Top 161 Partisan Quotes

John McCain felt very strongly about virtually every issue that he tackled, but it was never based in partisanship. He didn’t try to score partisan points as he worked on issues. He would work with anyone who wanted to accomplish the goal that he shared.

Legislation on Lyme disease, weather patterns, helping farmers, helping veterans – these are not partisan issues.

There is very little chance of the modern Republican Party putting the national interest above their own partisan interests.

Every president, Democrat or Republican, every Congress, has gotten behind the idea that we have to invest in our highways, our bridges, our roads, our airports. The idea that now this is somehow a partisan issue, it boggles the mind.

Harry Reid rammed a partisan healthcare bill through the Senate that most Americans didn’t want, and now it seems that members of his own staff don’t want ObamaCare either.

There is no need to respond to whatever your most powerful and unaccountable political opponent says you have to respond to, particularly on their own corrupt and partisan terms. Treat them as your primary political opposition, because they are.

In my job you can’t just put your head in the sand and throw partisan bombshells. You have to get results.

Politics has become absurdly, stupidly, restrictively partisan.

I think that there was a lot of undisclosed money that came into South Dakota, driving a message to paint me as a Washington partisan, which I don’t believe that I am, but it was a message that resonated, after pounding it away for a number of weeks.

The two parties are still more polarized than ever before and the rise of partisan media is an important reason for it.

In the beginning I thought, and still think, he did great good in giving support and encouragement to this movement. But I did not believe then, and have never believed since, that these ills can be settled by partisan political methods. They are moral and economic questions.

We are in a period when old questions are settled and the new are not yet brought forward. Extreme party action, if continued in such a time, would ruin the party. Moderation is its only chance. The party out of power gains by all partisan conduct of those in power.

I urge the enactment of a civil service law so explicit and so strong that no partisan official will dare evade it, basing all rewards, promotions and salaries solely on merit, on loyalty and industry in the public service.

Those who consider the Devil to be a partisan of Evil and angels to be warriors for Good accept the demagogy of the angels. Things are clearly more complicated.

We’re all tired of a Washington that has these partisan camps where nothing gets done.

The Archivist of the United States essentially works for the American people across partisan lines and not, regardless of which Administration nominates the person, for a particular President or political party.

The natural evolution of a well-educated populus is integration. And this is not political; it’s not theoretical; it’s not even partisan.

All partisan movements add to the fullness of our understanding of society as a whole. They never detract; or, in any case, one must not allow them to do so. Experience adds to experience.

All national histories are partisan and designed to give us a good conceit of ourselves.

One of the reasons MSNBC is plummeting is that I, not long ago, refused to play any content from them. I figured, why? I mean, it’s genuine depraved partisan politics insanity, genuine extremist radical ignoramuses on that network.

The administration still wants to govern from the far-left and that’s going to produce kind a partisan result here in the Congress.

In Raleigh, partisan battles, power struggles and lawsuits might grab the headlines, but we have to work together where we can. To look beyond ourselves to see what’s right for the state, regardless of who’s in power. That’s what the people of North Carolina want us to do, and what common sense demands us to do.

The real problem with big issues like Medicare is that both parties have to be brave at the same time. Every pollster will tell you not to do that to get partisan advantage. Too many people here are willing to deliberately harm the country for partisan gain. That is borderline treason.

Standing up to Ahmadinejad is not a partisan issue and should never be one.

Whatever your partisan affiliation, it is worth considering the overarching constitutional principles involved in any given Supreme Court precedent.

I loved September 12th. I loved the way – it’s awful but, boy, did I love that day when we all came together. All the bickering stopped. All the partisan, cheap partisan warfare stopped.

I really don’t think there’s a lack of good will between members of the parties. I go back a long way with a lot of Republicans, so I don’t think it’s personal. But there does seem to be a much greater gap in both the philosophy and emphasis on partisan victories as opposed to policy development.

The abuse of congressional power for pure partisan gain has become a specialty of the GOP.

As Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a constant concern for me is having our veterans dragged into partisan politics.

I am not pollyannaish about the deep partisan battles that divide us.

I voted against the climate-change legislation. Not that I don’t believe we should move to a clean-energy economy, and it can be good for South Dakota’s economy to do so, but it was started out as a very partisan bill in the committee.

Someone wrote a piece about Henry Green in The Partisan Review that was so intriguing that I got one of his novels, Loving, I believe, which was the first that came to attention in the United States.

