Lindsey Graham Quotations

President Bush has shown great leadership. He has said that the 21st century will not be ruled or dictated by terrorists, dictators, and murderers. He is absolutely right. God bless him for his resolve.

President Obama chose politics over leadership. 'Hope' and 'Change' have become bait-and-switch.

It puts limits on criminals' rights to destroy unborn children without the permission of the woman.

Well, the big elephant in the whole system is the baby boomer generation that marches through like a herd of elephants. And we begin to retire in 2008.

We cannot win this war on terror if people are undercutting us. And one way to undercut us is to empower Iran.

I dare say there may be some men and women in the Armed Forces who are so decent that they would say: Give the Iraqi people money, we do not want to be paid back. That is the strength of our country.

We've got fifty people at Gitmo that are too dangerous to be let go that will never go through a normal criminal trial. Let's create a new legal system, so they'll have their day in court.

It's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally.

Look how many millions of people are underemployed or have lost their jobs. The last thing I'm going to do is play politics with their future.

The healthcare bill not only is a monstrosity in terms of growing the government and cutting out the private sector, the way it was passed was sleazy. Every old Washington trick was used to pass the healthcare bill.

There's a lot of things we can do to balance out what Obama's done and going forward show the American people the Republican Party can govern. I want a coalition of tea party people, independents, moderate Democrats trying to find a way to move this country forward before we become Greece.

The sooner we get started with alternative energy sources and recognize that fossil fuels makes us less secure as a nation, and more dangerous as a planet, the better off we'll be.

Thank God for some Republican control of one branch of the government.

I'm the ranking Republican on the foreign aid appropriations subcommittee, so I know Tunisia well.

A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America - that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts.

It's one thing to shoot yourself in the foot. Just don't reload the gun.

The American consumer is also the American worker, and if we don't do something to protect our manufacturing base here at home, it is going to be hard to buy any retail goods.

I don't think it's rational for a country to try to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in a restaurant in Washington.

We will never win this war until we understand the effect that Guantanamo Bay has had on the overall war effort. And we'll never get the support of the American people if we can't prove to them that these folks that we're dealing with are not common criminals. We're going to keep them - keep you safe from them.

If you make me your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back.

When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America.

Conservatives have a different view of a lot of issues versus our friends on the other side. The election determines how that shakes out.

Social Security must be preserved and strengthened. But we need to be candid about the costs and willing to make the tough choices that real reform will require.

No employer is going to hire robustly until they know what the health care cost is going to be.

If 'Obama-care' becomes fully implemented in 2014, it's going to bankrupt states.

I would ask both sides to kind of knock it down a notch, work together to find more troops. If we can work together, ... that's a good sign.

If we don't rein in prisoner abuse, we're going to lose the war, but if we don't rein in legal abuse by prisoners, we're going undermine our ability to protect ourselves,

If we could look at the person before us based on qualifications, character, and integrity, and not require them to show allegiance to a particular case or cause, it would serve the country well,

We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together.

She needs to step it up a notch.

Secretary Rumsfeld, people are calling for your resignation. Somebody is drafting an article of impeachment against you right now, ... What do you say to those people who are calling for your resignation?

She's got to convince the conservative world that she understands the word 'strict constructionist, ... She's going to have to fill in those blanks and create a comfort level.

has been in the legal trenches throughout her career and has a tremendous understanding of how the law works in people's everyday lives. Her legal experience combined with her life experience makes her a solid choice.

For us to put the vote off ... I have to be convinced that it's more than a fig leaf, that it's real reform.

I expect in the near future, unless some dramatic change occurs, the Congress will speak loudly and forcefully on China's continuing currency manipulation.

If being intelligent, brilliant, a superb lawyer, the greatest legal mind of your generation and well qualified is not enough, what is?

If it was a fight, nobody laid a glove on him. He did a great job. The only way he could be vetoed is through a filibuster, and after his opening statement today I don't think anyone could ever get the political capital to mount a filibuster against this guy.

I don't blame anybody for using the tax code to their advantage.

Basically this stops national testing dead in the water for this year.

Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future.

What would you like history to say about you when it is all said and done,

If the election were tomorrow, we'd be in trouble,

If this were a fight, the referee would have stopped it.

If this were a fight, they'd have called it.

He'll listen to the arguments of those who are challenging Roe v. Wade, he will listen to those trying to uphold it, and he will make a decision not based on politics but the rule of law,

Just shut up for a few minutes and give the lady a chance to find out who she is.

picked the person he knew the best and he trusted the most, and that's classic George W. Bush.

People in Congress need to apologize. We're growing the government at a pace that makes the Democrats look thrifty.

People are beginning to question. And I don't think it's a blip on the radar screen. We have a chronic problem on our hands,

People are concerned. It's gone on longer than we thought. The violence is larger than we thought it would be. People are worried about our troops over in Iraq,

Judge Roberts will listen to the arguments from those challenging it and those seeking to uphold it and make a decision not based on politics but the rule of law,

I think it would be unfair for him to take a fall if this is just a limited activity of a few people.

