believed.
I spent several years in a North Vietnamese prison camp in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States? The vice president has two duties. One is to break a tie in case of a tie vote in the United States Senate... The other is to inquire daily as to the health of the president. Neither one of those are very challenging as compared to being able to live for a good part of the time in the state of Arizona.
I think where [Donald Trump] loses most hawkish republicans is when he talking about how much he likes [Vladimir] Putin. That should make any person who believe in the American exceptionalism, incredibly uncomfortable.
There's one big difference between me and the others - I won't take every last dime of the surplus and spend it on tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy. I'll use the bulk of the surplus to secure Social Security far into the future to keep our promise to the greatest generation.
Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you but is not defined by your existence alone.
I am the son and grandson of Navy admirals, and I was born into America's service. It wasn't until I was deprived of her company that I fell in love with America.
War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality.
It is perhaps my greatest hope, Mr. President, that some day we'll consider tax and spending measures with no one else in mind but future generations of American taxpayers. We're tying a millstone of debt around their necks, and it is a grave mistake.
At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.
In prison, I fell in love with my country. I had loved her before then, but like most young people, my affection was little more than a simple appreciation for the comforts and privileges most Americans enjoyed and took for granted. It wasn't until I had lost America for a time that I realized how much I loved her.
I campaigned in 2012 all over this country for months: 'Repeal and replace Obamacare.' That was not the mandate of the voters. If they wanted to repeal Obamacare, the 2012 election would have been probably significantly different.
We are united in a wait-and-see approach.
Hillary [Clinton] saying we're never going to put boots on the ground in Iraq, we never going to put boots on the ground in Syria petrified me, simply because, why - what if this continues despite out of control.
I believe that Congress will and must act before then to renew its objections to multiple and discriminatory taxes on the Internet, as well as to taxes that inhibit Internet access.
But I'm still a work in progress. My mother calls me quite frequently with various critiques of my performance on TV and other public events. She's usually pretty severe with her comments.
How much damage will have been done before we act?
I said, 'The nice thing about Alzheimer's is you get to hide your own Easter eggs.'
The way you have bipartisan negotiations, you sit down across the table, as we did with Ted Kennedy, as I've done with many other members, and you say, 'OK, here's what I want, here's what you want. We'll adhere to your principles, but we'll make concessions.'
I have had a strong and a long relationship on national security, I've been involved in every national crisis that this nation has faced since Beirut, I understand the issues, I understand and appreciate the enormity of the challenge we face from radical Islamic extremism. I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time.
I know the veterans. I know them well. And I know that they know that I'll take care of them. And I've been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans.
Remember the words of Chairman Mao: 'It's always darkest before it's totally black.'.
We make the future better than the past. We don't hide from history. We make history.
You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.
The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.
Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.
Today more people lose their seats in the Politburo in Havana than in the Congress of America, ... We need to have competitive races for the Legislature. ... We have to have a clash of ideas.
The day that I can land at the airport in Baghdad and ride in an unarmed car down the highway to the Green Zone is the day that I'll start considering withdrawals from Iraq.
And by the way, I would not only reappoint Greenspan; if Greenspan would happen to die, God forbid, I would do like they did in the movie 'Weekend at Bernie's.' I would prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him.
Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends.
Tolerance of dissent is the hallmark of a mature party, and it is well past time for the Republican Party to grow up.
We are Americans first, Americans last, and Americans always.
I have a fundamental belief in the goodness and strength of the American worker. And the American worker is the most productive, the most innovative. America is still the greatest producer, exporter and importer. I have a fundamental belief in the United States of America. And I still believe, under the right leadership, our best days are ahead of us.
It's always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.
Russia has now become a nation fueled by petro-dollars that is basically a KGB apparatchik-run government.
Keep moving if you love life, and keep your troubles well behind you.
Subjecting prisoners to abuse leads to bad intelligence, because under torture a detainee will tell his interrogator anything to make the pain stop. Second, mistreatment of our prisoners endangers U.S. troops who might be captured by the enemy – if not in this war, then in the next. And third, prisoner abuses exact on us a terrible toll in the war of ideas, because inevitably these abuses become public.
We should be I hope finally realizing what Vladimir Putin is. He's an old colonel, KGB, apparatchik, and he dreams of the restoration of the Russian empire.
We were pleased to hear the President state his firm commitment that he will do whatever is necessary to accomplish this important goal.
When you run ads saying you are going to save social security, my friend, that's all hat and no cattle.
We can't disrupt polling places anymore, ... It doesn't serve any purpose. It just makes people mad.
America is the greatest force for good in the history of the world.
I am confident, with the leadership and the backing of the American people, President Obama will turn this country around.
