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" During my time as a political strategist, one of the most vexing problems was figuring out why so many people vote against their perceived interests. "

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" When you run for president, and become president, they just rip you apart. Every facade of privacy that you have is gone. I think everybody believes that, to some extent, you can maintain privacy. And I think in the end, everybody gets proven wrong. "

" Conservatives literally view it as a kind of a weakness to talk to people other than their own. Nothing would bore me more than to sit around talking and listening to a bunch of liberals all day. "

" I always find it offensive when people say God showers riches on you if you're good. "

" I made the argument that every growing demographic in this country - nonwhite voters, younger people - is trending Democratic. It's a ticking time bomb for the GOP. That's why I felt safe in saying that 'Republicans have no hope of making serious inroads into Democratic advantages in 2010 or likely 2012 or 2014 and so on.' "

" You have to have sharp elbows if you want to change something. "

" If you want to believe that the government's coming for our guns or that being gay is a choice and a sin or that ObamaCare signals the end of civilization or that cutting taxes for rich people is the path to a better America, that's your choice. I'm never going to believe in any of that. "

" I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty - whatever my personal misgivings - to stick by him. "

" Over the course of history, governments, political regimes, and leaders have done some stupid things despite all arguments to the contrary, at times even against their own self-interest. "

" I had a remarkably happy childhood; whatever scars I have are self-inflicted. "

Happy Childhood

" The only person that ever stumbles is a guy moving forward. You don't stumble backwards; you stumble forward, and you never stumble when you're stationary. So don't worry about stumbling. Keep pushing it forward. "

" When you become famous, being famous becomes your profession. "

" But I'd rather not predict. I'd rather affect. "

" We say there are people who have worked in campaigns who say that they have lost some - and we call those folks operatives, managers, strategists, consultants; and then there are people who work in campaigns and say that they have never lost, and we call them liars. "

" Like a lot of people, I pray for a sick relative or that kind of thing, but I don't pray to make my next flight connection at the airport. I find prayers before sports contests to be insensitive and kind of demeaning, at least when someone prays to beat the other team or something like that. "

" I tell my students that the single most powerful thing that we have in this country - something that literally harbors no dissent and no questioning - is the all-powerful elite narrative. "

" When you dehumanize a group, there's lasting consequences because they know that they're being dehumanized. "

" Drag a $100 bill through a trailer camp and there's no telling what you will find. "

" Sometimes the right thing gets done for the wrong reason and sometimes, unfortunately, the wrong thing gets done for the right reason. "

The Right Thing

" When one has retired from the ranks of American domestic political consulting, as I have, you are not really allowed to just quit. You become emeritus, of counsel, senior status, and God knows what. "

" The thing I love about politics and sports is that there is an end goal - winning - and there are indeed winners and losers. "

" My favorite Saturday, outside any Saturday that Louisiana State University plays football, is the Kentucky Derby. "

" It's our heritage: we Democrats, we dream a lot. "

" My high school job was putting insulation in attics - in Louisiana in the summer. It must have been 95 degrees every day, and the insulation used to get all over me. It was not fun. But I didn't know any different. It wasn't like I was spending summers on Cape Cod. "

" If a statesman is one who looks to the next generation and a politician one who looks to the next election, a political consultant must be one who looks to the next tracking poll. "