Responsibility for overseeing the implementation of election law typically resides with partisan officials, many with public stakes in the election outcome.

The ability for every legal, registered voter to participate in our democratic process should not be a partisan issue.

Every citizen‘s vote should count in America, not just the votes of partisan insiders in the Electoral College.

I don’t judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of the partisan.

By the time we enter this work world and we’re breadwinners, we enter a world that’s just cluttered with spam, fake, digital friends, partisan media, ingenious identity thieves, world-class Ponzi schemers – a deception epidemic.

From partisan gerrymandering and unlimited corporate money flooding our elections to voter suppression legislation, the Republican Party, aligned with Trump, has waged a war on our democracy.

When you have strong views about how to approach thinking about the law, then that view is going to lead to certain results in certain situations. And so people seem to think this predictability is based on some kind of partisan political view. But it’s not.

Obama has been perhaps the most partisan President since Truman. He hasn’t learned to be civil – note his insulting speech to Paul Ryan, who did us the courtesy of scoring a budget. The president has to talk to Republicans when it comes to the debt ceiling. He has reached the debt ceiling before anyone expected.

It’s disturbing to observe how partisan politicians play games with federal programs that help working people survive and thrive.

Further-more, partisan attachments powerfully shape political perceptions, beliefs and values, and incumbents enjoy advantages well beyond the way in which their districts are configured.

Senator Badger did not call. During the whole of the last session of Congress, he did not call on me. He is a bitter partisan and is no doubt sensible that during the presidential canvass of 1844, he did me gross injustice.

When the Obama administration passed the net neutrality rules in 2015, even when we were winning, I favored trying to get these rules in a statute, because I feel that the best way to establish predictability for the marketplace is to make sure they’re not subject to the whims of a partisan vote at the FCC.

Washington is a complete mess. It’s become a venue for partisan bickering, where the needs of the working class just don’t matter.

Congress suffers a great deal of criticism for its partisan acrimony. But while we may disagree politically, and air our opposition in this chamber, it is the conversation behind the scenes that cements and defines our relationships.

I am a partisan for conversation. To make room for it, I see some first, deliberate steps. At home, we can create sacred spaces: the kitchen, the dining room. We can make our cars ‘device-free zones.’ We can demonstrate the value of conversation to our children. And we can do the same thing at work.

Biden and his partisan hacks have no plan to tackle America’s spending addiction and get our fiscal house in order.

The last thing I want to do is use my comedy as a partisan tool or as a method for preaching.

The documented incidences of voter fraud are very rare, yet throughout the country, forces have mobilized in over 30 states to stop it. These efforts are very partisan.

The people we send to Washington have to roll up their sleeves, stop the fighting, and work together on issues that are not political, not partisan, but personal to families across our state and our nation.

I never could be a partisan leader – a man of one idea.

Political elites vote in a more partisan fashion than the mass public; this tendency, too, follows a curve. The more you know, the more likely you are to vote in an ideologically consistent way, not just following your party but following a set of constraints dictated by a political ideology.

Efforts to support gay rights by GOP state legislators in several states are real and indicative of an increasing realization that expanding equal opportunity and freedom to gay Americans shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

A jurist can obey the letter of the law and violate its spirit, or it can follow the spirit of the law and violate the letter of the law. I want someone who can reconcile the letter and the spirit of the law without partisan leanings.

In the past, leaders of both parties have been able to reach across the partisan divide. They succeeded by retaining their own humanity and recognizing the same in their political opponents.

I don’t know that I ‘look up’ to them, but in our predictably partisan media world, I admire journalists who are genuinely nonpartisan and totally fearless in their work – people who have no interest in being invited to the cocktail party. I don’t agree with everything he writes, but Glenn Greenwald comes to mind.

The country has sorted itself ideologically into the two political parties, and those partisan attachments have hardened in recent years. It will take an extraordinary event and act of leadership to break this partisan divide. I thought 9/11 might provide such an opportunity, but it was not seized.

Election security isn’t a partisan issue.

I am confident that this legislature will rise above partisan bickering, especially after the public promises its members made last fall, and that it will demonstrate a high capacity for civil service.

When an organization is willing to support only lawmakers who are with it 100 percent of the time, it virtually guarantees that the debate will be bitterly partisan.

