Michael Kinsley quotes

I have a saying: the scandal isn't what's illegal, the scandal is what's legal. (Michael Kinsley)
A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth - some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say. View quote
Michael Kinsley
Donald Trump is a fascist. ... Not in the sense of an all-purpose bad guy, but in the sense of somebody who sincerely believes that the toxic combination of strong government and strong corporations should run the nation and the world. He spent his previous career negotiating with the government on behalf of corporations; now he has switched teams. But it's the same game. View quote
Michael Kinsley
Ambition can never be naked in a political campaign, it must be clothed in deceit. View quote
Michael Kinsley
Conservatives are always looking for converts, whereas liberals are always looking for heretics. View quote
Michael Kinsley
He's nice enough not to want to be associated with a nasty remark but not nice enough not to make it. Lacking the courage of one's nastiness does not make one nice. View quote
Michael Kinsley
It wouldn't be fair to say that conservatives cherish property the way liberals cherish equality. But it would be fair to say that the takings clause is the conservatives' recipe for judicial activism just as they say liberals have misused the equal protection clause. View quote
Michael Kinsley
The takings clause of the Fifth Amendment is for conservatives what the equal protection clause of the 14th is for liberals. View quote
Michael Kinsley
Bad principles are not a good substitute for no principles. View quote
Michael Kinsley
The logic is often far-fetched - how does medical marijuana affect interstate commerce? - and some conservatives would like judges to start throwing out federal laws wholesale on commerce clause grounds. The court once again said no thanks. View quote
Michael Kinsley
They can't take your house and give it to the mayor's mistress, even if they pay you for it. But they can, apparently, take your house and tear it down to make room for a development of trendy shops and restaurants, a hotel and so on. (Michael Kinsley)
One answer is that the town's elected officials thought that the project served a public purpose and that the various subsidies and favors were worth the price. But they may or may not have thought this. View quote
Michael Kinsley
Conservatives and liberals alike have been waiting for this moment for a third of a century. View quote
Michael Kinsley
In those days, the late 1970s, one of the leading politicians was a soon-to-be uncle by marriage of Arnold Schwarzenegger, named Ted Kennedy. View quote
Michael Kinsley
Of course, conservatives always claim to be against judicial activism. View quote
Michael Kinsley
So the danger of conservative judicial activism has been averted for another year. Stay tuned. View quote
Michael Kinsley
The case decided on Thursday, though, seemed promising to takings fans because it wasn't about compensation. It was about the requirement that any government taking must have a 'public purpose.' View quote
Michael Kinsley
If sexual intercourse, as the poets tell us, began in 1963, it was another decade and a half before the American political system began to take notice. View quote
Michael Kinsley
In any event, the proper question isn't what a journalist thinks is relevant but what his or her audience thinks is relevant. Denying people information they would find useful because you think they shouldn't find it useful is censorship, not journalism. View quote
Michael Kinsley
The definition of a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth. View quote
Michael Kinsley
In 1977, at least, he wished to have people believe that he shared and was proud of an attitude toward women that is not acceptable in a politician. In 2003, all he has said is that he doesn't remember the interview. (Michael Kinsley)