John Podesta Quotations

We're going to keep pressing them to fulfill the commitment they not only made to the president but to the American people that this program to put teachers in the classroom will be funded adequately, and there won't be any gimmicks to take the money out the back door, as we have now currently in the current bills,

We're frustrated ... The next two weeks will tell for the American people,

There are people who kind of gravitate towards running politics based on new ideas and issues, and that was what the secret was for Clinton.

basically just didn't care if we followed Justice Department guidelines.

He wanted actually to sleep on a few and he went to bed last night doing that and so we'll probably be making an announcement a little later this morning,

I think you've got to deal with it on a one-step-at-a-time basis. We don't want to see a long timeout, if you will, from the peace-making process, ... Late Edition.

I think that our legal team will take a look at that in the days to come,

I think both of them share the view that we want to de-escalate this, get this out of the media circus and do what's right for the boy.

Our administration has already moved to liberalize export controls on encryption, allowing more companies to export the technology to more end users. And we've done so while maintaining a framework necessary to protect our national security, ... Today we are announcing significant new updates.

That doesn't necessarily mean they have to have an explicit proposal that they put forward that all Democrats sign up to, but I think they need to throw some ideas out that, at least directionally, point the way forward.

I think he's done something that I think President Clinton did not do in midterm races or even in his own re-election,

You actually need one of these to get on the airplane,

We never discussed any matters having to do with any of the things that have been alleged by his critics. There was no wrongdoing.

wants us to be ready to govern on day one, and so he pledged to work with us.

We're trying ... to bend ears, not break peoples' arms,

First and foremost, when I think of him - I'm prejudiced; I worked for the guy for six and a half years - when I think of him, I think of him first and foremost as an idea politician.

This tax cut is bloated. It uses up the entire surplus. It provides not one cent for Medicare. It provides not one cent to extend the solvency of Social Security. It will not result in paying down the debt.

With regard to planning for the use of ground troops, as you know, we have a substantial elaborate plan to insert a force in the event that there's a peaceful environment for which they can -- permissive environment for them to go into, ... Meet The Press.

The president is committed to saving Social Security, maintaining our hard won fiscal responsibility, reforming and strengthening our public schools so they work better for our children, passing a patient's bill or rights, strengthening America's leadership in the global economy and securing the peace in troubled areas around the world,

When you look at your exit polls tomorrow, you will find Democrats did very well because the economy is not going in the right direction,

There should be greater judicial oversight of trap and trace authorities, ... Federal law should make clear that such orders should only be issued after a judicial officer has determined that the proper factual showing has been made.

It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon.

That's something that I think is within the bounds of the laws and regulations there are, but still I think it really is a first in American politics.

They decided that rather than just doing a document dump, they would do a garbage dump on Monday, and I think people are going to wonder about that, ... Meet the Press.

They are well on their way to dipping into the Social Security surplus, ... They ought to stop lying about it.

They've reached all the way across the driveway for new blood. When you're in a deep hole, you have to do more than that.

They've reached all the way across the driveway for new blood.

Small attacks -- those under $5,000 damage -- should be treated as a misdemeanor and not a felony. But multiple attacks should be treated as one large attack and punished accordingly,

If there's a will to do it, there's certainly a way to do it, and we're going to keep pressing for it. We refuse to give up on it,

If there was a realignment going on, that's now over. It has crashed and burned.

He's trying to put the episode behind him,

I did answer all of the questions put to me today, ... Nothing in my testimony in any way contradicted the strong denials that the president has made to these allegations, and since I have been asked to return and answer some additional questions, I think that it's best that I not answer any questions out here and reserve that to the grand jury.

I think ... that things are a little bit up for grabs right now...

I believe that President Clinton considered the legal merits of the arguments for the pardon as he understood them, and he rendered his judgment, wise or unwise, on the merits.

Resignation is just simply out of the question...

If medicine was practiced in 1965 the way it's practiced today, there's no question that prescriptions would have been included in Medicare.

Realistically, I think we are not prepared to go home until we do get more teachers and lower class sizes...

I think that what we've been able to do is put together both a good group of scholars and analysts and people who aggressively want to make the case to the American public.

This tough-love, winner-take-all narrative dominating policymaking is far too limited a way to think about how a complex, modern, diverse economy like ours expands and thrives. The strongest periods of economic growth in the 20th century were also times when incomes rose across the board.

I think if you look at yesterday's New York Times poll, particularly when you judge Democrats in Congress versus the Republicans in Congress, people put a little more faith, or even a little more than a little more faith in the Democrats in Congress.

I think that people have to have to have a sense of what ideas are one the progressive side, the Democratic side in order ultimately to be effective in the political world.

The American people have the right to know and understand the laws they live under. And they tend to demand answers sooner or later.

Ultimately I think what people care about, particularly on an issue like Social Security, is not really what's right and what's left but what's right and what's wrong.

So I think it's important to communicate with the people in terms of what the real facts are on these proposals and try to have a discussion and a dialogue that gives people information. I think they're hungry for that rather than just political rhetoric.

So I think in those circumstances, there's some potential that you could see a big pendulum swing like 1994, which people you thought weren't vulnerable all of the sudden get in trouble.

I have great respect for Bernie Sanders, there was a moment where he opposed the Paris Deal... I was frustrated with him, but he and I have a very good relationship... and I have great affection for him, but I do think when he criticized the Paris agreement, I didn't think it was the right position.

In fact, I think that Governor Clinton, when he was running, and President Clinton, when he was serving, actually governed with a wide range of advisors and a perspective that blended the best of ideas from the center and the left.

If you ask the people who are professional political analysts, they would say that the way redistricting has worked, that the Republicans have something of a lock on the House until a redistricting occurs after 2010, particularly as a result of what DeLay did in Texas.

If that's your definition of the Clinton faction, then I think that that seems to be in ascendancy. That might include a guy like John Edwards, who's just starting this new center in Chapel Hill to deal with issues of poverty and work.

Donald Trump has been someone who has basically taken every position that Vladimir Putin has.

Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #‎ disclosure of the UFO files.

I think it’s time to open the books, on questions that have remained in the dark on the question of government investigations of UFOs, it’s time to find out what the truth really is that’s out there. We ought to do it because it’s right, we ought to do it because the American people, and people around the world quite frankly can handle the truth, and we ought to do it because it’s the law.

It’s time to find out what the truth really is that’s out there,

all concur that Clinton pushed Abdullah hard for cooperation.

The D.L.C. incident is over, and it isn't particularly meaningful. But in the long run, if you believe what Mark believes, it will get you in trouble.