Mark McKinnon Quotes
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Drone attacks subvert the rule of law - we become judge, jury, and executioner - at the push of a button.
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Voters are looking for credibility and are wary of polish. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter which candidate can more deftly read a teleprompter.
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Washington doesn't have just a spending problem, or just an entitlement problem, or just a taxing problem. We have a leadership problem. Fix that, and the first three problems are solved.
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Convention speeches are powerful tools to bend the curve of public opinion. George H. W. Bush's 1988 convention speech is a great example. His son's speech was also quite powerful.
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One thing is clear: Ron Paul defies labels.
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Technology has had more of an impact on the presidency and how the presidency communicates than anything.
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I'm no economist. I don't even play one on TV. I'm just a husband, a father, a taxpayer.
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Mention the name George W. Bush in mixed company, and you're likely to spark a lot of debate and emotion - hot and cold, good and bad. Not a lot of neutral reaction. He was elected in the most controversial contest in American electoral history and governed during one of the most tumultuous decades.
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I think the press are good people; I think they're educated people.
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Debates require a lot of hard work and preparation. If you try to wing it, it shows.
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Technology and social media have brought power back to the people.
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Outside events can change a presidential campaign, a president, and the history of the nation: the Iranian hostage crisis, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the downing of the helicopter in Mogadishu, Somalia, the suicide attack on the USS Cole, and, of course, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
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Every president becomes a caricature. The press, partisans, late-night shows, and other arbiters of our culture these days boil down complicated and multi-faceted personalities into one-dimensional punchlines.
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Twitter is not a business. I know its founders would like to think it is. It is, for the most part, a diversion.
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As a Republican, I never expected to be working with Hillary Clinton.
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War is often about making the least-worst decision. The same could be said about politics. But the stakes are higher in war, when the commander-in-chief is called upon to defend the nation.
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Republicans working in leadership and the trenches are largely old, white, male, out-of-touch, out of ideas, technology averse, and living in the past.
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Voters crave authenticity.
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Contrary to conventional military and game theory, the most effective offense is sometimes a direct attack against your political opponent's greatest strength - not his weaknesses - to place him immediately on the defensive.
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Defending birthright citizenship is about being on the right side of liberty. The 14th Amendment is a great legacy of the Republican Party.
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I don't really care how or why Obama got to the right place on gay marriage. I'm just glad he got there.
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Rand Paul comes off like an academic stiff who wants to give us a lecture on American civics.
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Party switching has all the emotional edges and baggage of divorce.
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Conservative women in politics run a punishing gauntlet. They endure psychological evaluations and near-gynecological exams their male and liberal counterparts do not.