Mark Shields
Mark Shields
Mark Shieldsis an American political columnist and commentator...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth25 May 1937
CountryUnited States of America
insiders
Politics, they all - talked to the insiders.
lonely skills office
The people who are rising, they're super ambitious. They have relationships with people above them. They have relationships, hierarchical, sort of people below them. A lot of people do not have relationships horizontally. And there's a lot of people who reach high political offices, but who are weirdly lonely, weirdly lacking in intimacy skills.
leader political democracy
There is nothing more basic to our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders.
cities flood
Washington is a city of money. It's a flood of money.
feet speak stirrups
He who speaks the truth must keep one foot in the stirrup.
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.
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.
party special interest
We have weakened the parties and strengthened all the special interests.
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.
apples bites
You really have one bite at the apple.
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.
american-journalist both trying
George Bush is trying to play it both ways.
american-journalist
I didn't realize the president was such an historian.
american-journalist dozens interests issues occupy stretched
The important thing to understand about legislators is that there are dozens of competing interests and issues that occupy them. They are stretched thin.