The fact is that the rich are getting richer while the poor are being left behind. Women remain under-represented in boardrooms and under-engaged in the global workforce. Environmental change is leaving the poorest countries vulnerable. Voters are becoming more and more politically polarised and partisan.

Welfare reform happened with reconciliation; half the Democrats voted for it. The Bush tax cuts happened with reconciliation; twelve Democratic Senators voted for it. You didn’t have a real partisan issue on those times that it was used.

Like most Americans, I am tired of the partisan politics that keep our government from passing common-sense legislation to improve the lives of Americans.

Health care should not be a partisan issue. Because health care is a Kentucky issue.

Can policy be both wise and aggressively partisan? Ask any Republican worth his salt and the answer will be an unequivocal yes. Ask a Democrat of the respectable Beltway variety and he will twist himself into a pretzel denying it.

American media has just become talk radio, incredibly partisan name-calling and op-eds.

My passion for ideas is not matched with a passion for partisan or electoral politics.

I believe we need new leadership to put the partisan gridlock behind us, and I promised my constituents I would vote for new leadership.

Refusing to lift sanctions and adopting tougher rhetoric toward Iran would not be partisan issues. Plenty of Democrats think that those actions are both good politics and good policy.

Democrats can hardly stand on principle regarding election year nominations when they were more than willing to engage in a partisan, election-year impeachment fiasco based on a contrived pretext that had no chance of prevailing.

He thinks that Schiller and St Paul were just two Partisan Review editors.

Redistricting is a deeply political process, with incumbents actively seeking to minimize the risk to themselves (via bipartisan gerrymanders) or to gain additional seats for their party (via partisan gerrymanders).

It is unacceptable for the men and women who protect us to be treated like second class citizens over partisan bickering.

Trickle-down economics does not work, and tax reform should not be defined as partisan tax cuts for the wealthy and huge corporations.

Of course I am partisan in my politics, but my partisanship is rational – which, in my book, is not necessarily oxymoronic.

From a Canadian partisan perspective, the more we can upgrade bitumen in Canada, the more we can create jobs in value added, in tax revenues for all Canadians.

Navigating a battle between partisan, progressive organizing and decentralized petition drives is, at bottom, like trying to choose between the Democratic Party and democracy. The ideas are on different planes.

Jobs for America’s Graduates is all about helping the most vulnerable and underserved youth succeed in school, on the job, and in college. This is not a partisan issue in any way.

Critics of Fox News have pointed out that Fox News does partisan propaganda, and there’s ample evidence on a daily basis.

Beijing is preparing for an open-ended period of confrontation with the U.S. Washington should also be prepared. Leaders must work across partisan divides to understand the threat, speak about it openly, and take action to address it.

The Russians didn’t invent partisan divides. The Russians haven‘t invented racism in the United States. But the Russians understand a lot of those divisions and they understand how to exploit them.

One of the great things about technological innovation is that we haven’t found out a way to make it partisan yet, and so we can actually bring Republicans and Democrats together to use innovative technologies to generate a cleaner environment, and we don’t need excessive regulations to do it.

After President Obama‘s election in 2008, there was a widespread hope that it would mark an end to unseemly partisan nastiness.

There’s no such thing as a partisan base.

If you are identified with certain opinions and an ability to express them, and if you can build yourself an audience, a partisan fan base – measured through social media – then you are an official opinionator, monetizable through books, television contracts and the speaking circuit.

Corporate share prices should not be driven by political tax games. Profits, not Washington shenanigans, should be the mother‘s milk of stocks. And this shouldn’t be a partisan political issue.

If journalism is the first draft of history, then talk radio provides an early glimpse into how the meaning of political events will be spun for ideological and partisan purposes.

In 1992, the most treasured voter was a voter that would sort of swing back and forth, one that might vote for Republican for president, Democrat for governor. The voter that didn’t have that strong of a partisan ID. These were the voters that we targeted.

Allowing for endless legal challenges or partisan political discussions is not the proper way to handle an issue that affects the entire scope of the environment and the economy.

We have judges in the American system and they take on a black robe where they are supposed to shield their partisan preferences. They are not red or blue state judges. They are judges.

I have a pretty friendly professional working relationship with Mr. Pai, and I told him not to walk down too much of a partisan path. I didn’t think it would be good in terms of policy. And I didn’t think it would be good in terms of the FCC’s ability to solve other problems.

