Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2015: on Principles & Values

Chris Christie: No federal department to promote Judeo-Christian values

CHRISTIE: I don't think that's something we need to do. What I want to see is a nation that continues to say, we want you to practice your religion and practice it vigorously. And as long as you practice it peacefully, and you're not trying to impose your religious values on anyone else, then you should be able to practice it the way you want. I don't think we need another government agency, quite frankly. I don't think we need to add more layers of bureaucracy to this government and add more expense. And so, no, that's not something I would favor.

John Kasich: Need to promote Western values to win war of ideas

KASICH: The Western ethic, what is it about? It's about life, it's about equality of women, it's about the freedom of religion. I'm not talking about going to church. I proposed some time ago a comprehensive plan to deal with ISIS, including boots on the ground, a coalition including Arabs, etc. But we have to also engage in the battle of ideas when we have many people looking for meaning in life somewhere other than Western civilization.

Q: One of the criticisms, though, is that you're making a clash of civilizations argument.

KASICH: We want to agree and work together with people who share the view that the path to murder does not get you to paradise. When we win the military battle, what comes next? What we've got to make sure of is that we stop the radicalization of people.

Ben Carson: A Muslim president would not stay true to American values

CARSON: Well, I guess it depends on what that faith is. If it's inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter. But if it fits within the realm of America and consistent with the constitution, no problem.

Q: So do you believe that Islam is consistent with the constitution?

CARSON: No, I do not. I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.

John Kasich: For the presidency. qualifications trump personal religion

KASICH: We need to respect our basic institutions, whether it's the presidency, teachers, our ministers, or our rabbis. We need to have great respect or the country begins to come undone. And so, I may not agree with the president, but I respect the office, and I respect the fact that he is the president of the United States.

Q: Would you ever have a problem with a Muslim becoming president?

KASICH: You know, I mean, that's such a hypothetical question. The answer is, at the end of the day, you've got to go through the rigors, and people will look at everything. But, for me, the most important thing about being president is you have leadership skills, you know what you're doing, and you can help fix this country and raise this country. Those are the qualifications that matter to me.

Lawrence Lessig: Acknowledge elephant in the room: partisanship doesn't work

LESSIG: I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room. We have to recognize we have a government that does not work. This stalemated, partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work. And we have to find a way to elevate the debate to focus on the changes that would actually get us a government that could work again, that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1% who fund campaigns.

Q: So, campaign finance reform, voting rights reform?

And also dealing with crazy way we have political gerrymandering where politicians pick the voters rather than the voters pick the politicians.

Q: And you're saying that if you win, if you become president and you pass that platform, you'll resign?

LESSIG: That's right. Because what we need is a focus that could cut across partisan lines and say this is the mandate. The mandate is to achieve this fix to the corrupted system, to fix the democracy first.

Donald Trump: My old liberal political views evolved like Reagan's did

TRUMP: Ronald Reagan himself was a Democrat at one point. And I worked with him, and he liked me a lot, and I liked [him] a lot. And he was a terrific guy, but he was a liberal Democrat, and he changed. And I have evolved very strongly in the same way. I'm a conservative and I have tremendous support, but I also have a lot of support among Democrats. You know, when you look at our polls, I have support from all over the place, and people are actually shocked by it: "Mr. Trump, you're leading in every poll."

Bobby Jindal: Uncompromising GOP leadership in DC to make real change

Bobby Jindal: We must stop viewing ourselves as being separated by race

Lindsey Graham: Supported removal of battle flag following shooting

A: If you'd asked me the day before the attack, I would've said, "The compromise worked," we took the flag off the top of the dome, moved it by the war memorial, built an African American monument, that worked for most South Carolinians. But after the shooting, it didn't work. My state will never be able to move forward after this shooting if we don't take the flag down. The people at the AME church, the families of the victims changed everything by their grace, by their love, by their forgiveness, making it impossible for a guy like me to say, "Keep the flag up."

Q: When you see the flag now, do you see a symbol of hate or heritage?

A: After this shooting, and after the call for it to be taken down by the families of the victims, I see it as a road block to the future of my state. I see it being in a museum, where people can look at it any way they want.

Bernie Sanders: What's wrong with modeling U.S. on socialist Scandinavia?

SANDERS: Well, so long as we know what democratic socialism is. And if we know that in countries, in Scandinavia, like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, they are very democratic countries, obviously. The voter turnout is a lot higher than it is in the US. In those countries, health care is the right of all people. And in those countries, college education is free. In those countries, retirement benefits, childcare are stronger than in the US.

Q: I can hear the Republican attack ad right now: "He wants American to look more like Scandinavia."

SANDERS: That's right. And what's wrong with that? What's wrong when you have more income and wealth equality? What's wrong when they have a stronger middle class in many ways than we do, higher minimum wage than we do, and they are stronger on the environment? We do a lot in our country, which is good, but we can learn from other countries.

Lincoln Chafee: The Republican Party changed and I never changed

CHAFEE: As far as my evolution, certainly the Republican Party changed and I never changed. And as I became an independent and one governorship as an independent, my values never changed whether it's on fiscal responsibility or on environment issues or on using the tools of government to help the less fortunate, keeping us out of the quagmires we see overseas. I've never changed. Protecting civil liberties and now I'm a Democrat. I'm very comfortable as a Democrat and look forward to the primaries and the debate ahead.

Rand Paul: Conservative on spending; libertarian-ish on other issues

PAUL: Well, you add that to the fact I am also one of the most conservative members of the Senate, in the sense that I vote against spending, I vote against unbalanced budgets, I'm a proponent of lower taxes. So all of those are right within the mainstream of the party. But I do have some additional things--I call them sometimes the libertarian-ish kind of issues--of believing in privacy, believing in criminal justice, that everyone should be treated fairly under the law, no matter the color of your skin. We still have a large problem in our country that, if you are black, you are not always being treated fairly under the law. And I want to fix that.

