Quotes from Joe Sestak

What this nation most wants, most yearns for, most needs is someone where people know, all Americans know, that even when they disagree well with him, he will always be accountable to them above one's party, above self and any special interest.

Americans want someone who is accountable to them above self, above party, and above any special interest. They want a President that has a depth of global experience to restore U.S. leadership to the world and to protect our American dream at home.

Trade is part of our national security.

Yes, I'll stand up to the party if they're wrong and they aren't going the right way for people in Pennsylvania. But I do believe in Democratic principles.

We need a president who will stand up for the CFPB and get it back into fighting shape. It is too important to be allowed to disintegrate.

We were rugged individualists in the Navy, but we all had health care.

We must make sure the stigma is removed around mental health and commanders must make it clear on a consistent basis that their door is open for everyone. Servicemembers need to know that command is there for them, to offer assistance however and wherever needed.

It's like I learned in the military: the officers always ate last. When you're responsible for people, that's how it should be.

I'm not beholden to one party or any special interests.

You can get so focused on a strategy and making it work that you lose sight of your larger mission.

If you lease a part of your soul in a campaign, Washington, D.C., and the establishment... will think they have an option to buy.

I don't want to be president if I have to win by outrage. I don't want to just win. I want to govern, and not just by executive order.

I understand the challenge with student loans. But what about the labor force, the enlisted men and women, so to speak, of ships. Those who work with their hands and their minds. We need to do what we do in the military, is we train and retrain.

I really believe, if I learned anything in the military, it was that I was accountable for my actions and I like to be part of the team that kind of brings that back to Washington, D.C. - not just responsibility, but accountability and being ready to lose my job over doing what's right.

The greatest brotherhood, sisterhood that I was ever a part of are veterans.

I do not agree with the use of 'signing statements' to effectively act as a line-item veto, except when the President believes a law or a provision within a law is unconstitutional.In general, if a President signs a law, they are committing themselves to enforcing it. If they don't believe it should become a law, they should veto it.

I wore the cloth of the nation for over 31 years in peace and war, from the Vietnam and Cold War eras, to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the emergence of China.

The Democratic Party has been perceived to have a deficit of credibility on defense issues since the Vietnam War, unfairly or not.

I think we do stand in this nation for equal rights for everybody.

Our 21st-century world is an incredibly dangerous one. Between brutal civil wars, violent extremism, spreading autocracy, rising inequality, territorial expansionism, election interference, and nuclear proliferation, our policymakers have their hands full.

We did more to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions with a computer virus than we ever could have with bombs (and we did still more with diplomacy - the abandonment of which is also bad for our military, because militaries can only stop a problem, not fix a problem).