Paul Begala Quotes

#1. I try hard to be a good Catholic.

Paul Begala

#2. I mean, for all of his faults and the troubles in his marriage, Bill Clinton is still married to a girl he met in the library 25 years ago at school. Can we say that about many of our other leaders today in America, including on the right wing?

Paul Begala

#3. I was the guy that told Bill Clinton he was going to win. I had gotten the final polling numbers. He had a comfortable lead. He was not going to lose.

Paul Begala

#4. But I think what happened was that Clinton knew how to fight back. And the way he fought back was on the issues - being tough in staying on the things that mattered to people in their lives.

Paul Begala

#5. Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool.

Paul Begala

#6. Ah yes! Conservatives. Some of the finest minds of the 12th Century.

Paul Begala

#7. I'm a Catholic, but I used to love going to Vacation Bible School with my fundamentalist friends.

Paul Begala

#8. Most politicians, when they meet with a guy like me, or a guy like Carville, tell you about how they can win.

Paul Begala

#9. This gets back to the fundamental lesson of political survival that Bill Clinton taught me, which is if you make it about the American people's lives instead of your life, you're going to be okay.

Paul Begala

#10. When your mission is to restore honor and integrity to the White House, you've got to be willing to use any means necessary.

Paul Begala

#11. One of the problems we saw in the last presidential election in our party is that our nominee, while winning the election, which we ought never to forget, often lost sight of the difference between strategy and tactics.

Paul Begala

#12. My view was that the campaign had been a sacred thing, that it had been a real compact, because I was there and I saw the connection that Clinton made with people, and the connection that they made with him.

Paul Begala

#13. I don't like being a voyeur, looking into other people's marriages.

Paul Begala

#14. Again and again, I've seen Bush turn a blind eye as his henchmen have leveled zealous attacks against his political enemies - assaults which the president himself has sometimes directly encouraged.

Paul Begala

#15. Always attack, Never defend.

Paul Begala

#16. Bill and Hillary Clinton are the most investigated couple in American history - now the most thoroughly exonerated couple in American history.

Paul Begala

#17. Defining the terms of the debate generally dictates who's gonna' win it.

Paul Begala

#18. It must kill George Bush that John McCain is the most popular and Beloved Republican in America.

Paul Begala

#19. Rick Perry is the perfect candidate for those who thought George W. Bush was just too dang cerebral. And Adios, Mofo is the perfect guide to his record, his rhetoric and his remarkable hair. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll vote.

Paul Begala

#20. Politics is show business for ugly people.

Paul Begala

#21. Again, President Reagan was sort of an amiable presence out at the ranch by the last 6 months of his presidency. He had no effect on national policy at all.

Paul Begala

#22. If George W. Bush is given a second term, and retains a Republican Congress and a compliant federal judiciary, he and his allies are likely to embark on a campaign of political retribution the likes of which we haven't seen since Richard Nixon.

Paul Begala

#23. There's the great line: the definition of a liberal is someone who's afraid to take their own side in a fight. And that's my problem with my fellow liberals.

Paul Begala

#24. I used to go in at 5:30 or 6:00 so I could run.

Paul Begala

#25. I'm very sunny. You know, I'm always optimistic.

Paul Begala

#26. Never interrupt your opponent when he's destroying himself.

Paul Begala

#27. I didn't spend a lot of time on national security the American people will be glad to know.

Paul Begala

#28. I think too many Democrats are too wimpy. But I think they're beginning to toughen up.

Paul Begala

#29. I think his deepest quality is empathy.

Paul Begala

#30. It taught me that Clinton's instinct to make this about your life as a citizen, rather than his as a human being, was the right answer to these things.

Paul Begala

#31. If it was about lying under oath - we actually know that Clinton certainly was deceptive, as most people would be about their sex lives - but, in fact, he did not lie.

Paul Begala

#32. Bush began helping Enron in the eighties.

Paul Begala

#33. It seems to me the American people never really forgave the Democrats for being right about Vietnam.

Paul Begala

#34. See, I think if it just became who's sleeping with whom, then there's no reason to prefer one party over the other, 'cause the truth is we're all sinners.

Paul Begala

#35. So one important lesson of Vietnam is, the first casualty of an unwise and unjust war are the American troops called on to fight it. Their service should be honored.

Paul Begala