John R. Bolton citations

“…as I followed his [candidate Obama] obsession with restructuring our entire domestic way of life, it became completely clear to me that our willful ignoring of national-security policy was going to cost us…I was watching what was happening in 2008, and I thought, How can this be?”

“I think this [Obama] administration, if its policies were pursued for an extended period of time, would take us into decline, but there's nothing wrong with this country that a real president couldn't cure.”

“[Recalling George H. W. Bush's Secretary of State James Baker:]…the best secretary of state since Dean Acheson. I say that because he and Bush 41 had an incredibly tempestuous period in history, and they navigated through it with great success.”

“Individual liberty is the whole purpose of political life, and I thought it was threatened then [in 1964 becoming politically engaged at age 15] and I think it's threatened now.”

“People have said to me, 'Well, if you ran you might get more speaking appearances, and you could sell another book.' Frankly, that's the last thing on my mind. If I get in, I'll get in to win.”

“… it's absolutely critical that we have a more informed debate on foreign and national-security policy than we've had the last two years. [regarding first half of Obama term]”

“There were a lot of people who were Reaganauts going in, as there are always people who are conservatives going in. But they don't act like conservatives after they get there. There is skill to maneuvering the bureaucracy. And I think one argument I could make would be, I've never run for office, I'm not a conventional politician, that's for sure, but I have been in government, and I know how it works. I have actually gotten things done in the government.”

“[On entitlements:] I think we've got to go after them root and branch…if we're ever gonna do it, this is the time to do it.”

“What's needed in this next campaign is to say, with clarity, why a pro-individual-liberty, small-government perspective is what most Americans really want.”

“I'm against abortion as a form of birth control, and I basically hold to the Reagan position.”

“[Recalling Bill Clinton, a Yale University classmate:] I remember him as very gregarious, never in class, always talking to someone out in the hallway or in the dining room or something like that. I remember her (Hillary Rodham Clinton) as very rigid, unfriendly, hard-core left-winger.”

“I've heard over and over that people don't vote on the basis of foreign policy.”

“The critical oil and natural gas producing region that we fought so many wars to try and protect our economy from the adverse impact of losing that supply or having it available only at very high prices.”

“The only thing that will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons is regime change in Tehran.”

“[On the Tea Party:] I like it because their view of government is essentially the same as mine, and I like it because they're regular people who, but for the shock of Obama's radicalism, probably would not have gotten active in politics.”