Ken Mehlman Quotations

If you look at attitudes today and where they are headed, it's clear to me that supporting equal rights, including the rights to civil marriage, is a net positive for winning elections, as well as the right thing to do.

The president strongly believes that marriage in this country ought to be between a man and a woman. He also believes it is something that ought to be decided by the people. He doesn't believe that judges ought to impose their will on the people.

If you stop and think about our history, one of the reasons we had an American century and there is an American dream was because at key points in our history we made very bold decisions about making sure that there was very broad, universal access to quality education.

While countless Americans are pulling together to lend a helping hand, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are pointing fingers in a shameless effort to tear us apart.

We've suffered a war, and one thing we know: Whenever our nation's faced war, whether it was in the 1980s when we were winning the Cold War or in the 1940s during World War II, the responsible thing to do has been to borrow money to win the war.

Why shouldn't future generations and young Americans have the choice to earn a higher rate of return? Why shouldn't they be able to own their own Social Security so that Congress can't spend it on other things?

Conservatives don't need to change core convictions to embrace the growing support for equal rights for gay Americans,

I will always remember and we must all remember that Democrats are our political rivals, not our enemies, and they deserve our respect.

John Danforth, I thought, was a great senator and did a great job with the United Nations. I think he's a good man. I would respectfully disagree with that.

Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.

The Democrats' plan for 2006? Take the House and Senate and impeach the president. With our nation at war, is this the kind of Congress you want?

Democratic leaders always seem to blame America first.

I don't think the American people, if you look historically, elect angry candidates.

Reaching out to Hispanics is critical to our future. The fastest-growing, and most conservative, segment of the population are natural Republicans.

For a generation, terrorists learned they could make war on free nations without fear of war in return. On September 12, the terrorists got war in return.

I am committed to ensure that our 2008 Republican presidential candidates forthrightly address issues of importance to the African-American community.

We are worried about the size of the deficit, which is why the president is pleased that the House and Senate have followed his lead in cutting the deficit in half over the next five years.

We not only heard it before 20 years ago, before George Bush in 2001 passed his tax relief, before in 2003 the tax relief were past, we were told they were dead. Before we provided prescription drugs for Medicare, we were told it wasn't going to happen.

We are at a very historic moment in terms of the party, but also our community.

What's interesting is you could have showed me an article about 20 years ago in The Washington Post that predicted that Ronald Reagan was a lame duck.

Maybe he was responding to James Carville, who warned the Democrats that the public wanted reform. The Democrats seem stuck in concrete.

I don't know the answer to that question. I don't think it matters to the fundamental question here because at bottom, this president believes in non-discrimination.

Kerry's political attacks are not supported by reality, which shows rising employment and higher wages, and his policies -- higher taxes, increased regulation and bigger government -- would move America backward.

I think the reason we're going up there is we're expecting an extreme makeover, ... Inside Politics Sunday.

I think he's focused on a lot of things - working to help people at the White House and talking to people on the Hill about the agenda next year, and he's certainly focused on the '06 elections,

We must take a stand against corruption right here, right now. Public service is a sacred trust, and we cannot allow it to be sullied by anyone . . . Democrat or Republican.

There is no question we're in difficult political times, ... Meet the Press.

What's been extraordinary about this president, Tim, and what's unique about this president is not that the administration is sputtering but rather everything he's taken on he's been able to accomplish.

The public trust is more important than party.

So what we have is a president that has brought this issue before the American people. We now understand that we can't wait. We understand every year we wait it gets $600 billion worse.

They're not running for president to safeguard America's homeland and bring peace throughout the world. They're not running to grow jobs and improve the economy. They're not running to reform education or to provide health care for America's seniors. They're not running to take America forward. The singular rationale for each of their candidacies is to beat our president.

You tell me who's taking what should be a moment of national unity and trying to score politically.

Making the case (for same-sex marriage) from a conservative values perspective is an imperative, not an option.

On a day when all Americans, regardless of party affiliation, are celebrating the growth of freedom and honoring the sacrifices of American and Iraqi troops with elections in Iraq, it's sad that John Kerry has chosen once again to offer vacillation and defeatism. Even after the first free elections in Iraq in more than 50 years John Kerry still believes Iraq is more of terrorist threat than when the brutal tyrant Saddam Hussein was in power and even more remarkably Kerry is now once again for funding our troops, after being for the funding before he was against it.

Our party for the longest time has relied on the votes of white guys. I think that all of these candidates are going to improve our party, our policies, and our nation.

The fact is five months ago this was an issue that people weren't really talking that much about. Because of the president's leadership, because he's brought it to people's attention, it's now a top issue.

Minnesota is very important. You're going to have a competitive race for the Senate, a competitive governor's race, you have an open seat in the 6th (Congressional) District, a state legislature that is closely divided, and a state that was very competitive in 2000 and 2004 and is likely to be again in 2008.

But despite these differences, so many of our faiths and traditions are rooted in the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would want done to you. Isn't allowing adults to marry the person they love consistent with the Golden Rule?

Public attitudes follow real life experience, and as marriage equality has spread to more communities, Americans have seen more freedom, stronger families, more protection for children and more fairness.

There's nothing more powerful than coming out and being who you are.

As I've been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I've learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved. I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I'll do my part to be helpful.

The election results show a surprising amount of support for the status quo. There were 28 Republican governors before, there are 28 Republican governors now.