Political Responsibilities
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- Now that the Olympics are over, we need to watch the behavior of the Russians. And I believe the president needs to up his game and send a clear, unequivocal, public message to Putin not to interfere in what is happening in Ukraine.
- Now, here's a good question: should serious people focus on global political instability – terrorism, failing states, nuclear weapons – or should we focus on global climate instability – droughts, floods, extreme weather? Here's the correct answer: yes, both, because climate disruption will make every other national security problem worse.
- A lot of Democrats have said that raising the minimum wage is both good economics and good politics. The nonpartisan CBO issued a report today saying that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would cost the economy about 500,000 jobs…Why should we trust Democrats on anything when they couldn’t have foreseen that this would be the case?
- There is no debate in the scientific community…We need [Congress] to change things, not to deny what's happening.
- I don't think Edward Snowden deserves a death penalty or life in prison. I think that's inappropriate. I think that's why he fled, [because] that is what he faced.
- I feel it is our inherent duty as a humane society, above any intangible responsibility, to invest in our world's children's potential, passion and confidence.
- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg apparently called President Obama directly to complain about NSA and how it spies on ordinary Americans. That's right, the guy who runs Facebook got mad at the NSA for spying on people. Talk about the pot unfriending the kettle!
- All political movements are like this: we are in the right, everyone else is in the wrong. The people on our own side who disagree with us are heretics, and they start becoming enemies. With it comes an absolute conviction of your own moral superiority. There's oversimplification in everything, and a terror of flexibility.
- Far too often, the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side’s outpost against the other – it should function as a bridge between them.
- We have got to be advising our male candidates. We cannot have any stupid comments this year. No stupid comments!
- There is one lesson from the past, in particular, that we cannot afford to ignore: You cannot make progress on gender equality or broader human development without safeguarding women’s reproductive health and rights.
- You can't treat Russia like a guilty schoolboy who has to put a cross on a piece of paper to show he has done his homework. That kind of language is unacceptable.