A biography for John Dickersonhasn’t been written yet.
“Mom would talk about Eric Sevareid and Murrow and Howard K. Smith the way other parents talk about sports figures.”
“Barack Obama's convention speech in 2004 had made him a political star, and he arrived in Iowa to crowds unseen in caucus history.”
“Campaigns maybe encourage us to pay attention to attributes that maybe aren't that important in the presidency.”
“The challenge with Donald Trump is that he'll deny things he said the day before or even in the same interview. And then sometimes when you try and talk about a fact that he misstated or something that he said out loud that he now disagrees with himself on, it's very frustrating.”
“When Barack Obama was asked about his lack of executive experience in 2008, he pointed to his successful campaign as proof he could manage the presidency.”
“I believe that Jesus Christ existed and that He died for my sins. And I believe that what He said in the Gospels is a model for the way I should try to lead my life and that I will always fall short of that and, therefore, need Him to redeem me.”
“Some of us do talk about women like objects, which dehumanizes them.”
“Would most politicians have gone to a meeting with someone advertised as being an agent of the Russian government?”
“After President Obama took office, his campaign book 'The Audacity of Hope' receded into his past fast. Its sweet, naive, bipartisan 'let's reason together' passages fell away, too.”
“You lose yourself in the to-do list and never tackle those big things you promised you would when the campaign came to an end.”
“The walls of our upstairs hallway testify that we once had photogenic children. There are rows of framed pictures that show them playing baseball, basketball, holding a toad, and smiling in the sunlight at their eager parents. Everything is orderly and bright.”
“When former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote his recent book, 'Duty', it was full of tough assessments and candor.”
“My instincts for asking questions is to press but not to be a jerk about it.”
“Today, campaigning isn't an 'interruption' but a permanent condition. Indeed, if you are a successful campaigner, it's expected you'll be a successful president.”