Top 100 John McCain Quotes
#1. I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did.
John McCain
#2. We know that this nation entered into solemn treaties [with Indian tribes] which have been continuously violated for more than 250 years. It's a disgrace. It's an outrage. We must do everything in our power to keep those treaties. Otherwise, the word of the United States government is no good.
John McCain
#3. Sound foreign policy is more than arms control, foreign aid and paying (United Nations) dues.
John McCain
#4. That does not mean we won't experience the tragedy of the loss of some American lives. We will have an opportunity to instill a democracy in Iraq which will be an example and perhaps force other nations in that region to move in the same direction.
John McCain
#5. The political tactics of division and slander are not our values. They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.
John McCain
#6. I don't think it's bribery; I think it's extortion. Bribery, you know, is when the person that's giving the money does it voluntarily. What it is in Washington is extortion because they all ask for the money.
John McCain
#7. We will have to wait a little longer to see if Armageddon has arrived.
John McCain
#8. Now that we have the line-item veto there is no excuse for Congress to put pork in and no reason for the president not to line-item veto it out.
John McCain
#9. The fact that we did not give the demonstrators in Iran our moral support when a young woman named Neda bled to death in the streets of Iran will go down as one of the great mistakes of the 21st Century.
John McCain
#10. As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it
along the lines that President Bush proposed.
John McCain
#11. Stocks have tanked. Shouldn't you have asked for that money back?
John McCain
#12. When a major airline goes on a route that a new entrant has gone into, reduces fares, increases capacity, and then when the new entrant goes off, they leave the route, that's not competition.
John McCain
#13. We are united in a wait-and-see approach.
John McCain
#14. I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.
John McCain
#15. I will veto every single beer, um, bill with earmarks.
John McCain
#16. Cindy and I are adoptive parents. We know what a treasure and joy it is to have an adopted child in our lives.
John McCain
#17. Responsibility always stops at the president's desk.
John McCain
#18. I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.
John McCain
#19. I will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell.
John McCain
#20. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - not our political opponents, and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker, who would have us believe.
John McCain
#21. We are Americans first, Americans last, Americans always, ... Let us argue our differences. But remember we are not enemies, but comrades in a war against a real enemy.
John McCain
#22. We conservatives can win the ideological battles on a level playing field. Our ideas are better. Given fair elections based on contributions from regular voters, instead of $100,000 checks from business-as-usual special interests, we will prevail.
John McCain
#23. If we do nothing, we are handing our children a ticking time bomb that will require they pay ever greater payroll taxes just as they are beginning their careers, starting their own families and staking their claim to the American Dream.
John McCain
#24. You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.
John McCain
#25. It's impossible to imagine the Democratic Party seeking a pro-life, free-trading, non-protectionist, deficit hawk.
John McCain
#26. I would like to mention that a couple days ago Senator Obama was out in Ohio and he had an encounter with a guy who's a plumber, his name is Joe Wurzelbacher.
John McCain
#27. I am sure that Senator Clinton would make a good President. I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good President.
John McCain
#28. In the 21st century nations don't invade other nations.
John McCain
#29. While I support a more comprehensive bill and hope a more extensive package will eventually past the Senate, I also am a realist and know that we must not let the perfect bill be the enemy of real reform.
John McCain
#30. We need more competitive races, ... We need the voice of moderation.
John McCain
#31. The role of the vice president is to break ties in the Senate and inquire daily into the health of the president.
John McCain
#32. And, if we lost, then who win? Did Al Qaida win? When on the floor of the House of Representatives they cheer - they cheer - when they pass a withdrawal motion that is a certain date for surrender, what were they cheering? Surrender? Defeat?
John McCain
#33. Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war.
John McCain
#34. It's always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.
John McCain
#35. How much damage will have been done before we act?
John McCain
#36. Katrina did not declare a truce on Iraq.
John McCain
#37. Barbara Boxer is the most bitterly partisan, most anti-defense senator in the United States Senate today. I know that because I've had the unpleasant experience of having to serve with her.
John McCain
#38. There is no doubt in my mind that Rudy Giuliani in the Senate will be a leader for the people of New York but also for the people of Arizona and the people all over this country.
John McCain
#39. If money is free speech, the big interests are sitting in front with megaphones and the average citizens are sitting in the back.
John McCain
#40. America has the strongest, best-trained, best-led military force in the world, and we have failed them. Our military today is struggling in virtually every category that measures preparedness.
John McCain
#41. I am a Republican. I'm loyal to the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. And I believe that my party, in some ways, has strayed from those principles, particularly on the issue of fiscal discipline.
John McCain
#43. I think my major challenge, very frankly, is to maintain the traction, ... I've seen many campaigns here in the state of New Hampshire look good for a while, and then the air comes out of the balloon.
John McCain
#44. The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it.
John McCain
#45. We should exhibit no self doubt to our friends, ... Credibility is a strategic asset.
John McCain
#46. Arizona may be the only state in America where mothers don't tell their children that someday they can grow up and be president.
John McCain
#47. I say to our enemies: We are coming. God may have mercy on you, but we won't
John McCain
#48. Americans Never Quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We Make History.
-John McCain
John McCain
#49. I have said many times in the past I don't choose to be vice president, either Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or vegetarian.
John McCain
#50. We were pleased to hear the President state his firm commitment that he will do whatever is necessary to accomplish this important goal.
