People:
Politics      page 1     page 2     page 3     page 4

Ronald Reagan: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." (during the presidential debate with Walter Mondale in 1984, after being asked whether his age might be a concern for voters)

Ronald Reagan: "America is back, standing tall, looking to the 80's with courage, confidence, and hope."

Ronald Reagan: "I am here to announce my intention to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States." (1979)

Ronald Reagan: "America's best days are yet to come. You ain't seen nothin' yet."

Ronald Reagan: "Is America better off than it was four years ago?" (October 7, 1984, presumably during the closing statement of one of the 1984 debates with Walter Mondale)

Ronald Reagan joking around before his weekly radio address, unknowingly on the air at the time: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."  (circa 1982)

Ronald Reagan: "We can meet out destiny – to build a land here that will be for all mankind a shining city on a hill." (date and occasion unknown)

Ronald Reagan: "The Crusade for Freedom is your chance and mine to fight communism."

Ronald Reagan: "Actually a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this Earth." (part of The Speech presented by Reagan in support of Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign)

Nancy Reagan, mumbling: "Doing everything we can."

Ronald Reagan: "Doing everything we can."

(Nancy was helping the President answer a reporter's question while he paused in search of a good answer. Circa 1987)

Ronald Reagan: "...the aggressive impulses of an evil empire... They are the focus of evil in the modern world." (March 8, 1983, referring to the Soviet Union)

Ronald Reagan: "I am not frightened by what lies ahead, and I don't believe the American people are frightened by what lies ahead."

Jane Wyman: "You been getting any lately?"

Ronald Reagan: "Overtime, you mean?"

Ronald Reagan: "Thank you, and God bless you all." (concluding his final news conference as president)

Ronald Reagan: "...and in the 2,765 days of our administration, not one inch of ground has fallen to the Communists." (probably said during the 1988 Republican National Convention)

Senator Edward 'Ted' Kennedy: "I say it's time to say... no more American hostages... no more high interest rates... no more high inflation... and no more Jimmy Carter!"

Announcer: "The time is now for strong leadership. Reagan for president."

(A television ad from Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign using footage of a speech made by Ted Kennedy several months earlier when Kennedy challenged incumbent Jimmy Carter in the Democratic primary. Potential genesis of Reagan's famous 11th Commandment.)

Ronald Reagan: "I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers... Go ahead. Make my day." (March 13, 1985)

Ronald Reagan: "Ouch." (date and occasion unknown)

Ronald Reagan: "Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that in order to be a governor of California you have to be a professional politician, and I am not." (1966 while running for governor of Calirfornia)

Ronald Reagan: "Government is not the solution to our problem... Government is the problem." (circa 1982)

Ronald Reagan: "We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared so we may be always free."

Ronald Reagan: "I'm Ronald Reagan."

Ronald Reagan: "There are moments you never erase from your memory, ever... I didn't know I was shot. In fact, I was still asking, 'What was that noise?' I thought it was firecrackers. And the next thing I knew, Jerry – Secret Service – grabbed me here and threw me into the car, and then he dived in on top of me. And it was only then that I felt a paralyzing pain, and I learned that the bullet had hit me up here. When I walked in, they were just concluding a meeting in the hospital of all the doctors associated with the hospital. Sure, when I saw all those doctors around me I said I hoped they were all Republicans." (recounting his experience of the March 30, 1981, assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr.)

Ronald Reagan: "Mr. Gorbachev... tear down this wall!" (June 12, 1987, speaking at the Berlin Wall)

Jimmy Carter: "...Governor Reagan, again, typically is against such a proposal."

Moderator: "Governor?"

Ronald Reagan: "There you go again." (during one of the 1980 presidential campaign debates)

Ronald Reagan: "Isn't it worth every investment necessary to free the world from the threat of nuclear war? We know it is." (March 23, 1983, referring to the Strategic Defense Initiative)

RonaldReagan: "Our government is too big and it spends too much." (April 28, 1981)

Ronald Reagan: "The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us with the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God." (January 28, 1986, addressing the nation following the space shuttle Challenger disaster)

Ronald Reagan: "Trust but verify." (spoken in both Russian and English)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is... fear itself." (1933)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "December 7, 1941... a date which will live in infamy." (December 8, 1941, a day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: "In recent days there's been a good deal of discussion about who bears the responsibility for the terrible activities that took place at Abu Ghraib prison. These events occurred on my watch as secretary of defense. I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility for them. It's my obligation to evaluate what happened, to make sure that those who committed wrongdoing are brought to justice, and to make changes as needed to see that it doesn't happen again. I feel terrible about what happened to these Iraqi detainees. They're human beings. They were in U.S. custody. Our country had an obligation to treat them right, to treat them as human beings. We didn't do that. That was wrong. So, to those Iraqis who were mistreated by the members of the U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology. It was inconsistent with the values of our nation. It was un-American. We take this very seriously. It's important for the American people and the world to know that while these terrible acts were perpetuated – perpetrated – by a small number of the military, they were also brought to light by the honorable and very responsible actions of other military personnel. This was not some sort of news media discovery."

(testimony before the Senate Armed Forces Committee, May 7, 2004, regarding the highly-publicized scandal about abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. military intelligence at Abu Ghraib prison during the 2003-04 occupation of Iraq by the U.S. and its allies)

Donald Rumsfeld: "We have done so much in the last two years, and it doesn't happen by standing around with your finger in your ear, hoping everyone thinks that that's nice." (date and occasion unknown)

Donald Rumsfeld: "I believe what I said yesterday... I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, uh, I assume it's what I said." (date and occasion unknown)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I decided that, uh, California is in a very disasterous situation right now."

Jay Leno: "Right."

