Lamar Alexander

“Put too many one-size-fits-all jackets on Americans and the place explodes.”

“There are a growing number of conservatives and Republicans who, while they support the president and support the war in Iraq, wonder how many of these nation-building wars we're going to engage in and what the parameters of that are.”

“We hear a lot about rebuilding Detroit, and we just spent $70 billion to bail out the auto industry - well, they need to be cost competitive, too. If they have high-cost energy, those suppliers are going to move to Japan or Mexico instead of Michigan and Tennessee.”

“In the Senate, where 60 votes are required to do anything important, you have to work with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle.”

“The composition of the primary is so different than when I was first elected governor in 1978.”

“To power the country by building 186,000 fifty-story wind turbines - and running 19,000 miles of new transmission lines - just seems impractical and preposterous compared to the idea of building a hundred new nuclear facilities primarily on the sites we already have.”

“I think we do better as a country when we go step by step toward a goal, and the goal in this case should be reducing health care costs.”

“I think higher education is over-regulated.”

“I think there's plenty of evidence that we need to stop spewing so much carbon into the air, that we're contributing to climate change and that we ought to look for alternatives.”

“Primarily, we need to change 100 years of thinking, where we try to extend the promise of American life by moving things to Washington, and let's move it the other way: less of Washington, more from ourselves.”

“I think, I think we need a Republican president from the real world to remind ourselves sometimes of what we need to do.”

“I remember when President Bush, George W. Bush, came into office, he focused on No Child Left Behind, and with - and before very long, suddenly, Republicans were thought of as being as interested and as competent in education as Democrats, and why? Because they were talking about it and doing something about it.”

“It is a rare American who does not have some story about how music has made our lives richer and more interesting, how it has changed our moods, brought out the best in our character and even sometimes helped us earn a living.”

“Well, here's what I think. I mean, the people are saying, 'We don't want it,' and the Democrats are saying, 'We don't care. We're going to pass it anyway.' And so for the next three months, Washington will be consumed with the Democrats trying to jam this through in a very messy procedure an unpopular health care bill.”

“As Governor, I could think of only one way to unify our State that was made up of so many different climates, political beliefs and people, and that was our music.”

“When I get close to an election, I look to 'Lamar Alexander's Little Plaid Book' for inspiration.”

“If Mr. Bush and Mr. Forbes don't get most of the votes, they should be arrested for wasting money.”

“If you have a solution to immigration, it is possible to come home and defend it.”

“Sooner or later, I need to begin to do what any candidate does in a presidential race; I need to begin to win.”

“I need to know the price of a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs. I need to know right now.”