Chuck Todd Quotations

From the Medicare prescription drug plan to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of No Child Left Behind, President Bush presided over a major expansion of the reach of government.

In the end, Ted Kennedy was a politician, plain and simple. Yet he embodied how politics and public service can be successfully intertwined. You cant be a good public servant without being a good politician. Kennedy was both.

Forget the historic nature of his election having to do with skin color - Obama has an opportunity offered to few presidents: the chance to set the course of the nation for decades, if not generations, to come. Who knows: perhaps in the near future, our grandchildren will spend money with Obama's face on it.

One could argue the GOP made no progress on limiting government in their four years of total control from 2002 to 2006. If anything, government expanded like never before.

America has a love-hate relationship with celebrity. We love to follow celebrities, but we also love to mock them. And secretly, we believe were better than they are.

Arlen Specter left the GOP because it is a lot easier to win in Pennsylvania as a Democrat than as a Republican. It is that simple. For folks on the Right to brush this off as some sort of 'good purge' is extremely naive.

One must remember that in the '70s, Democrats still grasping for Camelot were desperately pinning their hopes on Teddy while Republicans were doing everything they could politically to turn him into a punch line post-Chappaquiddick. And the idea of Ted Kennedy - rather than the actual man - dominated his political legacy through the early '90s.

Some day, the public might actually revolt against the undemocratic system of seniority that allows Congress to keep the old ways of Washington ingrained into the culture of Congress.

Voters definitely believe Washington is corrupt - but most think its bipartisan.

Barack Obama's official nomination as the Democratic Party's standard-bearer was a very poignant moment for millions of Americans. As the first non-white major party nominee, Obama is carrying a big load on his shoulders. He's holding the hopes and dreams of a lot of folks who thought the presidency was only reserved for white men.

The big post-election story if Obama wins the presidency will be in the hands of the ethically embattled Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He's not very popular, and has a chance to use his power to appoint an Obama replacement as a step in the direction of political rehabilitation.

The hardest thing to do in politics is campaign as someone you aren't. People can spot an imposter from a mile away.

The unknown has undone many a president, and no matter the popularity of an Oval Office occupant, any and all presidents are vulnerable. Of course, one thing that seems to set Obama part from his recent predecessors is his ability to keep an inner calm about tough issues.

Acceptance speeches can make or break presidential candidacies. It was Al Gore's 2000 acceptance speech that relaunched his candidacy and nearly saved him. John Kerry's speech and overall ineffective convention nearly sank him in 2004 (though he was almost saved by the debates).

I played French horn, and I certainly do miss it. I miss it. I wish I had the time to keep up with it. It's like exercising: You have to keep it up, especially the muscles in your lips to deal with the French horn.

One of the more bizarre games I played as a kid was something called 'kill the man.' It was a cross between football and rugby, which found the person carrying the ball a target of some hungry tacklers. I still don't know why we enjoyed the game because it was impossible to win.

The most successful politicians are the ones who embrace their best traits while turning their liabilities into loveable attributes. And yet, many a candidate tries to run as something they aren't simply because the strategy dictates it.

McCain needs Hillary to run because that's what keeps the Republican coalition together. She helps unite the Republican base.

Presidential money is almost like the housing bubble. It's growing at such an astronomical rate, you think it can't get any bigger.

There's no worse crime in journalism these days than simply deciding something's a story because Drudge links to it.

If Barack Obama goes on to win the election, there will be plenty of ink and video spent on chronicling the historic nature of the turnout among young voters and African-Americans. But as important as both constituencies have been to Obama - particularly in the primaries - it's Hispanics that could be putting him over the top on Nov. 4.

It is the '94 race which in many ways allowed Ted Kennedy to become his own man rather than the 'third brother.' He had to reach down and win it on his own.

Obama's ability to use his personality to push folks, whether on Capitol Hill or in Europe, means that he has to stay popular. What happens if he loses that popular mandate?

Dick Cheney and Al Gore have redefined the role of the vice president in the minds of the public. It should be a big job, beyond simply checking the health status of the president.

