327 Quotes by Chris Matthews

The author deduces the best way James Baker serve Reagan as Chief of Staff was to continually remind him why he wanted to be president.

In politics there is a large difference between loosing and being defeated.

Each man had come to know the other's caricature as a lie.

In politics, nothing good ever comes from the unexpected.

The author, at the time a Carter speechwriter in the 1980 campaign, showed visible distress at his boss's performance and was warned by a friend in the traveling press, lest he become the story.

The author attributes part of the Carter-Reagan divide to their respective attitudes toward the city from which they governed. Carter was deeply suspicious of its coziness. Reagan intended to enjoy his temporary home even while delivering it from its reigning ideology.

The author defines professionalism as exemplified by his subjects in their mutual unwillingness to take expected opposition personally. They would not allow grudges to get in the way of more important business.

It's not such a bad idea, at any time, to be seen as FIGHTING, especially when you might just win.

Even the bureaucracy does not shatter the stillness.