Top 66 Ari Melber Quotes

Political operatives don’t tend to be existentialists. They do know, however, that if a supporter doesn’t vote, then his or her opinion does not make a sound – or a difference.

Iowa has long been heralded as a bulwark against the money and media that dominate the modern presidential race. Its caucus requires voters in every precinct to actually gather in a room, at one time, and listen to neighbors pitch their chosen candidates, before they are allowed to vote.

Iowa is especially critical for underdog and cash-strapped campaigns, because the caucus system relies on grassroots organizing, enabling candidates with time for retail politicking to beat better-funded rivals. So underdogs usually seize on the state.

I was more interested in journalism and fact-finding than other things, so I didn’t plan to work 30 years as a lawyer.

Shareholders, of course, have every right to weigh in on whether (or how) they want a company to exercise political influence.

It’s hard to be a national punch line unless lots of voters have soured on you.

My hope is to be a trusted utensil for viewers. Like, literally, ‘That thing works. I can rely on that thing.’

Barack Obama was first elected after a period of profound failure by elite and government institutions, from finance to foreign policy to Hurricane Katrina, and his first term immediately and unapologetically enacted a flurry of government solutions.

From the Fourth Amendment to post-Watergate reforms to the national outcry when Bush’s warrantless surveillance was revealed in 2005, the United States has a strong tradition of overseeing the government’s power to spy on its citizens.

I remember buying The Fugees’ ‘The Score’ my freshman year and feeling like this whole new world and this whole new conversation was opening up to me.

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of American history knows that unchecked spying undermines democracy and public trust.

Law and politics are often overly complicated because there are people that don’t want the rest of us to know what’s going on.

Obama must scrutinize and disassemble the post-Sept. 11 imperial presidency, even if he reduces his own power in the process.

In American politics, there’s a recurring fantasy, nurtured by the press, about ‘courageous’ politicians who do the right thing against their political interest. But really, isn’t it even more encouraging when the right thing has just become good politics?

I think politics is always about dialogue. I think journalism ranges from dialogue to monologue, and there are times when different poles are necessary.

There’s a great deal of enthusiasm about quality, serious journalism. And some of it relates to personalities because it’s people who do the news. But I think it reflects a real desire for facts, real news and reporting.

There are a lot of things that people learn and live through culture first, and politics comes afterward.

In politics, your opponent can be far more important than your vision.

Confronting Republicans can definitely mobilize a disaffected Democratic base.

Good lawyering is usually cerebral and impersonally. You can convince a judge with a mastery of facts, detail, and precedent – not a story from the gut about how you feel a certain way.

Hypocrites are more enraging than extremists, as every campaign operative knows.

Democracy functions better when donors push politicians to win campaigns based on their defining issues instead of using financial pressure for policy changes, favors, or special access.

My job is to be accurate and clear.

TV ads are great for broadcasting, but voter turnout is about narrow-casting. And not all messengers are created equal.

My favorite rappers are a lot of other people’s favorite rappers. I love Jay Z, Kanye, 2Pac, Biggie, old Mos Def.

It always rankled me – in law school and the legal profession – when lawyers would speak to each other in their own exclusive language.

Younger viewers have a very strong detector for what’s real and legit and what’s phony or pandering.

President Obama does not usually accuse Republicans of being too hawkish.

Why do Tea Party backers oppose abortion at higher rates than their traditional GOP cohort? Religion.

I do listen to Drake.

When controversy calls, corporations can be far more responsive than politicians. The market votes every day, after all.

TV is still a ‘push’ medium – we are broadcasting into any home or business with basic cable, and depending on what’s happening in the world, we have a wider audience, from news junkies to very sporadic viewers. On TV, you want your reporting to be valuable to that entire audience and be relevant.

Historically, the most favorably viewed figure in any administration is the first lady, regardless of her husband’s popularity. That is largely because first ladies avoid the political fray and are ritualistically presented as a warm, human presence in the White House.

The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus is crucial for every presidential campaign.

When I get serious criticism – if I get serious criticism – it’s about how I’m thinking and engaging in a topic. I can’t think of an example of someone saying, ‘You’re too nice.’

I don’t look at ratings when they come out in the afternoon before the show because I’m focused on that day’s show, but I do see the overall numbers.

Large majorities of voters support taxing millionaires and protecting social security.

A precedent provides legal authority for an action precisely because it occurred before.

The press is always more comfortable with factual determinations than moral ones, although in day-to-day life, a lot of people care a heck of a lot more about morality than every precise actual fact.

If anything, the genuine human struggles in ‘Sicko’ raise questions about our society that run much deeper than what passes for political discourse today. Why does such a rich nation let people suffer and die without health care?

I think hip-hop has always been political because this is a community that doesn’t have any other choice.

If you believe in democracy, you accept, by definition, the existence and triumph of opposing ideas. The people who believe deeply in the Internet’s force as a commons operate on that kind of premise.

It’s never a good sign when extremism becomes the norm.

Companies like YouTube will continue to be tested on their commitment to the mission that made them such popular and profitable websites – providing an open platform to a wide range of ideas from around the world.

One of the great things about ‘The Cycle’ is that we have a wide set of topics – news, culture, music, and sports – and every week, we have several authors of new books on, which often injects literature, history, technology, business, and science into our show as well.

Obama can show that America’s promise of equality not only means that anyone can reach the highest office in the land – it also means that everyone is equally subject to the law.

Tea Party sympathizers are more conservative on abortion policy than typical Republicans.

TV can keep you honest because the viewers really do listen. People who have succeeded in this have shown the audience how hard they work and that their reporting is really worthwhile.

There’s a lot of hip-hop that’s oriented toward a progressive view of America because it’s oriented toward a civil rights progress and a critique of the power structure.

A healthy corporation acts on the interests of its stakeholders and customers.

Obama won the presidency by running the first integrated three-screen campaign – reaching people directly via Internet, cell phones, and TV – with an authentic, complex style that resonated for voters sick of dark, deceitful, and divisive politics.

The Obama campaign has adeptly used YouTube and social networks as a relatively thrifty way to do targeted messaging.

Of course, no one doubts McCain’s personal tenacity, from braving torture to overcoming cancer. Yet plenty of nonpartisan observers doubt his credibility.

The president’s powers are always open to being questioned by the co-equal branches of government.

I think the challenge for anyone in a visible industry, whether it’s media, government, or political organizing, is to take serious criticism seriously and not to live in the shadows of the noise and the concern trolls.

I get up with an old-school alarm clock.

Republicans believe an obstructionist, do-nothing Congress will deny Obama momentum and keep their base energized.

The first rule of hip-hop is probably keep it real. And that can mean a lot of different things, but that’s certainly important in reporting and storytelling.

The modern GOP has perfected this cyclical deficit outrage ritual. Republicans run up the tab when they control the White House, then scream about deficits when Democrats win – insisting that ‘serious reform’ means cutting only Democratic budget priorities.

Here is one iron law of the Internet: a social network’s emphasis on monetizing its product is directly proportional to its users’ loss of privacy.

Washington is deeply frustrating because so many of the positions that politicians hold are a product of ephemeral self-interest. They reverse themselves, for themselves, all the time.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likes to reminisce about being an amateur boxer. But his Senate tenure has often looked like an endless rope-a-dope.