Schwarzenegger: "Uh, when I moved to California in 1968, California was a fantastic place. It was the greatest state of the greatest nation in the world. It was absolutely spectacular. Everyone could come here and have opportunities and come here and really, ya know, work and enjoy life here. Now it is totally the opposite. The atmosphere is disasterous. There is absolutely no connection -- there is a total disconnect between the people of California and a total disconnect also between the politicians of California. And, what that means, basically, is that the people are doing their job. The people are working hard. The people are paying the taxes. The people are raising the families. But, the politicians are not doing their job. The politicians are fiddling, fumbling, and failing."

Audience cheers.

Schwarzenegger: "And the man that is failing the people more than anyone is [Governor] Gray Davis."

Audience cheers.

Schwarzenegger: "He is failing them terribly, and this is why he needs to be recalled."

Leno: "Mmm-hmm."

Schwarzenegger: "And this is why I am going to run for governor of the state of California."

Audience cheers. (August 6, 2003, on The Tonight Show)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "But, for me it was very clear – 1.6 million people in California signed the, the, the petition that said we want to remove Gray Davis, and they basically said – those 1.6 million people said – 'We are mad as hell, and we are not gonna take it anymore.' " (announcing his candidacy for governor of California on August 6, 2003, while appearing on The Tonight Show)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "That is a message that is from California all the way to the East Coast, to all the politicians..."

Jay Leno: "Right."

Schwarzenegger: "...Republicans and Democrats alike, to say to them, 'Do your job for the people, and do it well, or otherwise you're out – hasta la vista, baby!' " (announcing his candidacy for governor of California on August 6, 2003, while appearing on The Tonight Show)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I do not have to bow to any special interest. I have plenty of money. No one can pay me off." (announcing his candidacy for governor of California on August 6, 2003, while appearing on The Tonight Show)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "When I go to Sacramento, I will pump-up Sacramento." (announcing his candidacy for governor of California on August 6, 2003, while appearing on The Tonight Show)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Yes, I have behaved badly sometimes. Yes, it is true, and to those people that I have offended, I want to say to them, I am deeply sorry about that, and I apologize." (October 2, 2003, in response to allegations of sexual harassment, several days before California's gubernatorial recall vote)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Everyone – Democrats, Republicans, young, old – it makes no difference to me. I will represent everybody." (August 2003)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "And to those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say don't be economic girlie-men!" (August 31, 2004, at the Republican National Convention)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "First of all, let me tell you that the Kennedy's have probably tried for 26 years now to make me into a Democrat. It didn't work." (September 2003)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I have absorbed my defeat, and I've learned my lesson. And, the people who always have the last word sent a clear message – cut the warfare, cool the rhetoric, find common ground, and fix the problems together. So, to my fellow Californians, I say, message received." (January 5, 2006, during the California state of the state address, not long after several statewide referenda pushed by Schwarzenegger were defeated by vote of the electorate)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "We need more roads, more hospitals, more schools, more nurses, more teachers, more police, more fire, more water, more energy, more ports – more, more, more." (January 5, 2006, during the California state of the state address)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "What a greeting... Wow. This is like winning an Oscar... as if I would know." (August 31, 2004, at the Republican National Convention)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I promise you that I will be the people's governor, the people's governor." (August 2003, to a crowd of people and reporters after filing his paperwork to run for governor of California)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Ya know, on the way up here to the podium, a gentleman came up to me and said, 'Governor, you are as good a politician as you were an actor.'... What a cheap shot." (August 31, 2004, at the Republican National Convention)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "People are sick and tired of the politicians. They're sick and tired that special interests is [sic] telling them how to vote and how to act, what to do." (August 2003)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed. Then they go and get a coffee – they're taxed. They get into their car – they're taxed. They go to the gas station – they're taxed. They go for lunch – they're taxed. And this goes on all day long – tax, tax, tax, tax, tax." (August 2003)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "And, ladies and gentlemen, if you believe that we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism, then you are a Republican!" (August 31, 2004, at the Republican National Convention)

Al Sharpton: "Mr. President... As I close, Mr. President, I heard you say Friday that you had questions for voters, particularly African-American voters. And you asked the question, did the Democratic Party take us for granted. Well, I have raised questions, but let me answer your question. You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederic Douglas. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule. That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations started. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres. We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us!" (during a speech to the Democratic National Convention, July 28, 2004. Click here for historical info about 40 acres and a mule.)

Debate moderator: "Admiral Stockdale, your opening statement, please, sir."

James Stockdale: "Who am I?... Why am I here?"

(Vice presidential debate during the 1992 campaign. Stockdale was the running mate for Ross Perot.)

Clarence Thomas speaking to Sen. Joe Biden during hearings on Thomas's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court about how Thomas felt about having to face the media spectacle resulting from the accusations of sexual harassment from Anita Hill: "Senator, I would have preferred an assassin's bullet."

Anita Hill, allegedly quoting Clarence Thomas: " 'Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?' "

Senator Joe Biden during the Senate hearings for the nomination of Clarence Thomas for the U.S. Supreme Court: "What was the content of what he said?"

Anita Hill: "Well, this was a reference to an individual who, uh, had a very large penis. And he used the name that he had been referred to in the pornographic material. Uh..."

Biden: "Do you recall what it was?"

Hill: "Yes, I do. Uh, the name that was referred to was Long Dong Silver."

Sen. Joe Biden: "Did you ever use the term 'Long Dong Silver' in conversation with Professor Hill? Had you..."

Clarence Thomas: "No, Senator."

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: "You should fully expect the unexpected." (May 2002)

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: "Naturally when there's a little blood in the water, they're going to circle like sharks." (May 2002)

More Politics

Many more political sound bites on pages 1, 2, and 3.