Every election matters. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't understand politics. That said, not every election sends sweeping messages that are easy to discern, but every election provides lessons worth learning.

I'm an avid University of Miami Hurricanes fan. I hope to come to the day where I can still do some stuff for NBC and somehow integrate it with an RV tour of the South for college football. Luckily, my wife, she's a Florida State alum, so I wouldn't have to talk her into it. I think our kids would think we're weird.

With the likely nominations of Barack Obama by the Democrats and John McCain by the Republicans, one of these two parties is headed for a 2009 crack-up that could prove as messy as any party civil war in recent history.

On pure political talent, Ford may be the best candidate in the country for Democrats.

We may like to think politics is a battle of ideas and that the best idea wins out. But that's not true in most elections. Most elections are about the worst ideas losing, not the best ideas winning.

Republicans may be second-guessing themselves on the decision to engage Sen. Clinton since the more attention she gets, the more favorable voters find her.

We can't ignore initial Democrat polling, which shows Ken Lucas already ahead of Geoff Davis. And the GOP brand is getting killed right now in the Cincinnati media market, which might offset the automatic GOP advantage this district gives to Davis.

The question is, does he have the stamina?

It's hard not to get down on the government when you see dysfunction play out on our TVs every day. Frankly, sometimes at every level of government.

Meanwhile, the Bush dynasty comes to an official end.

California has rules against assault weapons. It's just those rules are inherently so technical and have to do with cosmetic features, you can easily get around them with any sort of semi-automatic rifle.

A lot of Democrats ask and a lot of people ask, "Why is it necessary for people in this country, who are not in law enforcement, to have assault weapons?"

The idea now that we're going to fight terrorism through gun control I think is just utterly fatuous.

I don't get debate agains guns at all. Because we have it after every mass shooting. And now a terror attack. And the proposals that are talked about almost always have nothing to do with this specific event.

As soon as a Democrat or a liberal organization opens their mouth and says "We want to see this," it's going to go over the heads. And same way on the abortion debate, if they want to make a change, it is not going to come from a Republican, it's going to have to come from a Democrat.

If we have to have a real movement on this issue if you support gun control, it has to come from the Republican side.

This deep insecurity has been going on for a while. I mean I picked it up in 2014 sitting in focus groups of women who were feeling terrified, not just about that ISIS was coming, but terrified that their children couldn't be safe at school, terrified about what was happening in Ferguson and other places.

More Americans, and I have my own anecdotes of people that have a friend that never would've had a gun, thought about, and now is thinking about it.

I've had my own anecdotals with old friends, here's a gentleman quoted in the Times about, "I believe my government is suppose to protect me but it has let me down. I resent having to defend myself; I shouldn't have to but at this point I don't feel like I have a choice."

I'm wishing every Saturday had primaries, because welcome to an amazing Sunday, where everything seems a tad bit clearer this morning.

No Republican has ever won South Carolina and Iowa or New Hampshire, as Trump has, without going on to win the nomination.

It's funny how the history of Jeb Bush is going to be rewritten.

Jeb Bush is conservative governor,his record as governor is more conservative than any current republican governor in the country.

The rules have changed so dramatically.They are not the Jeb Bush rules of the 90s, they are the reality television rules of this decade and he was not suited for it.

Jeb Bush is the new John Connelly.

Hillary Clinton met with a lot of the mothers in Chicago, she has the endorsement of some of the moms. Bernie Sanders I think has one or two of the family members too. I'm a little uncomfortable with using the families of these dead children this way.

You can't say Hillary Clinton is not evolving as a candidate. And boy is she trying very hard to move to where the Democratic base is.

Democrats will say the money they give to Planned Parenthood does not go to abortions. That the money they give to Planned Parenthood only goes to other women's health issues, including mammograms and things like that.

We [americans] have earned the moral authority, at least compared to anybody else in the world...

The problem is sitting in the birthplace of Islam, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where this interpretation of Islam has gone out into the world over the last four decades, creating militancy groups from Indonesia, to now, San Bernardino, California, vicious attack. We have to take back the faith. And we have to take it back with the principles of peace, social justice, and human rights, women's rights, and secularize governance.

