Kevin Madden Quotations

Mr. DeLay makes decisions and sets legislative priorities based on good policy and what is best for his constituents and the country. Any suggestion of outside influence is manipulative and absurd. Mr. DeLay has very firm beliefs and he fights very hard for them.

Mr. DeLay has a unique understanding of a lot of the big policy debates, and he is somebody who has always worked in the past with his colleagues to make the case that their votes are important. That is one of the reasons he got into leadership, and people still recognize he has a degree of knowledge and influence.

Mr. DeLay explained to officials what he has always said publicly: His role with respect to TRMPAC was limited to serving on the political action committee's advisory board along with other elected Texas officials and to appearing at fundraising events.

Mr. Boehner believes that Congress has a role in this issue with regard to procedural review and oversight.

One of his frustrations was that everybody wanted to hire consultants, sit around ... and talk endlessly about problems rather than define solutions.

If they are good enough for health care investigations, good enough for drug investigations, they should be provided to law enforcement in terror investigations.

I don't have an opinion of what they're doing. The practice of encouraging trade associations or private-sector firms with regard to their hiring practices is not something this office directs or is interested in directing.

He handles it the way he handles everything - with a good sense of humor and without ever really losing focus on his priorities. He's a regular guy with a big job. That is always the way John Boehner has approached his life in politics. It's an approach that has proven successful, and that is why he is majority leader.

His sense of humor is probably the personality trait that gets him through questions like that.

We make every effort to work with key staff in these offices to sync up our legislative and communications offices so they have the very best access and the very best information about what issues the conference is working on and how we can help them message with constituents back home.

It can be done without trying to browbeat people.

It comes as no surprise that a lobbyist or public-affairs representative in Washington, D.C., would claim they have access to elected officials.

I think the American public knows when the opposition party of the president engages in such invective, and they reject it.

Thankfully, constituents, colleagues within the (Republican) conference and the folks who really know John Boehner put absolutely no weight or stock in those types of frivolous attacks against him.

We believe he will be totally exonerated and return to his majority leader post.

There are literally thousands of e-mails like this sent by (Capitol) Hill staff members every day.

The players and love of the game keep him going. He still has an undying love for what he's doing.

The president's leadership on the issue of homeland security is a policy area where he's been very decisive and has backed up his policy priorities with funding,

These charges have no basis in the facts or the law. Ronnie Earle has tried to manufacture charges against Republicans involved in winning those elections using arcane statutes never before utilized in a case in the state. This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat.

These charges have no basis in the facts or the law, ... Ronnie Earle has tried to manufacture charges against Republicans involved in winning those elections using arcane statutes never before utilized in a case in the state. This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat.

Ronnie Earle's previous misuse of his office has resulted in failed prosecutions and we trust his partisan grandstanding will strike out again, as it should.

There's a certain element of 'Groundhog Day' to all this,

It's been very clear that there's a lot of support for Mr. DeLay to fight these charges.

I just think the support for Mr. Delay has been emphatic.

I just may use that photographer for my family Christmas photo.

He's someone who has always had a very strong, natural pigment, and he likes to spend a lot of time outside. So when you're outside a lot and you have a very tan-friendly pigment like that, you're going to have a tan that makes everybody else in Washington, especially in the winter months, very jealous.

He believes this requires a personal defense. We go out and make sure he has the proper venues to do that.

The brutality of the pace. This was my third presidential campaign and it was a thousand times faster paced than my first one in 2004. The news cycle is constant and there has been an explosion in the number of news outlets covering them. As as result we're witnessing news and entertainment melding together to create what I'd describe as the "American Idolization" of campaigns and politics.

Without hesitation, each time, my answer was our standing with Hispanics and Latinos. We must do a better job of reaching out to these communities and demonstrate to them that our party is aligned with the aspirations Hispanics have for their families and for America.

Obama microtargeted his way to re-election by pitting Americans against each other in many instances. In order to confront the challenges the nation faces, he's really going to have to put his 2008 rhetoric about bringing people together into practice. Otherwise his legacy will only be that of a great campaigner whose promises fell short of accomplishment.

Trying is not enough. We have to go out and set goals and measure definitive progress so that four years from now we are in a better position to add new voters to our base of support.

We did a lot right with the voters with whom we've enjoyed traditional support. But we haven't done enough to build a larger coalition of voters. We have to modernize our message to reach a larger audience of voters beyond our base.

Oftentimes when you have the federal government or others step in and start to raise minimum wage, what happens is you take away or reduce some people's opportunity to grab the bottom rung of the economic ladder to get the opportunities and the skills that you need to move up that economic ladder.

President Obama should be championing American prominence, not apologizing for it.