Jack Germond Quotes

#1. The country is stronger than the result of any one election. But we shouldn't forget that these are just ordinary people. I wish Americans would look at them level, not down or up - just level. It doesn't take some special dimension to be president.

Jack Germond

#2. Spend hundreds of millions; talk endlessly about issues; present 12-point plans for education, the economy, and the environment. But in the end, the election of our next president can turn on a gaffe.

Jack Germond

#3. Most of the good people of my generation ... had offers to become editors, but the thought of going inside was just absolutely horrifying.

Jack Germond

#4. Mo Udall didn't want the presidency bad enough. He was too sane. He was a marvelous guy, but you had the feeling there was another Udall outside his body watching the candidate Udall who was too extravagant, telling him to cut it out.

Jack Germond

#5. Pictures can be devastating. Who allowed John Kerry to get himself photographed windsurfing in a flowered swimsuit? Anyone in the real world in that operation?

Jack Germond

#6. For those of us who spent our careers competing with David Broder, the hardest thing to abide was the inevitable comparison. If someone said Jack Germond - or Jules Witcover or Walter Mears or whoever - 'is a pretty good political reporter,' the default response would be, 'but he's no David Broder.'

Jack Germond

#7. Politicians read the polls that show 85 or 90 percent of the voters profess a belief in God, so they identify themselves with religion, often only to the degree necessary to reach the constituency they are targeting.

Jack Germond

#8. I have been an atheist my entire adult life. I do not proselytize, however. Nor do I question the faith of others. I just don't want to be obliged to accept someone else's faith as a factor in my government.

Jack Germond

#9. The secret of doing well on TV is to understand that it's not too important. A lot of people watching doesn't change anything.

Jack Germond

#10. Every newspaper editor says the heart of the paper is the reporter - which is true - except for the pay!

Jack Germond

#11. My liberal friends are such a bunch soft-headed, politically correct jerks ...

Jack Germond

#12. Everyone I know thinks television is the most important part of my life. I did it for the money! I was able to send my daughter to college.

Jack Germond

#13. American voters have to pay closer attention to politics if they want to avoid four years of whining about the outcome.

Jack Germond

#14. I loved politics and, I confess, I enjoyed politicians immensely.

Jack Germond

#15. Rather than fretting about IQ scores, voters should try to determine what candidates read - other than the Bible, which they all say they read - and the kind of people with whom they spend their time.

Jack Germond

#16. Candidates should be extremely cautious in displaying a sense of humor. If he or she tells a joke with a point, there is almost certain to be some minority group offended.

Jack Germond

#17. You could write your fingers off for 25 years ... and never get the kind of hearing you could get from shooting off your mouth on television for a half hour every week.

Jack Germond

#18. Attack politics costs us dearly in terms of insight into the candidates. In a presidential campaign, the focus is so tight that the politicians are afraid to say anything that hasn't been scripted.

Jack Germond

#19. I have always argued that newspapers should not have any civic purpose beyond telling readers what is happening ... A reporter who doesn't quickly tell readers what they most want to know - the score - won't last long. Better he should teach political science.

Jack Germond

#20. I really found this campaign odious. I couldn't get up for it. The quality of the candidates and the campaign, I just found the whole thing second-rate. I didn't know how to explain to my granddaughter that I was spending my dotage writing about Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Jack Germond

#21. Television doesn't like politics very well, if you can infer that from the way they cover it.

Jack Germond