29+ Joe Klein Quotes On Education, Politics And Constitution

Joe Klein is an American journalist and political commentator who is best known for his novel Primary Colors, which was a roman à clef about the 1992 presidential election. He is also a columnist for Time magazine and has written extensively on American politics, culture, and foreign policy. He is a regular contributor to CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and is the author of several books, including Politics Lost and The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Joe Klein on education, leadership, politics.

Top 10 Joe Klein Quotes

1. Novel writing should never be confused with journalism. Unfortunately, in the case of Primary Colors, a fair number of journalists confused.
2. Dictating to dictators doesn't work; they are congenitally delusional about their own indispensability.
3. Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel.
4. Anonymous sources are a practice of American journalism in the 20th and 21st century, a relatively recent practice. The literary tradition of anonymity goes back to the Bible.
5. You can't get all of your news from Jon Stewart, especially since it's a comedy show.
6. For those of us who consider ourselves political moderates, life is a dispiriting slog, a sorry mix of rectitude and ineptitude.
7. We journalists are never so idiotic as when we analyze things that we shouldn't be analyzing.
8. You can be as critical as you want of Black Lives Matter. I'm critical of him, too. But to say that they have caused shooting of police officers, I think is a bridge too far.
9. George W. Bush will surely deserve that woolliest of all peace prizes, the Nobel.
10. We should never go to war unless we have been attacked or are under direct, immediate threat of attack. Never. And never again.

Joe Klein Quotes About Politics

For the past several years, I've been harboring a fantasy, a last political crusade for the baby-boom generation. We, who started on the path of righteousness, marching for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam, need to find an appropriately high-minded approach to life's exit ramp. — Joe Klein

I came to political consciousness with John F. Kennedy's magnificent 1961 Inaugural Address. It seemed the start of something fresh and exciting, and it was. — Joe Klein

I've been described as a grizzled political veteran. — Joe Klein

Joe Klein Famous Quotes And Sayings

For me, a really radical position for journalism to take is to stop being cynical. Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre. — Joe Klein

Barack Obama's inspirational whoosh to the presidency in 2008 was unusual. Most campaigns are less exhilarating; indeed, they are downright disappointing - until someone wins. — Joe Klein

The Democrats current crudeness is a function of their desperation, and the imminent ratification of Howard Dean, the least charming presidential candidate in recent memory, as their party chairman only serves to punctuate the problem. — Joe Klein

I think that if you make a strong statement of principle, even if the folks disagree with you, people will respect you for it. — Joe Klein

Bill Clinton gives the appearance of taking stands-for some sort of tax cut, some sort of welfare reform, some sort of balanced budget-but these are ploys, mirages: they exist only to undermine positions taken by the Republicans. He doesn't fight for anything substantive-except of course, re-election. ...He has fallen into the dangerous habit of lip synching the presidency: he gives the appearance of leadership, but not the substance. — Joe Klein

You know, larger than life is always better than smaller than life in politicians. And, you know, God save us from mediocrities. — Joe Klein

I believe, I believe that the people who voted in those primaries for Donald Trump were at least helping him along with his message of hate toward immigrants, toward Muslims. — Joe Klein

What do you do in a novel? You take recognizable characters from your own life, and you fantasize about what they're really like. — Joe Klein

Political courage requires clarity. The Obama Administration chose the tortured route of arguing the legality of the individual mandate via the interstate commerce clause for one simple reason: it did not want to take the political risk of allowing opponents to call it a tax increase. That was stupid. The Republicans were calling it a tax increase anyway. — Joe Klein

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre. — Joe Klein

I got into journalism because I came of age in the '60s. It just seemed one way for me to get things done. — Joe Klein

Americans who feel the most ignored these days are not the screamers. They are the solid citizens who are sick to death of pols who play to the rant. — Joe Klein

We`re facing a very different sort of threat now, a more amorphous threat, al Qaeda, terrorism, and so on. And so the military has abandoned the two-war strategy. — Joe Klein

You know, larger-than-life politicians have larger-than-life strengths and larger-than-life weaknesses. — Joe Klein

The two-war strategy was a product of the cold war, when we had to have the ability to fight the Russians on the plains of Europe and fight the Chinese on the Korean peninsula at the same time. That costs an awful lot of money. — Joe Klein

I believe that poverty is often the result of inappropriate behavior - out-of-wedlock births, dropping out of school, crime and drugs - which should not be rewarded. But often it isn't, and common decency requires that we take care of the least of these. — Joe Klein

Life Lessons by Joe Klein

1. Joe Klein's work highlights the importance of having a strong moral compass and being willing to speak truth to power.
2. He demonstrates the value of staying informed and being willing to ask tough questions in order to uncover the truth.
3. Joe Klein's work demonstrates the power of journalism to bring about social change and to hold those in power accountable.