The people of New Jersey sent me to Congress because they are tired of partisan gridlock. They want to see our Congress get to work on legislation that will make people’s lives better.

There’s a coalition of folks here in Georgia who want representation that’s focused on local economic development and on accountability and not on the partisan circus in Washington.

Even as a partisan Republican, I’m not sure a 40-year run is healthy for either party.

I have never been driven by partisan politics, only a desire to better the lives of my constituents.

As partisans of our own way of life, we cannot help thinking in a partisan manner.

No partisan political activity transpired in my office during the recount period.

I’ve worked very hard in this book to keep the lines of communication open. I don’t want to turn someone away from this information for partisan political reasons.

The argument most commonly made in the filibuster‘s favor is crudely partisan: ‘Our side may be in the majority now, but someday it will be in the minority, and when that happens we’ll want to block the other side’s extremist agenda.’

The presidency made John Adams an old man long before there was television. As early as the nation’s first contested presidential election, with Adams and Jefferson running to succeed Washington, you had a brutal, ugly, vicious campaign that was divisive and as partisan as anything we’re experiencing today.

Today, the District of Columbia has more residents than at least two other states; Puerto Rico has more than 20. With numbers like that, admitting either or both to the union is less a political power play on the Democrats’ part than the late-19th-century partisan move that still warps American politics.

When it’s for the good of your state, you put partisan differences aside.

It is only when the partisan shouting stops that we can hear each other’s voices and concerns.

Washington has, with some justification, gained a reputation for being hopelessly mired in partisan gridlock.

Keeping children alive and free of disease is not a political issue and cannot be put into a partisan box.

It’s nice to say let’s be bipartisan. But we’re a partisan nation. We were raised as a partisan nation.

Partisan rancour and party politics and ideology have got in the way of compromise – and compromise is the only thing that has ever made politics successful.

All too often, the conversation about appropriate and balanced environmental stewardship gets caught up in partisan politics. Yet, this conversation is key to the preservation of our great country for generations to come, as important as ensuring we have fiscally responsible policies to secure our future.

Due to the political nature of film, partisan film making, especially where the subject is close to the film makers hart, tend to be the norm, rather than the exception.

There’s only one way we’re going to change our political climate and ensure we establish some respect in our discourse. And that is to show there is a real price to pay for being a disrespectful partisan idiot.

Partisan politics is not my passion.

The people in Iowa know that Washington isn’t working. It’s devolved into partisan politics and a lot of gridlock and obstruction.

Welfare reform happened with reconciliation; half the Democrats voted for it. The Bush tax cuts happened with reconciliation; twelve Democratic Senators voted for it. You didn’t have a real partisan issue on those times that it was used.

I have withdrawn from partisan politics. I am a constitutionalist who believes that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights must be central and the parties must be peripheral.

Caring for veterans shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It should an American one.

There is so much partisan and tribal politics, from not just those seeking office but potential voters as well, that we never get real attempts at solutions to problems.

The policies we debate and enact in Congress have a real impact on people across the country. Climate change, immigration, economic inequality – each of these issues have become hot button, partisan topics, but support or opposition on these pressing issues shouldn’t come down to party.

Frankly, if independents and Democrats want to work with us on conservative ideas, I can do that better at Heritage than as a partisan inside.

I learned something important in my race against Senator Brown: voters want political leaders who are willing to break the partisan gridlock. They want fewer closed-door roadblocks and more public votes on legislation that could improve their lives.

I am a partisan and artisan of Europe. But I draw the lessons of my experience in government.

Universal background checks work. You keep the guns out of the hands of dangerous people. That shouldn’t be partisan – that should be something we can all agree to, but it became this huge battle and, you know, really, really a challenge.

But we must not, if we are loyal, disperse our energies in a partisan warfare that is waged without regard to its consequences to the well being, security, or honor of the country.

We are looking for bipartisan solutions not partisan rhetoric.

One of the things I believe strongly in is developing institutions – legal, press, bureaucracies, academies – that are rooted in the pursuit of impartial truth. That aren’t simply just bent to partisan ends or are corrupted for the powerful or for other ulterior motives.

The reason that last-ditch political maneuvering has become business as usual in Washington is that the actors involved are drunk on blame and are convinced that the voting public is, too. They count on outrage, thereby spreading numbness. They cherish the prospect of partisan fury, thereby inspiring nonpartisan disgust.

