A Quote by Hugh Sidey

The legions of reporters who cover politics don't want to quit the clash and thunder of electoral combat for the dry duty of analyzing the federal budget. As a consequence, we have created the perpetual presidential campaign.

Hugh Sidey

Quote Topics

Analyzing Budget Campaign Clash Combat Consequence Cover Created Dry Duty Electoral Federal Perpetual Politics Presidential Presidential Campaign Quit Reporters Thunder Want

Quote Author

Hugh Sidey
American - Journalist
September 3, 1927 - November 21, 2005

When I cover a major presidential, when I vote for a major presidential, or when I cover a major presidential candidate out on the campaign trail, I make it a policy not to vote on the presidential ballot in that election.

Jim Acosta

...for two centuries supporters of the Electoral College have built their arguments on a series of faulty premises. The Electoral College is a gross violation of the cherished value of political equality. At the same time, it does not protect the interests of small states or racial minorities, nor does it serve as a bastion of federalism. Instead the Electoral College distorts the presidential campaign so that candidates ignore most small states - and many large ones - and pay little attention to minorities.

George C. Edwards III

Bush had expertise in one thing: How to run a Presidential campaign. He understands campaigns and Presidential politics. He has no interest or disposition or I think probably - he's not stupid, but he's not bright, he's not a rocket scientist - he isn't interested in policy.

John Dean

Reporters are not merely recording devices that take down what people say and repeat it in print; we are expected to use our knowledge and experience both for triage - deciding what's important to cover and what isn't - and for contextualizing, analyzing and such.

Gene Weingarten

Truly, if you can't cover a five-car pile-up on Route 128, you should not be covering a presidential campaign.

Molly Ivins

I've entered politics the moment I marked my finger with the electoral voting mark. So I've entered politics, but I am not a politician. I am doing my duty as a citizen of India.

Kamal Haasan

Sometimes in the middle of a presidential campaign, there's a political movie, and people are sick of hearing about politics, and they don't want to see that movie. They'd rather see "Godzilla."

Casey Affleck

Midterms behave very differently than presidential elections. Midterms, for a federal candidate, often times are a referendum on the president, where in presidential years, voters make two separate choices: one for president and one for a federal officeholder.

Mike Coffman

The folks that are suggesting Occupy move to electoral politics are ignoring history, ignoring what actually creates change. People get involved in electoral politics because they think there is no movement that can create change.

Boots Riley

The presidential campaign was oriented toward the way we elect the presidency, Electoral College, not the popular vote. The popular vote doesn't matter. This is not a direct democracy. We have a representative republic, and the popular vote doesn't matter and it never has, by design.

Rush Limbaugh

I realise that in an electoral campaign, you don't want to antagonise large groups which are highly motivated.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

The only thing worse than a silly politician analyzing art is a silly artist analyzing politics

Jonathan Alter

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

America is not just a democracy, it represents a certain culture of competitive mobility and personality aspirations, politics is not merely a clash of interests, but a clash of dreams.

David Brooks

In 2004, Kucinich was the only presidential candidate who warned that a war in Iraq would be completely disastrous. I remember how mocked he was when he predicted hand-to-hand combat in Baghdad. I remember Candy Crowley, and other reporters as well, treating his views on the impending war as ridiculous, out there, almost insane.