That's Joe Biden right there - unbowed, unbroken and unable to stop talking.
We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming, or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters, and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring. We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge.
Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you in return.
I believe in evolution. But I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also.
My hero is a guy named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt used to say, walk softly, talk softly but carry a big stick.
Conservatives came to office to reduce the size of government and enlarge the sphere of free and private initiative. But lately we have increased government in order to stay in office. And, soon, if we don't remember why we were elected we will have lost our office along with our principles, and leave a mountain of debt that our children's grandchildren will suffer from long after we have departed this earth. Because, my friends, hypocrisy is the most obvious of sins, and the people will punish it.
You can disagree with someone on issues, but you should never get personal. Joe Biden has never gotten personal, to my knowledge, with a fellow senator.
An act of heroism, of extraordinary courage, the grandeur of it, won't easily inspire us to act in imitation, but it can inspire us to emulate its author. For that, we should learn what we can of the whole experience of the subject, the hero's life, as it was before and after, and believe that trying to emulate the character it reveals is one tried way to prepare for the tests that might await us and gain hope that our courage will not be wanting in the moment.
Thank God for our form of government. The media won't let there be any cover-up.
A man I admire and respect - Congressman John Lewis, an American hero, made allegations that Sarah Palin and I were somehow associated with the worst chapter in American history, segregation, deaths of children in church bombings, George Wallace. That, to me, was so hurtful.
War is awful. Nothing, not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. War is wretched beyond description and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality. Whatever is won in war, it is loss the veteran remembers.
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.
Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don’t have much of a vision for the future or you’re not ready to articulate it.
The role of the vice president is to break ties in the Senate and inquire daily into the health of the president.
I voted for Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg. Not because I agreed with their ideology, but because I thought they were qualified and that elections have consequences when presidents are nominated.
I don't use coarse language very often. I have a larger vocabulary than that.
I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes, and I saw three letters, a "K," a "G," and a "B."
Men and women serving in the military deserve better than what they're giving - what we're giving them. They don't know what they're going to be doing tomorrow.
Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace and it's got to be fixed.
We must be true to ourselves. And we must be true to others, whether they believe we are or not.
We are taught to understand, correctly, that courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity for action despite our fears.
Presidential ambition is a disease that can only be cured by embalming fluid.
We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves.
We still have a long way to go before we can declare America safe, and that means doing a better job along our borders, as well.
I spent several years in a north Vietnamese prison camp in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States?
I'm just trying to keep things normal around the house, because there's no reason why things shouldn't be normal.
Our nation's continued prosperity hinges on our ability to solve environmental problems and sustain the natural resources on which we all depend.
Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don't have to be scared of as president of the United States.
I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the best candidate able to lead the country and defend our political values.
I will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell.
I actually think if the American people understood what was going on instead of just being told tidbits by this administration, they would actually be a lot more supportive of the boots on the ground.
There's two ways of working in Washington, ... One is to go along and get along. The other is to stand up for what you believe in.
I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history. We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war.
We know for a fact the Russians tried to change the outcome of our election, attacking the very fundamental of democracy. We know they did that. We need to know how, we need to know why, and most of all we need to know what to do to prevent this kind of activity, which they continue to carry on in free nations around the world.
Efforts to bring about democracy have hit a wall and are going backwards.
Now we've got the cables. We've got talk radio. We've got the bloggers. I hate the bloggers.
I think conventional wisdom is that time is not on our side. But there are a number of members of Congress who have primaries and when those primaries are done, they may be more inclined to address the issue of comprehensive immigration reform.
We got results that would not have been possible without a negotiating partner like Joe Biden.
I want to tell the vice president and everybody else that when I'm president there will be a controlling legal authority.
The only way you approach politics and seek elective office is to move forward. For me to look back in anger or with any rancor would be a mistake.
We should exhibit no self doubt to our friends, ... Credibility is a strategic asset.
I wrestled and played football in high school and in my last year, I started as a wrestler and actually had a fairly good record. But I hated to lose. I always gave it everything I had which, unfortunately, was not as much as I'd hoped for. But keep in mind, I feel like I got the most out of my ability. One moment that was special above all the rest was winning my last bout at the Naval Academy to finish the entire summer undefeated. That was thrilling, but what's more, it helped me in prison because the first time I got knocked around by the Vietnamese, it did not come as a total shock.
We want to work with the Russians. But we also have every right to expect the Russians to behave in a fashion and keeping with a - with a - with a country who respects international boundaries and the norms of international behavior.
I am not haunted by memories of Vietnam. But I must admit I never thought we would again witness in my lifetime the specter of politicians picking targets and ruling out offensive measures in the absurd hope that the enemy would respond to our restraint by yielding to our demands.
