Jim Webb

“I have decided to launch an Exploratory Committee to examine whether I should run for President in 2016.”

“There is nothing that's been in any of my novels that, in my view, hasn't been either illuminating surroundings or defining a character or moving a plot.”

“I was counsel on the full veterans committee, the first Vietnam veteran to serve as a full-committee counsel in Congress. It stunned me that there was a 600,000-case backlog of claims. During my time in the Senate, it became 900,000.”

“I learned long ago on the battlefields of Vietnam that in a crisis, there is no substitute for clear-eyed leadership.”

“I just like the people and the culture of Southeast Asia.”

“The frustration of the Senate is that it's slow. It looks like an aquarium.”

“I was the principal negotiator for the Department of Defense, when I was secretary of the Navy, on the issue of Toshiba technology concerns with American submarines.”

“Secretary Clinton and I have worked well together, but the Arab Spring is a different question... This administration, collectively, made some very bad decisions, and they now have to climb out of a deep hole.”

“I have strong reasons for being a Democrat. Basically if you want true fairness in society, you want to give a voice in the corridors of power for the people who otherwise would not have it, I believe that will come from the Democratic Party.”

“I believe anger is a wasted emotion, and I don't like to waste emotions.”

“The POW camps of North Vietnam were packed with Air Force and Naval Academy graduates. The six midshipmen in my Naval Academy class of 1968 who served as liaisons between the Marine Corps and the Brigade of Midshipmen later suffered nine Purple Hearts in Vietnam, and one man killed in action.”

“I'm a combative person, I know I am, and the greatest thing about law school was I learned to fight with my brain. I clarified something to myself. No matter how much you want to live in the white man's world, you either live by what you believe in, or you die.”

“A typical day in the Senate requires several trips to the Senate floor and back, although the journey is usually underground so that on some days, once I arrive at work, I never see the sun.”

“I know of no scholar more dedicated to bringing a thorough and accurate portrayal of America's involvement in Vietnam than Mark Moyar. Everyone who is interested in a full picture of that oft-misunderstood war should be grateful for his effort.”

“If I do commit myself to something, I will commit myself 100 percent.”

“History shows that you can't - you can't have security in Southeast Asia without security in Northeast Asia. It's just the reality.”

“The NAACP believes the Tea Party is racist. The Tea Party believes the NAACP is racist.”

“My father served 26 years in the Air Force as a pilot and a pioneer in our missile programs. I learned early about the sacrifices a family makes when a member is repeatedly deployed, and also the fulfillment that comes from serving our country. My brother, my son and I all became Marines.”

“Affirmative action was designed to recognize the uniquely difficult journey of African-Americans. This policy was justifiable and understandable, even to those who came from white cultural groups that had also suffered in socio-economic terms from the Civil War and its aftermath.”

“It's a very tough thing to run for office, but it's also the way the American people get to know you.”