We have weakened the parties and strengthened all the special interests. — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
I don't hear any clear, coherent message [from Democrats]. I mean, when you're a party out of power, it's the time to… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
When the party holds the White House, all the political decisions are made in the White House. And being a party chair,… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Franklin Roosevelt had a pretty clear line. Ronald Reagan had a pretty clear line, people who rescue parties. — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Donald Trump has taken over the Republican Party. He's transformed the Republican Party. — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Now Republicans are a more interventionist party than they have been at any time since George W. Bush left office. — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Democrats can have a different version of the line, or they can just say, no, we are the party of international peace… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Steve Bannon went to the Conservative Political Action Conference and he said that there was a very important historical turning point, getting… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
[Donald] Trump, he - you know, buy American, buy American, anti-free trade, and got big cheers. They're waving Russian flags, probably partly… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The Democratic Party is a coalition. Its strength and its weakness is, it's a coalition of interest groups, caucuses. It's a lot… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
I think Democrats ought to be concerned, that the party has become almost prideful about the college-educated vote that it's getting, the… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The Republicans are looking at a country that is going to be a majority minority country in just over a generation. And… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The way to solve all the money in politics is not to pretend we can get money out of politics. That will… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Franklin Roosevelt ran on a balanced budget in 1932, and the greatest president, certainly, of the 20th century. So the idea that… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Kevin McCarthy, who is the House majority leader, was pretty open. He went out and recruited candidates. And the Republicans in the… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
But take the Russia issue. You open up the convention, and you have got a report that the Democratic Party has been… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
For many years, we have had these campaign finance reforms, and they have been failures. Money is more coursing through our system… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
Being a party chair, you really have a chance to make a difference. but what the Democrats have to do is recognize… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The other thing that has changed - and this is more detailed to CPAC than the general Republican Party - is they… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
I do think what the Tea Party also had was Obamacare and the unpopularity of that, at least at the time. And… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
I do think, over the last years, a lot of Republicans have decided it's not working, what the party believed in, free… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The Republicans have, with some pride - George W. Bush won the White House by promising to restore dignity to the Oval… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The Tea Party thing is only apt in some ways. The activism in the town halls, that looks superficially like it. But… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
It's tempting to remember that the Tea Party had a peak and then the Republican Party establishment sort of beat it back… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The final thing the Tea Party had was, they fed into the philosophy that Donald Trump now embodies. So they had a… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The Democrats have to do what he did when [Rahm Emanuel] was chairman of the Democratic House Campaign Committee, recruit veterans, recruit… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
It's fine to be an activist, but you're not - if you're not putting up candidates, if you're not getting political, if… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
The Sheldon Adelsons, the Koch brothers, the George Soroses, what we want to try to do is force them into the parties,… — Mark Shields Copy Share Image
I'm not sure Betsy DeVos has ever spent a day in a public school. And I don't - I'm pretty sure Donald Trump hasn't. — Mark Shields Copy Share
Donald Trump is sounding the same theme he has sounded since May or June of 2015. — Mark Shields Copy Share
I do look upon the secretary of education's primary responsibility as the quality of education that - and improving the education that every child… — Mark Shields Copy Share
Dan Coats, retiring senator from Indiana, a mild-mannered man, a former United States ambassador to Germany, former congressman, said of Ted Cruz he's the… — Mark Shields Copy Share
It's interesting how identity politics and Ann Coulter-style tactics have now blossomed. But they were always there in CPAC. — Mark Shields Copy Share
When you run for president of the United States, everybody does the same thing in the campaign-they talk about veterans, how much they admire… — Mark Shields Copy Share
Americans don't like powerful figures who punch down, that is, who pick on someone less powerful and less able to speak for themselves than… — Mark Shields Copy Share
Everyone has to take Donald Trump seriously, and I think that's what we're seeing. — Mark Shields Copy Share
Donald Trump defies gravity. And so I guess he has to be Donald Trump. It's gotten him so far. — Mark Shields Copy Share
My church [Catholisism] is hurting from arrogance and from its indifference to the suffering of children that were abused and the inclination of the… — Mark Shields Copy Share
I think Guantanamo, has been synonymous with the staining of American values and American legal tradition. — Mark Shields Copy Share
Stronger together is, I think, a preposition and a comparative adjective, but it's not really an action verb or what it is. — Mark Shields Copy Share
If you only make fights that you're going to win, there would be no women's vote in America, there would be no civil rights… — Mark Shields Copy Share
![“I don't hear any clear, coherent message [from Democrats]. I mean, when you're a party out of power, it's the time to be a national party chair.” quote by Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/f68/mark-shields-1572_chairs_i-don-t-hear-any-clear-coherent-message_2042551.png)
![“[Donald] Trump, he - you know, buy American, buy American, anti-free trade, and got big cheers. They're waving Russian flags, probably partly as a joke. But, still, the party has become an ethnic nationalist party.” quote by Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/3f1/mark-shields-1572_bigs_donald-trump-he-you-know-buy-american-bu_3085705.jpg)
![“Being a party chair, you really have a chance to make a difference. but what the Democrats have to do is recognize and accept the fact that they're at their lowest point [in 2017] since 1928 in the United States House of Representatives and their lowest point since 1925 in states.” quote by Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/ab7/mark-shields-1572_accepting_being-a-party-chair-you-really-have-a-ch_908715.png)
![“The other thing that has changed - and this is more detailed to CPAC than the general Republican Party - is they have always been an outsider, Ann Coulter, sort of protest style, a little ruder than most Republicans. And this goes back all the way to [Ronald] Reagan.” quote by Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/285/mark-shields-1572_changed_the-other-thing-that-has-changed-and-thi_2529094.png)
![“The Democrats have to do what he did when [Rahm Emanuel] was chairman of the Democratic House Campaign Committee, recruit veterans, recruit football players, recruit business people. And I think that's what the job of the new party chair has to be.” quote by Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/b0c/mark-shields-1572_ball-player_the-democrats-have-to-do-what-he-did-whe_2838657.png)