Look, Bill Barr can choose to be a lying partisan hack. It just means he needs to go work for the Trump campaign but he can’t be attorney general. That’s a position that requires independence, integrity, an oath to the constitution.

You see, party labels do not ensure unanimity any more than trying to cast the challenge we confront as a people through a partisan prism.

A true relief effort for hurricane victims is not a partisan issue. However, in Washington we are notorious for making our jobs far more difficult than they need to be.

I’m not a partisan.

I think he could have made most of the trips and gone to most of the fund-raisers if he would have avoided the partisan rhetoric and talked to the country as President in each of these appearances rather than to the narrow partisan audiences.

In the private sector, as the president of a small business, my focus has been on driving the growth of our business, not driving any partisan political agenda.

Congress needs strong parties, but it also needs the capacity to deal with budget and entitlement challenges that are likely beyond the reach of pure partisan exertion.

The truth is Floridians and Montanans have more in common than you might think. Both are fed up with partisan gridlock in D.C., and look to their state leaders to find common ground, pursue compromise, and move forward solutions that improve the health of their economy, their communities and their residents.

At its worst, Washington is a place where name-calling partisan politics too often trumps policy.

Our national security is not a partisan issue.

When I began my work on how morality varies across the political spectrum, there was a partisan, manipulative element to it. I wanted to help the Democrats win.

Let me start by saying that I do not enjoy nor relish the partisan role of attack dog. I never found any fun in that. I don’t think it’s constructive. I don’t intend to become that here in the Senate.

The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.

I hate politics. It’s slimy. Any job where people pander for votes, I don’t like. The country has gotten so partisan that if you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy. The only thing I ever try to support is a third party, like Unity08. We need more parties and more choice.

Romney and Democratic rival President Obama have led their partisan backers down a trail of lies, negativity and vacuous policies that seem certain to guarantee an angry electorate four more years of gridlock.

Politics is too partisan, and sometimes patriotism is cast aside. Patriotism is honor and love of your country and your brothers and sisters. With politics I get the impression that it’s all about what’s good for the party and not necessarily what’s good for the country.

After I left the White House, I kept a foothold in the business of American politics; as a talk-show host, analyst, commentator, speechmaker, and occasional writer. I was no longer a practitioner, but I was still a partisan, a Democrat, a blue-stater through and through.

I was a little girl fighting as a partisan against Nazi-Fascism.

The best thing about writing speculative fiction is the opportunity to satirize the whole wide world. The America in ‘A Better World‘ isn’t ours, but it’s pretty close, so I could lampoon everything from partisan politics to the cult of celebrity to our general disaffection. To me, all that is the point.

I’m very partisan, but I’m also very fair.

Now is the time to show maximum responsibility. It is not the time to pay off old scores nor for sterile partisan recriminations. It is time to re-establish a climate of calmness and mutual respect.

Mother’s Day is a welcome event in partisan times. Nearly everyone agrees that we should show mothers gratitude.

Partisan politics has no place in the classroom.

This is not the time for partisan bickering. This is not the time for politics as usual. Some of us are Democrats. Some of us are Republicans. Some of us are Independents. Above all, we must be Oklahomans first.

We need elected officials who overcome partisan politics to really help people.

Ensuring the safety and security of servicemembers should not be a partisan issue.

If someone uses the uniform, whatever uniform, for partisan politics, I am disappointed because I think it does erode that bond of trust we have with the American people.

If Clinton is elected or if Trump is going to get elected, I think the polarization in Congress will be greater than ever. Nothing is going to get done. It is going to be so ugly, so partisan, so back-biting. Well what if you elect a couple of Libertarians?

Most of our technology issues aren’t partisan.

A lot of people are concerned about, for example, the ability of big government to inhibit our liberties and choice. Big data can engineer a situation that limits our choice and our freedom. And it’s not a partisan issue.

We need to get away from labels. That’s the way people talk in Washington, D.C. – through labels, through ideological frames, through partisan frames.

A new political-entertainment class has moved into the noisy void once occupied by the sage pontiffs of yore, a class just as polarized as our partisan divide: one side holding up a fun-house mirror to folly, the other side reveling in its own warped reflection.

In my mind, there is no reason public school reform should be a partisan issue.

I am not as partisan as people think I am.

No matter which party is in the White House, doubt in America’s democratic institutions rattles our nation to its core. This should not be a partisan issue for any reason, as any candidate or party could be on the receiving end of a hack at any time.