Debate Quotes - Page 18

• It's a legitimate point to debate. But it's part of the reality. It's happening, but it's also true they (looters) are in the distinct minority. I think there's a hero on every street corner in New Orleans, and I think the reporting has shown that. I think the balance has been there.

  Dan Rather

  Hero, Reality, Thinking

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• While patriotism is often lauded as an unquestionable value, the status of patriotism is a problem for many thoughtful people. It is particularly troublesome for people who care about the common good but are alienated by the all too frequent use of patriotism and patriotic symbols to stifle debate, tarnish the images of rival candidates, or arouse popular support for aggressive military policies.

  Stephen Nathanson

  Military, Patriotic, Thoughtful

  Stephen Nathanson (1993). “Patriotism, Morality, and Peace”, p.11, Rowman & Littlefield

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• It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle.

  Tom DeLay

  Self, Political, Principles

  Farewell Address to House of Representatives, delivered 8 June 2006

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• You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time, not only with the votes we cast, but the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideas.

  Barack Obama

  Ideas, Voice, Pro Life

  Second Presidential Inaugural Address, delivered 21 January 2013, Washington, D.C.

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• We have to make education a priority, but all this debate about education and testing is almost beside the point. We only spend a fraction of the money on education that we spend on arms buildups. Under a Kucinich administration, education becomes one of the top domestic priorities. We put money into it. We cause the government to be vitally involved in it. And we make sure our children have the love of knowledge.

  Dennis Kucinich

  Education, Children, Knowledge

  "Kucinich: Osama Should Not Be Assassinated". The Slate Interview, www.slate.com. September 12, 2007.

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• In my family, there were Kei and Minoru and then there were the rest. Everyone in my family is very opinionated and everyone tried to join the debate. But by the time my turn came, there was nothing left to say. I couldn't keep pace, so I looked to do my own things.

  Akira Mori

  Family, Pace, Turns

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• We now have an opportunity, though, to do something we didn't do in the industrial age, and that is to get a leg up on this, to bring the public in quickly, to have an informed debate.

  Jeremy Rifkin

  Opportunity, Age, Legs

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• Libertarian presidential candidate André Marrou's idea is that "government power is opposed to individual liberty." Must we still debate such sophomoric notions?... Besides, liberty, although very important, is not the only value.

  George Will

  Government, Ideas, Presidential

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• Rediscovering the controversies that occupied early Christianity sharpens our awareness of the major issue in the whole debate, then and now: What is the source of religious authority? For the Christian the question takes more specific form: What is the relation between the authority of ones own experience and that claimed for the scriptures, the ritual and the clergy?

  Elaine Pagels

  Christian, Religious, Issues

  Elaine Pagels (2004). “The Gnostic Gospels”, p.199, Random House

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• One of the things that happens in novels it's almost like a continual debate with yourself. That's why you're writing the book. It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself.

  Michael Ondaatje

  Book, Character, Writing

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• The people of this country desperately need to engage in an open and honest debate about mental health.

  David Satcher

  Country, People, Needs

  "U.S. surgeon-general focuses on suicide, mental health". www.cnn.com. April 17, 1998.

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• We should not use special budget procedures to jam through legislation to drill in the Arctic Refuge. This topic is too important to the public to address it in such a back-door manner. We should be having a full, open discussion of the issue during an energy debate.

  Russ Feingold

  Issues, Doors, Special

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• Did you see Bush on TV, trying to debate? Jesus, he talked like a donkey with no brains at all...It was pitiful...I almost felt sorry for him, until I heard someone call him 'Mr. President,' and then I felt ashamed.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Jesus, Sorry, Brain

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• I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates.

  Jean-Claude Juncker

  Dark, Secret, Want

  "Eurogroup chief: 'I'm for secret, dark debates'" by Valentina Pop, euobserver.com. April 21, 2011.

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• We now live in an amazing digital world, and television is firmly part of that brave new world. Television is still the way to reach the most citizens and talk to them – and with them - about how the EU affects their lives. It's still the way to bring people together – to laugh, to debate, to learn. In a world that takes a faster and faster pace, it is nice to know you can slow down once in a while with a good TV programme.

  Neelie Kroes

  Nice, Brave New World, People

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• There is no question that Iraq possesses biological and chemical weapons and that he [Saddam Hussein] seeks to acquire additional weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. That is not in debate. I also agree with President Bush that Saddam Hussein is a threat to peace and must be disarmed, to quote President Bush directly.

  Christopher Dodd

  Mass Destruction, Iraq, President

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• So whom does God wrong in commanding the destruction of the Canaanites? Not the Canaanite adults, for they were corrupt and deserving of judgment. Not the children, for they inherit eternal life. So who is wronged? Ironically, I think the most difficult part of this whole debate is the apparent wrong done to the Israeli soldiers themselves. Can you imagine what it would be like to have to break into some house and kill a terrified woman and her children? The brutalising effect on these Israeli soldiers is disturbing.

  William Lane Craig

  Children, Thinking, House

  "Why I refuse to debate with William Lane Craig" by Richard Dawkins, www.theguardian.com. October 20, 2011.

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• The American way is to criticize and debate openly, not to accept unthinkingly the doings of government officials of this or any other country.

  Michael Parenti

  Country, Government, Political

  Michael Parenti (2004). “Superpatriotism”, p.17, City Lights Books

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• Democracy is not about trust; it is about distrust. It is about accountability, exposure, open debate, critical challenge, and popular input and feedback from the citizenry. It is about responsible government. We have to get our fellow Americans to trust their leaders less and themselves more, trust their own questions and suspicions, and their own desire to know what is going on.

  Michael Parenti

  Responsible Government, Leader, Accountability

  Michael Parenti (2004). “Superpatriotism”, p.81, City Lights Books

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• Imperial politics represents the conquest of domestic politics and the latter's conversion into a crucial element of inverted totalitarianism. It makes no sense to ask how the democratic citizen could 'participate' substantively in imperial politics; hence it is not surprising that the subject of empire is taboo in electoral debates. No major politician or party has so much as publicly remarked on the existence of an American empire.

  Chalmers Johnson

  Party, Elements, Empires

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• I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's kind of where we are.

  Jeb Bush

  Thinking, People, Perspective

  "Jeb Bush: 2012 GOP Field "Appealing to People's Fears"". www.foxnews.com. February 23, 2012.

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• There's a lot of debate on this subject - about what kind of car handles best. Some say a a front-engined car, some say a rear-engined car. I say a rented car. Nothing handles better than a rented car. You can go faster, turn corners sharper, and put the transmission into reverse while going forward at a higher rate of speed in a rented car than in any other kind.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Car, Kind, Speed

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• The Democrats had long labeled the impeachment debate a distraction from the urgent business of a great nation. But the Republicans argued that the pursuit of justice is the business of a great nation. In winning this point, they caught the falling flag, producing a triumph for the rule of law, a reassertion of the belief that no man is above it, and a rebuke for an arrogance that had grown imperial.

  Peggy Noonan

  Fall, Winning, Men

  "The Good Guys Finally Won" by Peggy Noonan, www.wsj.com. December 21, 1998.

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• Sometimes in this whole Medicare prescription drug debate, we focus on the prescription drug benefit, and I am glad we do because it is the first time we have ever offered real help to seniors, especially the poor, those in need.

  John Shimkus

  Senior, Real, Focus

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• We'll get a chance to go through this [Apple versus Microsoft debate] again in phones and music players. There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.

  Steve Ballmer

  Player, Apples, Iphone

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