Quotes from Chris Matthews

My audience is much more center right, or centrist.

I see some parallels [with Barack Obama] but I don't see the leadership that this guy [John F.Kennedy] had of other men and women. It's more than being the smartest guy in room.

I think, like Ronald Reagan, in another way, in a secular way, John Paul II was a great communicator, but he was also a man of deep conviction.

The Indians are still winning the battle against the white men, but sooner or later, the white guy will win.

Those who saw Pope John Paul II either in person or through the mass media glimpsed a man who millions of Catholics believe may be one of the greatest popes in the history of the church.

The big lie is that the people who make a lot of money were the only ones that worked hard.

The last person to be beatified by Pope John Paul II was Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 2003.

I don't sense an [Barack] Obama party. I think politics is transactional for him.

Hillary Clinton follows a cardinal rule in politics - don't commit to a decision before you have to.

If you want to play a game, go to where it's played and find a way to get in. Things happen when you get in the game.

Once it was suggested that Saddam Hussein might give his weaponry to terrorists, or might use weapons himself in the region, then it became hard for the Democrats to say, 'Well, that can't happen.'

The fact is he [John F.Kennedy] always had to have somebody around besides Jackie [Kennedy]. Whatever their relationship, he wanted company. I think it gets back to all those years in a hospital bed.

The president of the United States, whoever it is, deserves a certain level of reverence and respect just because of the office he holds.

It doesn't serve an American interest. It really doesn't really serve Israeli interests - it serves the interests of the political party that's getting the votes of the settlers on the West Bank.

The pope has been called many things, historic figure, spiritual leader, moral force. But a growing chorus of voices has begun to refer to him as John Paul II the Great, in other words, as a saint.

His [John Paul II] humanity, combined with his extraordinary spiritual authority, was unlike anything I've ever met.

Toastmasters changed my life. They really did. Put me on the stage. I don't know what I would have done without that positive boost.

I don't know why his lawyers didn't tell him, 'You don't have to answer any questions about your private life, Mr. President. Let them sue you. Take the heat. You don't have to answer.'

Sarah Palin - now don't laugh - is writing a book. Not just reading a book, writing a book. Actually, in the word of the publisher, she's 'collaborating' on a book. What an embarrassment! It's one of these 'I told you,' books that jocks do.

Keep your enemies in front of you.

The Democrats just don't have a foreign policy that they're willing to defend, that they're willing to use to take down the president's. We're dealing with the power of suggestion here.

I tell my staff, we're riding a tour bus around, and we're going to stop and look at some weird stuff - but we're taking our viewers around safely. They're just looking out the window at it. I'm trying to create a sense of comfort for my center audience.

Keep you enemies in front of you.

It's a fact of life that positive reasons don't always get people to vote. You need some negative reasons.