Debate Quotes - Page 23

• We mistake politics for legislative debate. You can be passionate without being personal.

  Richard Dreyfuss

  Mistake, Passionate

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• Anything can go wrong in a debate, and Obama is not a perfect debater.

  Ron Fournier

  Perfect

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• We must remember that democracy works when given time to develop, mature and deliver. People must have access to information for informed debate. Government institutions must treat citizens fairly, and with dignity, while responding to their needs.

  Atifete Jahjaga

  Government, People, Democracy

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• Science fiction works best when it stimulates debate.

  Greg Bear

  Fiction, Science Fiction

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• It is important that the decorum and dignity of the House is upheld at all times. The image of Parliament in the public mind should be one where proceedings, debates and discussions take place with a view to resolve issues through a constructive and co-operative approach.

  Pratibha Patil

  Views, Issues, House

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• Having spent a number of my younger years with trade-union parents attending NUT annual conferences, I feel comfortable with an agenda in my hand and a procedural format for debate.

  Saffron Burrows

  Hands, Years, Nuts

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• When you exist in the centre of a debate, as a topic, a hypothesis - otherised and stigmatised - you become the prop in a proposition.

  Randa Abdel-Fattah

  Topics, Hypothesis, Props

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• The myth of the liberal media empowers conservatives to control debate in the United States to the point where liberals cannot even hope for a fair shake anymore.

  Eric Alterman

  Media, Empowering, United States

  Eric Alterman (2008). “What Liberal Media?: The Truth about Bias and the News”, p.18, Basic Books

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• You would think that if any group in America had 20% to 25% unemployment, it would generate all kinds of attention. The Labor Department would understandably and necessarily begin to concentrate on what can we do to reduce this level of unemployment. Congress would give great time on the floor for debate on what can be done.

  Emanuel Cleaver

  Thinking, America, Giving

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• Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree.

  Susan Cain

  Degrees, Shyness, Psychologist

  "The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance". Interview with Gareth Cook, www.scientificamerican.com. January 24, 2012.

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• I'm against tax increases on anyone, period, end of debate.

  Tom Cole

  Increase, Ends, Periods

  "Rep. Cole: I'm not for raising tax rates on anyone". "Your World Cavuto" with Neil Cavuto, www.foxnews.com. November 28, 2012.

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• I know it sounds trite but I wanted to make a difference. Political debates with my father had been fraught because he was uncompromising and explosive but if he taught me one thing it was to air my views.

  Vince Cable

  Father, Air, Views

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• In another life, before taking the veil of journalistic purity, I practiced the black arts of a political operative, including 'debate prep.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Art, Political, Black

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• In every debate, whatever the format, whatever the questions, there is one and only one way to identify the winner: Who commands the room? Who drives the narrative? Who is in charge?

  Jeff Greenfield

  Narrative, Way, Rooms

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• Television is much more difficult because at every moment, the network can force you to change things based on their belief about what would make it popular. You’re in a constant debate with a gun to your head, and the gun is cancellation. So it’s hard to win the arguments.

  Judd Apatow

  Gun, Winning, Television

  Interview with Kate Fillion, www.macleans.ca. July 9, 2008.

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• There has been a big debate about it: can a black man play a Nordic character?

  Idris Elba

  Character, Men, Play

  "Idris Elba defends Thor film role" by Sam Jones, www.theguardian.com. April 27, 2010.

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• The problem with much of the debate over this issue is that we confuse two separate matters: immigration policy (how many people we admit) and immigrant policy (how we treat people who are already here). What our nation needs is a pro-immigrant policy of low immigration. A pro-immigrant policy of low immigration can reconcile America's traditional welcome for newcomers with the troubling consequences of today's mass immigration. It would enable us to be faithful and wise stewards of America's interests while also showing immigrants the respect they deserve as future Americans.

  Tom Tancredo

  Wise, Two, America

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• The country is facing a fiscal crisis, and the United States Senate is at the center of the debate about how to bring federal spending under control.

  Jeff Flake

  Country, United States, Spending

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• I don't know if I'd call myself a prodigy, but I was a big forensics competitor in high school, and then during college I spent some time working at speech and debate camps as a coach.

  Josh Gad

  School, College, Speech

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• While this debate today is a belated effort to inform the American people, it is nevertheless an empty gesture. It is time to admit our mistake in Iraq and begin to bring our troops home with honor.

  Raul Grijalva

  Mistake, Home, Iraq

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• Finding the right form of debate regarding Israeli policies will remain a challenge in Germany. Even with every conceivable and warranted criticism, the danger always arises that it will be exploited by those who consciously or unconsciously present anti-Semitism in a new guise.

  Sigmar Gabriel

  Challenges, Criticism, Germany

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• Polemical debates happen all the time in France.

  Michel Houellebecq

  France, Happens

  "The passion killer" by Jonathan Romney, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2000.

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• You can get on with your job. I'm going to get on with mine. And mine is to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland, that's what they expect from me and I'm not going to be deflected by interesting academic or media speculation or attempts to take the whole debate back.

  Peter Hain

  Jobs, Media, People

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• I'm always interested to see what films are made of books. I kind of don't participate as a filmgoer in any kind of debate about what's better, the book or the movie. So I think it's interesting when people want to do it.

  Daniel Handler

  Book, Thinking, People

  Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. January 12, 2012.

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• You cannot simply read the Quran,not if you take it seriously.You either have surrendered to it already or you fight it.
  It attacks tenaciously,directly,personally; it debates,criticizes,shames and challenges.
  From the outset it draws the line of battle, and I was on other side.

  Jeffrey Lang

  Fighting, Challenges, Battle

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