When Dylann Roof walked into a black church, he wanted to start a race war. We didn't let him do that because we didn't cast him as a representative of the white race. We didn't give into his narrative. We did the exact opposite. And I think that we have to be careful not to give into the apocalyptic narrative of ISIS that wants to start a war between Muslims and everybody else.

I would say that ISIS wants us to think so. And I think that's the real danger here. It's that what ISIS wants the narrative to be is that they are the true Muslims.

Does the terror threat we're facing grow out of a perversion of Islam, or does it represent and extreme, but durable, strain of the religion.

Any terrorists that have come here and committee acts from 9/11 have come here in some form of a visa.

Nobody likes to feel like they're on the losing side of anything.

Americans are going to see that as the more religious a Muslim is, the more likely they're going to end up somehow fighting for ISIS' cause.

We know broadly from research is that religiosity does not correlate with sympathy for terrorism. It's actually quite the opposite. The more religious someone is, the more often they go to the mosque, the more likely they are to actually reject attacks on civilians.

It seems to me that this debate, whether Islam is a religion of peace or not, really, it's irrelevant for outsiders. It's for Muslims to decide whether it's a religion of peace or not.

At the moment, the extremists have significant financial popular and theological backing in the Middle East. And that is an enduring phenomenon. And it's one that is going to require a long, ideological war to win.

The question I have heard from some Democrats saying that "You know what? Push for gun control, but not now."

I think that we may lose the argument, but I think we have to talk about gun control.

There's no way you are going to get rid of the Second Amendment, there's no way you're going to get rid of the First Amendment, and people have to understand how important this is. But I think when they see more and more killings, we have to figure out, of course what we are going to do about it. And I don't think the criminal justice system has an answer.

We're in a political depression - a great political depression

South Carolina put George H.W. Bush into the White House, But George W. Bush into the White House and sent Jeb Bush back to Miami.

Women are still chronically underrepresente d in U.S. politics, at both a local and national level. But there's one city, where those three top jobs will be filled by women for the next year, and that city is Washington, D.C.

Media bias is one thing. Rejection of reality is another

Trump's inability to control his own emotions is standing between himself and the presidency.

The fastest growing political party is no party.

Donald Trump does not stick to Republican orthodoxy, which, you know, and this is always supposed to have been his downfall. Maybe it's his strength.

Barack Obamas official nomination as the Democratic Partys standard-bearer was a very poignant moment for millions of Americans. As the first non-white major party nominee, Obama is carrying a big load on his shoulders. Hes holding the hopes and dreams of a lot of folks who thought the presidency was only reserved for white men.

We're all living under the threat of violence and terror these days.

The more there is scandal and corruption in Washington, the better it is for McCain, so he`s at a high point right now.

There’s nothing like music to teach you that eventually if you work hard enough, it does get better. You see the results.

We didn't get here overnight, we're not going to change it overnight. We at least want to make inquiries.

Presidents seem to fall into two positive categories: they're one of us, or they're heroes. Both McCain and Obama probably see themselves as potential heroes - presidents who will be looked up to, not presidents everyday people will remark are 'just like me.'

This is the ultimate mommy party issue, if you believe that Democrats are the mommy party and Republicans are the daddy party.

There's a lot of optimism about her and her abilities to win that seat, it's a natural swing district.

No matter what the Bush administration does, the public is never going to believe they're doing everything they can in the Gulf. That's the box the administration is in.

Instinctively the conventional wisdom says, OK, veterans are probably a Republican voting bloc. But older voters are usually very much more split or even lean Democrat, because they more lean on the government safety net.

He's an Internet stock right now. A lot of potential, but we're not sure whether there's a good business model there or not.

If he gets his approval ratings up to the mid-40s, then at least Republicans can fight on their own.

The depth and breadth of Hillary Clinton's support among Democrats is daunting for other potential Democratic candidates in 2008, especially coupled with her enormous fundraising edge.