Mark Shields
Mark Shields
Mark Shieldsis an American political columnist and commentator...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth25 May 1937
CountryUnited States of America
sports two elbows
Politics is a contact sport - a question of accepting an elbow or two.
hurt children arrogance
My church [Catholisism] is hurting from arrogance and from its indifference to the suffering of children that were abused and the inclination of the leadership to protect the institution, rather than the children.
cities community african-american
There's no question that there's been a breach in the trust between urban - especially urban community, African-American and minority communities and the police in major American cities.
thinking special majority
They're still a subject beholden to special interests, but at least they have a national constituency. At least they have to think about national majorities.
littles nervous funding
I'm a little nervous about public funding. It's better than what we got now.
ideas beneficiaries no-idea
[In politics] when A goes after B and there's a C, and D and a Q all lined up there, you have no idea who's going to be the beneficiary.
strong home america
Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power.
party special interest
We have weakened the parties and strengthened all the special interests.
party thinking way
The way to solve all the money in politics is not to pretend we can get money out of politics. That will never happen. We have to channel it in ways where we can see it and hold it accountable. And I think the parties are the best vehicle for that.
mean weekend vegas
I saw money change votes.I mean, they just seem unaware of this, that money is something - if they want to see the appearance of corruption, all they had to do was look in Las Vegas last weekend.
subsidies pay corporations
The corporations who invest in lobbyists, it pays in terms of tax loopholes, tax subsidies, all the rest. It pays. Clearly, the money has a big effect.
brother party kissing
The Sheldon Adelsons, the Koch brothers, the George Soroses, what we want to try to do is force them into the parties, not so that Kasich or whoever is going to straight to them and trying to kiss up to special interests, but so the parties have the power and they can direct the money.
giving president dues
Let's give the president some due.
crush party thinking
For many years, we have had these campaign finance reforms, and they have been failures. Money is more coursing through our system than ever before. Incumbents have used the laws to advantage themselves. And one of the reasons I think they have been failures is we have tried to crush down the money in places like the political parties, and it has squished out into opaque super PACs and sort of hidden channels.