John McCain
The American people want us to stop spending. And so let's just give them some certainty. Let's extend the tax - the existing tax cuts. And then let's give some more tax breaks to small businesses and large. And then maybe the American people will have some confidence.
The tea partiers are a great addition. The tea partiers have invigorated a base that has been dormant for a long period of time. We're going to have a broad array of different views in our Republican conference, and I think it might be more interesting than any I've been in in a long time.
On 'don't ask, don't tell' I was always the same. I said we needed a complete review of the impact on morale and battle effectiveness of 'don't ask, don't tell' before we repeal it. That's my position now. Now they're trying to ram through a repeal without a - any kind of really realistic survey done.
And the people who live in the southern part of my state do not have a secure environment. To wit, there are signs that the government put up that say, 'Warning. You are in a drug smuggling area and a human smuggling area.'
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.
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.
I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence.
I know that victims of torture will offer intentionally misleading information if they think their captors will believe it.
I know in war good people can feel obliged for good reasons to do things they would normally object to and recoil from.
It is foolish to view realism and idealism as incompatible or to consider our power and wealth as encumbered by the demands of justice, morality, and conscience.
We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe that international action is necessary, whether military, economic, or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must also be willing to be persuaded by them.
A strong E.U., a strong NATO, and a true strategic partnership between them is profoundly in our interest.
Every day, people serve their neighbors and our nation in many different ways, from helping a child learn and easing the loneliness of those without a family to defending our freedom overseas. It is in this spirit of dedication to others and to our country that I believe service should be broadly and deeply encouraged.
Civic participation over a lifetime, working in neighborhoods and communities and service of all kinds - military and civilian, full-time and part-time, national and international - will strengthen America's civic purpose.
I believe we should always put our country first.
Whenever America sends its citizens into harm's way, it must do so with eyes wide open.
To argue against the global economy is like stating opposition to the weather - it continues whether you like it or not.
Politics abhors a vacuum, and Asian countries will gravitate towards China if U.S. influence is perceived as declining.
We are an important check on the powers of the executive. Our consent is necessary for the president to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and, in many respects, to conduct foreign policy. Whether we are of the same party, we are not the president's subordinates. We are his equal!
Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important. That's not how we were meant to govern.
We all know spending levels for defense and other urgent priorities have been woefully inadequate for years. But we haven't found the will to work together to adjust them.
Depriving the oppressed of a beacon of hope could lose us the world we have built and thrived in. It could cost our reputation in history as the nation distinct from all others in our achievements, our identity, and our enduring influence on mankind. Our values are central to all three.
I consider myself a realist.
In the real world, as lived and experienced by real people, the demand for human rights and dignity, the longing for liberty and justice and opportunity, the hatred of oppression and corruption and cruelty is reality.
America didn't invent human rights. Those rights are common to all people: nations, cultures, and religions cannot choose to simply opt out of them.
As he assumes the awesome responsibilities of the presidency, Donald Trump has inherited a world on fire and a U.S. military weakened by years of senseless budget cuts. I am encouraged that he recognizes these problems and has pledged to rebuild the military.
I am frustrated and outraged by the slow nature of change at the VA.
No one can plausibly argue that ridding the world of Saddam Hussein will not significantly improve the stability of the region and the security of American interests and values.
Saddam Hussein is a risk-taking aggressor who has attacked four countries, used chemical weapons against his own people, professed a desire to harm the United States and its allies, and, even faced with the prospect of his regime's imminent destruction, has still refused to abide by Security Council demands that he disarm.
I think that Rand Paul represents a segment of the GOP, just like his father. And I think he is trying to expand that, intelligently, to make it larger.
I don't think Roger Ailes is ham-fisted.
I think that Fox News is a bit schizophrenic.
You have to listen to people that have chosen the nominee of our Republican Party. I think it would be foolish to ignore them.
I think that it's important that we understand the importance of the Hispanic vote in America.
I don't think anybody is - no one could compare to Ronald Reagan, because he was the right man at the right time.
If you want to preserve - I'm very serious now - if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started.
I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it.
China is the one, the only one, that can control Kim Jong Un, this crazy, fat kid that's running North Korea.
I think it's important for the president of the United States to be aware of the intelligence information that we have.
Putin wants to restore the Russian empire. That's his ambition; he's stated it many times.
I think ISIS can do terrible things.
I have watched men suffer the anguish of imprisonment, defy appalling human cruelty... break for a moment, then recover inhuman strength to defy their enemies once more.
I used to write books and plays in my mind, but I doubt that any of them would have been above the level of the cheapest dime novel.
Some men are much more self-sufficient than others.
I get along with the Democrats, but please - I'm not their hero.
Russia's leaders, rich with oil wealth and corrupt with power, have rejected democratic ideals and the obligations of a responsible power.
I've always given presidents the benefit of the doubt on their nominees.
I guess my view is I believe less governance is best governance and that government should not do what the free enterprise and private enterprise and indidividual entrepreneurship and the states can do.
Government should take care of those in America who can't care for themselves. That's a role of government.