The president has promised greater border security. We can agree to that. A literal wall might not be the most effective means to that end, but we can provide the resources necessary to secure the border with smart and affordable measures.
— John McCain
We are an important check on the powers of the executive. Our consent is necessary for the president to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and, in many respects, to conduct foreign policy. Whether we are of the same party, we are not the president's subordinates. We are his equal!
To argue against the global economy is like stating opposition to the weather - it continues whether you like it or not.
I believe we should always put our country first.
A strong E.U., a strong NATO, and a true strategic partnership between them is profoundly in our interest.
Americans and Europeans share a common goal - to build an enduring peace based on freedom.
Putin's Russia is our adversary and moral opposite. It is committed to the destruction of the post-war, rule-based world order built on American leadership and the primacy of our political and economic values.
On Putin's order, Russia intervenes in Syria not to fight terrorists but to abet the war crimes of the Assad regime. Russian bombers deliberately target aid workers and hospitals. They threaten Syrian freedom fighters trained by the U.S. They are allied with our enemies in the Middle East and trying to weaken our friendships there.
What is most troubling about Mr. Putin's aggression in Crimea is that it reflects a growing disregard for America's credibility in the world. That has emboldened other aggressive actors - from Chinese nationalists to Al Qaeda terrorists and Iranian theocrats.
The U.S. never lost a battle against North Vietnam, but it lost the war.
I'm sick and tired of only being asked about everything that Donald Trump says or does.
But we should be mindful as we argue about our differences that so much more unites than divides us. We should also note that our differences, when compared with those in many, if not most, other countries, are smaller than we sometimes imagine them to be.
I thought I'd be president of the United States.
I believe in prayer. I pray every night.
I understand the sensitivity of issues regarding women in the military.
Americans want jobs. They want affordable health insurance. They want an education.
I'm proud of my record of reform, taking on my own party.
We all know spending levels for defense and other urgent priorities have been woefully inadequate for years. But we haven't found the will to work together to adjust them.
Our shared values define us more than our differences. And acknowledging those shared values can see us through our challenges today if we have the wisdom to trust in them again.
For America, our interests are our values, and our values are our interests.
Civic participation over a lifetime, working in neighborhoods and communities and service of all kinds - military and civilian, full-time and part-time, national and international - will strengthen America's civic purpose.
We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe that international action is necessary, whether military, economic, or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must also be willing to be persuaded by them.
The United States expects a lot of its partners and allies, including joint patrolling, significant contributions to armed conflicts, and a strict adherence to human rights, among other things.
On Putin's order, corrupt apparatchiks and crony oligarchs rob Russians of their nation's wealth and resources.
America's greatest strength has always been its hopeful vision of human progress.
For Mr. Putin, vacillation invites aggression. His world is a brutish, cynical place, where power is worshiped, weakness is despised, and all rivalries are zero-sum.
The French repulsed wave after wave of frontal attacks at Dien Bien Phu. The 1968 Tet offensive against the U.S. was a military disaster that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong. But Giap persisted and prevailed.
Political leaders are not and cannot reasonably be expected to be indifferent to the cruelest calumnies aimed at their character.
When you're not winning, you're losing.
When a president makes life and death decisions, he should draw strength and wisdom from broad and deep experience with the reasons for and the risks of committing our children to our defense. For no matter how many others are involved in the decision, the president is a lonely man in a dark room when the casualty reports come in.
On the issue of the gay marriage, I believe if people want to have private ceremonies, that's fine. I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.
We cannot have a separate group of people that are military and a separate civilian society. Otherwise, it's dangerous to democracy.
Sen. Obama comes from the old Chicago machine politics and has never taken on the special interests in his party on a major issue ever.
The first role of government is to help people who are in crisis or need. That's why we have government.
Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important. That's not how we were meant to govern.
Politics abhors a vacuum, and Asian countries will gravitate towards China if U.S. influence is perceived as declining.
Whenever America sends its citizens into harm's way, it must do so with eyes wide open.
Every day, people serve their neighbors and our nation in many different ways, from helping a child learn and easing the loneliness of those without a family to defending our freedom overseas. It is in this spirit of dedication to others and to our country that I believe service should be broadly and deeply encouraged.
Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed.
As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am confronted every day with the security concerns and threats to our own nation's safety, as well as threats to the rest of the world.
On Putin's order, Russian security services try to destabilize NATO allies the U.S. has sworn to defend.
The United States must look beyond Mr. Putin. His regime may appear imposing, but it is rotting inside. His Russia is not a great power on par with America. It is a gas station run by a corrupt, autocratic regime.
Countries, not just their armies, win wars.
Giap was a master of logistics, but his reputation rests on more than that. His victories were achieved by a patient strategy that he and Ho Chi Minh were convinced would succeed - an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties and the near total destruction of their country to defeat any adversary, no matter how powerful.
Public life has many more privileges than hardships.
When Barack Obama won in 2008, in 2009 I voted for his team because I think that - that the American people wanted him to have his team. But don't think I wasn't worried about it. Really worried.
I tell the same stories all the time because I like them!
Our society demands that women be treated equally and that we not discriminate against them.
Personally, I liked Admiral Kelso very much. I believe that he served his country with distinction.
I've tried to say that I admire and respect Sen. Obama. He has accomplished great things, and he has motivated people, and so - and he loves his country, just as I do.
