Jacob Weisberg quotes

The book has had a good run. For 550 years, it was the most practical way to deliver writing to multiple readers. (Jacob Weisberg)
Libertarianism, the political philosophy of rugged individualism, ought to hold a natural appeal to tolerant, anti-statist, free-trade conservatives who deplore the turn taken by the party of Abraham Lincoln toward racial prejudice, authoritarianism, and mercantilism. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Members of the middle class do not have to worry about falling off $250,000 sailboats because they don't have $250,000 sailboats to fall off of. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Thanks to Twitter, I learn about the revolutions in the Middle East via Arab activists and writers, not just from American foreign correspondents. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
The invasion of Iraq was, in ways that have since become hard to dispute, a terrible mistake. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
The cradle-to-grave welfare state diminishes individual initiative and can breed a pervasive sclerosis. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Israel never meant to take over the West Bank and Gaza - it got stuck with them after the 1967 war. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Not applying a religious test for public office means that people of all faiths are allowed to run - not that views about God, creation, and the moral order are inadmissible for political debate. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Political assumptions can remain constant for long periods and then change very quickly. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
To count as transformative, a president needs to synthesize the moment and mood of the country. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
The conservative position that all spending is evil obliterates any distinction between investment and consumption, between the long-term and the short-term. (Jacob Weisberg)
Book collecting is a largely solitary, mostly male, and completely absorbing activity. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
The leader who loves books that tell him he is great and right may be worse than the leader who does not love books at all. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
It's tempting to dismiss the debate about the National Security Agency spying on Americans as a technical conflict about procedural rights. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
You may or may not agree with Obama's policy prescriptions, but they are, by and large, serious attempts to deal with the biggest issues we face: a failing health care system, oil dependency, income stagnation, and climate change. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Southern Republicans are guided by the Bible. Western Republicans read the Constitution. Seen in historical terms, it's the difference between a movement descended from George Wallace and one that harks back to Barry Goldwater. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
If the creators of cartoons are intentionally or unintentionally giving children the idea that gay people are part of the big, happy human family, that's a good thing, not a bad one. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Essential to the self-image of conservatives is the notion that they are enemies of an established orthodoxy, insurgents against the dogmatic political correctness that predominates on the Left. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Trade, tourism, cultural exchange, and participation in international institutions all serve to erode the legitimacy of repressive regimes. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
To describe Peter Thiel as simply a libertarian wildly understates the case. His belief system is based on unapologetic selfishness and economic Darwinism. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Political analysts tend to overinterpret the results of isolated elections. (Jacob Weisberg)
Vietnam was a terrible mistake for the United States. But like Iraq, Vietnam was a badly chosen battlefield in a larger conflict with totalitarianism that America had no choice but to pursue. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Where Republicans encourage popular myths about taxes, spending, and climate change, Democrats tend to stoke our fantasies about the sustainability of entitlement spending as well as about the cost of new programs. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Professional politicians often claim they are not professional politicians. Trump genuinely isn't one. View quote
Jacob Weisberg
Americans are defined by a history of immigration in pursuit of freedom and opportunity. We are more individualistic, enterprising, and protective of liberties that most Europeans do not expect, such as owning guns, working 70-hour weeks, or appreciating nature as it goes by at 60 mph on a snowmobile. View quote
Jacob Weisberg