Harold Ford, Jr. Quotations

I am for gay marriage. Or same-sex marriage. I don't want to say it the wrong way. I think people are sensitive to it. I have been painted as being this right-wing zealot on choice. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I was for civil unions and believed strongly that the flow of benefits and protections that would be provided in a civil union for same-sex couples‚ the decisions that have to be made‚ when health hardships are faced‚ when economic hardships are faced‚ I wanted all of those protections. I never strayed from them.

I'm a capitalist. I believe that people take risk, and there are rewards if they do well; they should lose if they don't.

The idea is a straightforward one. We provide an account for every newborn in America, a $500 account.

If you don't meet the standards, then you don't qualify.

These are tough times, and the New Yorkers I have met are facing economic adversity with grace and dignity. They worry about their future, care about their neighbors and hope this storm will pass so they can focus on better days ahead.

As America's head coach, President Obama needs to make some big and smart adjustments to jump-start economic growth and business investment, stimulate job creation, and get wages up for ordinary Americans.

I either run or try to play basketball every day.

To say that I am pro life is just wrong. I am personally pro-choice and legislatively pro-choice.

I think the country is very settled in a lot of ways, and we saw that after the Democratic Convention. I think a lot of the bump that we enjoyed came when John Kerry selected John Edwards as his running mate.

I don't think it's a great leap to go from civil unions to gay marriage - I may be in the minority in believing that.

I look forward to the day that a lot of the folks that you all talk about and cover on this network will begin to market products for these families and for these kids coming out of junior high school and high school all across the country.

I am a huge supporter for cash for caulkers - which allows people to make improvement for energy efficient in their homes. We should do the same for Americans purchasing appliances and computers and for that matter, new air-conditioner and heating units.

I expect the Republicans will enjoy a large bounce out of their convention. They're here wrapping themselves in the 9/11 flag, which I think is inappropriate in many ways, but it's their choice.

I often have said to people that there are really two cities in the country where the outlook is always forward-looking - there is never really a backward-looking tendency. My banking work has taken me out to Palo Alto, what is commonly called Silicon Valley. And you sense out there is always a forward-looking outlook. And New York City.

I'm not comparing myself to Bobby Kennedy by any stretch, but he was opposed by the liberal establishment, too. Eleanor Roosevelt was the biggest opponent to him running.

I look forward to their convention and look forward to hearing the President talk about what he will do for the next four years. He hasn't done it up to this point.

The bureaucracy is not great. I don't think Rick Santorum who is not one for being a big proponent of large bureaucracies would be as enthusiastic a supporter of it.

You've got to either say you're going to cut taxes and find some spending cuts. I think we ought to reform long-term entitlement spending in the country, but you can't out of one side of your mouth say, 'Yes, we're for tax cuts, we're for spending discipline, and we're for bringing down the debt.'

I think if you socialize, dine with, spend time with known terrorists that are on the list of those who want to do harm to America, you put yourself in peril. I don't dine, socialize or spend time with people who are on the terrorist lists.

I think the potential for the program at the risk of sounding self-serving is large, some would say even limitless, so I'm excited about it and I think it can even pass next year.

I am not going to stop speaking out on behalf of policies that I think are right - regardless of ideology, party or political expediency.

I love New York, I love the smell of New York... I love the subway.

Lawmakers misrepresent the facts when they call the manufacturing deduction known as Section 199 - passed by Congress in 2004 to spur domestic job growth - a 'subsidy' for oil and gas firms. The truth is that all U.S. manufacturers, from software producers to filmmakers and coffee roasters, are eligible for this deduction.

The reality is we talk a lot about it, but we really don't give everyone an opportunity to buy into it, and this combines both the best of Republican and Democratic ideals.

My dad was a congressman, and he taught me at a very early age, 'They voted for me, they view me as theirs, and I am.' Our family's phone in Memphis was always listed. It rang all day and all night.

My appetite for public policy and changing it, and not only being a part of the conversation, but affecting it in a positive way, never diminished after 10 years in Congress.

I firmly believe that as voters come to learn more and more about John Kerry and learn more and more about his message that they're going to want a President who is willing to address the fact that we didn't have a post-war plan in Iraq.

If you are born into a family below the national median income, we provide you with an additional $500, and for every contribution made to a child's account below the national median income, we match it dollar for dollar - the federal government will.

So we have broad bipartisan support for the bill, and it's my hope that we can build on some of the things that have been talked about in Washington involving building a larger ownership society.

The U.S. economy and workers benefit from a strong, healthy relationship between government and business.

If your kids attend school and grades are up that will make $1,000 contributions to some 10,000 kids across the country, are challenging kids to learn foreign languages or challenging kids to get summer jobs or seek summer enrichment opportunities?

I am a Democrat. But I am an independent Democrat.

Republicans believe largely in the market working, Democrats believe stereotypically that you've got to give people something. So why not give people a chance to let the market work for them.

I refuse to do anything that would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Republicans.

I'm in an interracial marriage.

The U.S. economy and workers benefit from a strong, healthy relationship between government and business.

Some say I was disappointed when President Obama won, and that is absolute nonsense.

Killing terrorists is cheaper than capturing them.

Public service is a part of who I am, having grown up in a family of politicians.

I am a Yankees fan. I should say - have been to more Yankees games than Mets games.

One bipartisan policy tradition is to deny Americans the use of our own resources.

I believe that people take risk, and there are rewards if they do well; they should lose if they don’t.

Money is in politics, it's been there. I was in politics for 10 years, I had some of the worst ads run against me ever. I had some of the most money spent by a guy in my state running against me. That's not the issue. The issue is getting out and making the case for what we're going to do to create jobs and to make the economic situation for individual families better.