I think history will say that George W. Bush knocked it out of the park when he selected John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States.

I think the likelihood of Karl Rove being indicted in the future is virtually zero, ... Face the Nation.

It appears to be from the indictment a singular act by Mr. Libby, ... Face the Nation.

We need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran; they've been killed a long time ago.

You know, the commander-in-chief's first responsibility is look out for those in uniform who fight the wars.

The American consumer is also the American worker, ... and if we don't do something to protect our manufacturing base here at home, it is going to be hard to buy any retail goods.

The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience,

With the economy being sluggish as it is, even though there are some signs of improvement, now is the time to put money back into the economy with a purpose, and that's to create jobs,

The allegation is that when they told the grand jury about the process they made some misstatements and false allegations, ... Face the Nation.

Most Americans would want to hold criminals responsible for destroying or injuring unborn children once that child is chosen to be had,

We couldn't get by as a nation without these workers. We as a nation sat on the sidelines since at least the '80s and allowed this problem to build up.

We don't do Lincoln Day Dinners in South Carolina. It's nothing personal, but it takes a while to get over things.

We're already talking about the next nominee in code. Sen. Kohl, who voted yes, is talking about the balance of the court with O'Connor. Sen. Feingold is mentioning that he may not be receptive to Justice Brown. I can understand it. That's the way this situation is in 2005.

We have polar opposite views on a lot of things,

There are points in time when the president looks into the camera and makes a pretty compelling acquitting of himself about how he feels about what Ken Starr has done to him, to his family, to his friends, and how he thought the Paula Jones case was politically motivated, and I think he's very sincere. You can tell this has hurt the guy.

We don't have a lot of Reagan-type leaders in our party. Remember Ronald Reagan Democrats? I want a Republican that can attract Democrats.

We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States.

To me, the central issues before the Senate is whether or not the Senate will allow President Bush to fulfill his campaign promise to appoint a well-qualified, strict constructionist to the Supreme Court, and in this case, to appoint a chief justice to the Supreme Court in the mold of Justice Rehnquist,

Until they start playing by the rules, our manufacturing industry will continue to bleed jobs because of unfair Chinese trade practices.

We're going to need those voters in the fall.

We're going to sit down and map out a strategy where John can get the best bang for the party's buck,

We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill.

We're failing when it comes to controlling spending.

We're failing when it comes to controlling spending, ... Fox News Sunday.

Where I come from, you call somebody at 2:30 in the morning, you're up to no good,

At the end of the day, Mitt Romney and Ann Romney are two fine people.

Did anyone ever discuss the fact that Ms. Willey may have had a checkered past?

Did it ever come up as to, 'Well, here's what we know about Kathleen Willey and the president,' or 'Let's go see what we can find out about Kathleen Willey and the president?'

What's changed? It's not the quality of the nominees, it's the qualities of the process. I really do worry that we're going to take the Supreme Court nomination process and boil it down to abortion. That won't be good for the country.

The transportation and the energy bill would have been a good place to go back and revisit for some of the spending that occurred there.

We've been chicken, to be honest, but now we're trying to bring some clarity to the legal confusion,

We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very serious charges.

With his passing, South Carolina has lost one of her most noble statesmen. He served his state and nation with great character and integrity.

To be honest with you, politically, this is not anything that cannot be overcome, ... Face the Nation.

body blow to the president at a time when he doesn't need one.

The president of the United States let the consulate in Libya become a death trap.

The President's focus on Social Security as a national problem demonstrates his willingness to lead where others have chosen to demagogue.

Detainee policy in this war is hard, it's complicated, but we must get it right. We would be better off as a nation if we could close Gitmo safely and start a new prison that he could use that the world would see as a better way to doing business.

Deadlines are important ... but we need to get this right,

That's why most Americans sometimes are dumbfounded about what's going on in the name of religion,

putting too much pressure on the men and women in uniform.

Erosion of benefits is coming. The question is will they come in a way that people afford, and will have a soft landing, or will we have a hard landing?

There's so much opportunity here to go back into the budget and extract some savings to help pay for this hurricane relief that I look at it as an opportunity for the Congress to get back to its roots of being fiscally sound and conservative, ... Maybe something good can come from this hurricane.

Why did we go to war? Why did we pick people from South Carolina, California, and all the places in between to go to a foreign land and risk their lives and have some die? To make sure that Saddam Hussein could do no more damage to the region or us than he has already done.

This censure idea, without an admission on the president's part, is a political cop-out,

Your president obstructed justice, in a mean way. For God's sake, get to the truth; figure our what kind of person we have here in the White House.

This is drastic in the sense of politics but I think it's necessary in the sense of business.

This is going to be a fascinating hearing process because it's probably more important than any we've had in recent memory.