John McCain
#51. But I'm still a work in progress. My mother calls me quite frequently with various critiques of my performance on TV and other public events. She's usually pretty severe with her comments.
John McCain
#52. Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly, and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'
John McCain
#53. I have no rancor. I look forward, not backwards.
John McCain
#54. If we leave Iraq, terrorists will follow us home.
John McCain
#55. It is perhaps my greatest hope, Mr. President, that some day we'll consider tax and spending measures with no one else in mind but future generations of American taxpayers. We're tying a millstone of debt around their necks, and it is a grave mistake.
John McCain
#56. Improve human intelligence to get Osama bin Laden.
John McCain
#57. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it.
John McCain
#58. Sarah Palin knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.
John McCain
#59. Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.
John McCain
#60. Why am I running for president? Well, my wife, Cindy, says it is because I sustainedseveral severe blows to the head in prison camp.
John McCain
#61. Both candidates in this election [2004] pledge to end this war and bring our troops home. The great difference - the great difference is that I intend to win it first.
John McCain
#62. You cannot tell the enemy you're going to leave and expect the enemy to not - and expect to succeed. I mean, that's just a fundamental of warfare.
John McCain
#63. My patriotism and my conscience required me to support it and to engage in the debate over whether and how to fight it.
John McCain
#64. America has much to gain in terms of jobs and trade by meeting the growing world demand for advanced, environmentally sound technologies.
John McCain
#65. It seems to me that President Carter has earned his place as if not the worst president in history, the worst president of the 20th Century.
John McCain
#66. (W)e lose when by official policy or by official negligence we allow, confuse or encourage our soldiers to forget ... that which is our greatest strength: that we are different and better than our enemies.
John McCain
#67. I'm as frustrated with the French, I think, as anyone, but look, there's going to be other challenges and there are going to be other issues. As long as there's a war on terrorism going on, we're all going to have to work together.
John McCain
#68. As almost anyone with war experience knows, you're never supposed to show the enemy what you won't do to win.
John McCain
#69. In 2003, I warned of a 'creeping coup' in Russia against the forces of democracy and market capitalism in Russia.
John McCain
#70. Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies, which our economy and our technology is perfectly capable of. Then all we've done is given our kids a cleaner world.
John McCain
#71. We can't disrupt polling places anymore, ... It doesn't serve any purpose. It just makes people mad.
John McCain
#72. Each Middle East country has their own unique kinds of challenges; but the fundamentals, the desire for democracy and freely elected governments is a common thread throughout.
John McCain
#73. I am not haunted by memories of Vietnam. But I must admit I never thought we would again witness in my lifetime the specter of politicians picking targets and ruling out offensive measures in the absurd hope that the enemy would respond to our restraint by yielding to our demands.
John McCain
#74. I don't know how you defeat an insurgency unless you have some handle on the number of people you are facing.
John McCain
#75. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.
John McCain
#76. I think that decisions should rest in the hands of the states. I'm a federalist.
John McCain
#77. I believe strongly that we should have nominees to the United States Supreme Court based on their qualifications rather than any litmus test.
John McCain
#78. The US does not involve itself in what is happening in the world's largest democracy, nor does it intend to do so.
John McCain
#79. (Obama) really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time.
John McCain
#80. You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it
John McCain
#81. And we are in a strange conundrum. You can kill an American citizen overseas. But according to this administration, if you capture him in the United States, they've got to be read their Miranda rights.
John McCain
#82. Many good people mistake their reputation for their character. It is a mistake I have made many, many times.
John McCain
#83. I have said from the beginning that Pat Buchanan left the Republican Party the day he questioned America's involvement in defeating Nazi Germany.
John McCain
#84. Let's move forward to try to address the most egregious and outrageous corrupting aspect of campaigns in America today and that is the incredible inundation of soft money and its pernicious effects.
John McCain
#85. I'm very optimistic about my home state of Arizona.
John McCain
#86. Americans have gotten to know Sarah Palin. They know that she's a role model to women and other - and reformers all over America. She's a reformer.
John McCain
#87. I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history. We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war.
John McCain
#88. It's the only way that I see that it can be done," McCain said. "Obviously, it has failed in the past, but I also notice there is a somewhat changed attitude on the part of the American people about this issue.
John McCain
#89. I don't e-mail. I've never felt the particular need to e-mail.
John McCain
#90. I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough, it will be believed.
John McCain
#91. I think I am becoming incapable of being too surprised. But it just makes me sad and sick.
John McCain
#92. War is awful. Nothing, not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. War is wretched beyond description and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality. Whatever is won in war, it is loss the veteran remembers.
John McCain
#93. At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c***!
John McCain
#94. The benefit of an open town hall meeting is one that you get to hear a lot of different views, and two it has credibility.
John McCain
#95. But please know, whether you believe campaign contributions are speech or property, that I learned to love very dearly the right of free expression when I lived without that freedom for a while a long time ago.
John McCain
#96. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you
John McCain
#97. Presidential ambition is a disease that can only be cured by embalming fluid .
John McCain
#98. We ought to pay down the national debt, ... The American people are tired of people who make promises about cutting taxes that they cannot keep.
John McCain
#99. I'm ashamed that Congress finds billions for pork-barrel subsidies but fails to find money for veterans' health care.
John McCain
#100. We know that Medicare's going broke in seven years, but we need to start over. That's what the American people want us to do.
John McCain
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