Rand Paul: Defeat the Washington machine; unleash the American Dream

First, "Defeat the Washington machine." The idea of a less-specific "political machine" is an old one, dating back to 1850. But a candidate in 2012 used the same term to make his case as an outsider: Ron Paul, Rand's father.

Then there's the second line that's glued on to the first: "Unleash the American Dream," [a term which dates back to the 1930s]. Over the course of the Obama administration, the idea of unleashing the American dream--shackled, in the eyes of the Republicans using the phrase, by that Washington machine--has been in vogue. Given its history, then, the slogan is perfect for Rand Paul, fusing together the campaign of his father and the ideas of the Republican mainstream.

Martin O`Malley: Look at my actions as governor, not my approval rating

O'MALLEY: Well, we had just come off a very contentious campaign there. And I think the truly important thing is my record of accomplishments in Maryland; five years in a row creating the number one public schools in the country, reducing violent crime to 35-year lows. I believe that what people want, especially in 2016, is someone with proven executive experience, the ability to get things done and be honest with people. I think laying out the choices that we have to make as a free people to build a good economy for our kids, is more important than putting my finger in the wind and looking for popularity.

John Kasich: OpEd: Impatient with bureaucracy & with partisan posturing

Kasich's impatience is a visible force: He is forever fidgeting in his chair, rocking on his toes, waving his hands, jumping into conversations, and generally refusing to remain at rest.

His leadership style is equally restless. Staffers say he hurtles from one mission to the next without taking a breath. "There's always the next thing," says his press secretary. "You finish something monumental, then everybody just kind of forgets about it and moves on to the next giant thing."

Ben Carson: Personal religion important, but it's not the law

CARSON: I find a very good measure of correlation between my religious beliefs and my scientific beliefs. People say, "How can you be a scientist, how can you be a surgeon if you don't believe in certain things?" You know, I'm always willing to sit down and discuss things. And people who say, "Well, you have to believe this and you have to believe that," I'm willing to discuss with them why they believe what they believe, and why I believe what I believe. A person's religious beliefs are the things that make them who they are, give them a direction in their life. But I do not believe that religious beliefs should dictate one's public policies and stances. And our laws that we enforce have nothing to do with our own personal beliefs. They have to do with the Constitution of this country.

Martin O`Malley: History celebrates courage, not triangulation

In words that echoed those of Senator Barack Obama when he battled Clinton in 2007 for the Democratic nomination, O'Malley added: "Triangulation is not a strategy that will move America forward. History celebrates profiles in courage, not profiles in convenience."

The politics of triangulation is a phrase often used to describe former President Bill Clinton's brand of centrism. It has also been used to criticize Hillary Clinton as overly poll driven, and liberals have long used it as a cudgel. In a pivotal Democratic primary speech in November 2007 in Iowa, Obama deployed "triangulation" as an attack line against Mrs. Clinton.

Scott Walker: Run for governor & president are determined by God's will

WALKER: Abraham Lincoln I think had it right. He said, "God doesn't pick winners in politics. He just calls us to be on his side." And in this case, I think there are people of faith who can have a variety of political views out there. But for us personally, you know, we make important decisions like we did years ago to run for governor. And a lot of it was about Tonette and I and our sons praying about it and asking if it was God's will for us to run. When I got married, when we had children, we made other important decisions. And the same thing would be true in making a decision here. We're trying to discern whether or not it's God's will for us to run and then ultimately figure out the next step in terms of who's winning, that's going to be up to the voters.

Scott Walker: Even if people disagree, they want politicians who lead

WALKER: You can give speeches all you want, but I think what we have is not only amongst Republican voters, but even with independents, people want people to lead. They don't need to agree with you 100 percent of the time on every issue, but they are so sick and tired of politicians in both parties, particularly in Washington, who say one thing on the campaign trail and do something else. I think those 100,000 protesters four years ago who came in and around our capitol showed, if we think we're doing the right thing for the people, it doesn't matter what the intimidation factor is. We'll stand up and stand up for them.

Mike Huckabee: Chivalry is respect for women, not sexism

HUCKABEE: Well, I just mean that you want to treat everyone with respect. But in the culture of the south, the culture that I grew up with, I think chivalry is still alive. There's a sense of that you pay a great deal of respect and you don't come across as a bully.

Q: So you'd run differently against Joe Biden than against Hillary Clinton?

HUCKABEE: I don't know, it depends on what kind of campaign they were running. It's not an issue of sexism, it's an issue of simply understanding that every opponent, whether it's a male, a female, whether they're from the northeast or from the southwest, everybody has different nuances. In every race you have to assess what are the dynamics of this race.

Mike Huckabee: Cultural bubbles of NY, DC, and LA divide them from us

HUCKABEE: This cultural divide is the disconnect between the three bubbles of New York, D.C. and Hollywood versus the land of God, guns, grits and gravy, that's where the title comes from.

Ben Carson: President needs common sense understand of Constitution

CARSON: I'm in about five states a week, with huge record-breaking crowds [at book events]--

Q: They tell you, "We've never had a crowd this big"?

CARSON: Yes, they say, "We've never had a crowd this big." And that is always what people want to say, "You've got to do it; you've got to run." It's just everywhere I go. And I think what people really are looking for is common sense and courage and somebody who understands the Constitution and the principles of freedom, innovation, social responsibility. And if someone can come along with those things & really gain a lot of traction, I would be delighted, and if they don't, I would certainly give it serious consideration.

Q: So are you saying you don't want to do it, but you might?

CARSON: I don't want to do it, but if we're left in a situation where there is not a lot of enthusiasm for anybody else, I would never turn my back on my fellow citizens.