Fred Barnes Quotes

#1. Ronald Reagan has a story for every occasion. Bill Clinton has an excuse for every occasion.

Fred Barnes

#2. The American people are not as casualty-sensitive as the weenies in the American press are.

Fred Barnes

#3. Obama sounded like Al Gore on global warming. The more the case for man-made warming falls apart, the more hysterical Gore gets about an imminent catastrophe. The more public support his stimulus bill loses, the more Obama embraces fear-mongering.

Fred Barnes

#4. Never miss it - that's the second biggest compliment I'd give to RealClearPolitics. The first is that it has become indispensable to anyone, in or outside of journalism, who's interested in politics, policy, or world affairs.

Fred Barnes

#5. Religion's crucial role in the lives of many people ... is rejected out of hand by the political community, especially the press.

Fred Barnes

#6. Obama specializes in knocking down straw men. 'I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves,' he said, implying that's the view of Republicans. It's the view of almost no one.

Fred Barnes

#7. The most important quality any piece of writing can have is doneness.

Fred Barnes

#8. Candidates don't have to deal with reality. They talk about the wonderful things they can accomplish as if advocating them is the same as achieving them. They live in a world of political make-believe in which everything from reconciling conflicting interests to paying for costly programs is easy.

Fred Barnes

#9. The coverage of Central America in recent months points up one of the ugly truths about the American press: the better the news, the less of it you get. As the war began to turn against the Communist guerillas in El Salvador, there was a palpable dip in the attention paid to it.

Fred Barnes

#10. President Obama insists he's a free-market guy. But you have to wonder whether he understands how a free economy really works.

Fred Barnes

#11. Overreaction is one of the things that congress specializes in. I can't think of anything congress does better than overreact.

Fred Barnes

#12. Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. Bush had strong nerves. Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

Fred Barnes