Paul Begala Quotes

"Never interrupt your opponent when he's destroying himself."

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

"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."

"Back in the 70s I knew people who could recall when Sugar Land was a company town - the company being the Imperial Sugar Company."

"Bush began helping Enron in the eighties."

"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."

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

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

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

"I grew up in Tom DeLay's district."

"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?"

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

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

"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."

"I'm no great fan of how Judge Starr conducted his investigation, but I didn't think that was the time or the place to lodge those complaints."

"I'm very sunny. You know, I'm always optimistic."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."