I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics.

President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.

In every election in American history both parties have their cliches. The party that has the cliches that ring true wins.

So I'd be quite happy to have a three-hour Lincoln-Douglas-style debate with Barack Obama. I'd let him use a teleprompter. I'll just rely on knowledge. We'll do fine.

I'm not a natural leader. I'm too intellectual I'm too abstract I think too much.

We tried to have diplomas without learning, we tried to have jobs without work, we tried to have houses without savings, we tried to have government without responsibility.

The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.

Only the elites despise earning money.

One morning, just like 9/11, there's going to be a disaster. I have yet to see the United Nations do anything effective with either Iran or North Korea.

I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office.