United States Secretaries Of State

"Don't get me wrong, Hillary Clinton is, like, a horrible person, but people were and still are really fucking sexist to her. Like, a lot of the shit people throw at Hillary Clinton is because she's a woman. Like, Hillary Clinton is a bad candidate, but she's no worse than, like a ton of candidates. Like, she's not unique in being this, like, grimy, insitutionalist, utilitarian 'I'll do anything to get ahead' ambitious ghoul. There are tons of politicans like that; Trump is far worse than her. But a lot of the shit she gets, she gets for being a woman."

"We are a very rich country, and I believe there are things we can do that we haven't done. We can have free universal health care for everybody-and I don't mean one of these complicated health-care systems like the one Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993, a thousand pages long and designed to keep the insurance companies in the game."

"For the first time in a long while, her true feelings came out, showing bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans. How can she be President of our country when she has such contempt and disdain for so many great Americans?"

"America is far less safe – and the world is far less stable – than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America's foreign policy. Let's defeat her in November, OK."

"I have provided all of my work related emails."

"You know, joining a gang is like having a family. It's feeling like you're part of something bigger than yourself. So we're either going to have gangs that murder and rob and do the things that are so destructive to the gang members and to the community. Or, we're going to have positive gangs. We're going to have positive alternatives for young people."

"So for example, I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right? And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories. Now we've got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels, but I don't want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on."

"I really believe that there are going to be a lot of arguments to make against him that we can look forward to, I’m not going to spill the beans right now. But, suffice it to say that there are many arguments that we can use against him. But, one argument that I am uniquely qualified to bring, because of my service as Secretary of State is what his presidency would mean to our country and our standing in the world. I am already receiving messages from leaders — I’m having foreign leaders ask if they can endorse me to stop Donald Trump."

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to . America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers."

"There is a constitutional right for people to own guns, but there's also a constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..."

"The leadership of the party, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Tom Perez, are creations of corporate America. In an open and democratic political process, one not dominated by party elites and corporate money, these people would not hold political power. They know this. They would rather implode the entire system than give up their positions of privilege. And that, I fear, is what will happen. The idea that the Democratic Party is in any way a bulwark against despotism defies the last three decades of its political activity. It is the guarantor of despotism."

"Some of [Clinton’s] anger was privately aimed at Colin Powell in a personal pique. Talking with reporters in later years, Clinton would often harp on Powell’s role in Somalia, that he had signed on to the partial escalation and yet had accepted none of the blame."

"I think she’s represented our nation well. She is extremely well respected throughout the world, handles herself in a very classy way and has a work ethic second to none."

"Daunasia Yancey asked Clinton, "You and your family have been personally and politically responsible for policies that have caused health and human services disasters in impoverished communities of color through the domestic and international war on drugs that you championed as first lady, senator, and secretary of state. And so I just want to know how you feel about your role in that violence and how you plan to reverse it?" Julius Jones, from the Black Lives Matter movement in Worcester, Massachusetts, also questioned Clinton: "How do you actually feel that's different than you did before? What were the mistakes? And how can those mistakes that you made be lessons for all of America for a moment of reflection on how we treat black people in this country?" Clinton responded: "I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate.""

"Hillary Clinton could be considered a founding member of ISIS."

"Clinton had also been silent on the Standing Rock issue but finally issued a statement on October 27, the same day as the 1851 Treaty Camp incident and the Bundy decision. The only reason she said anything at all was because a contingent of Native youth stormed her campaign office in Brooklyn, New York, demanding some kind of acknowledgment."

"It's not a very big thing to say, "I made a mistake" on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can't. She's advised by so many smart advisers who are covering every base. I think that America was better served when the candidates were chosen in smoke-filled rooms."

"Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton’s Christmas gift wrapped up under a tree. I am the lump of coal in her stocking."

"They were urged to assemble that conference call and to speak frankly to Hillary by some of the top strategists around Hillary. … Close associates of hers, friends of hers were saying she really didn't want the vice presidency. She really didn't want it, even though she wouldn't mind being offered it, or talked about it. Some of what we know tonight is that in the vetting [of potential VP candidates] process that's going to be set up, they were going to demand, that is, Jim Johnson and the others looking at her as a possible candidate, that Bill Clinton open up the records of the Clinton Library -- all the donors, the tens of millions of dollars, where they came from? And I think Hillary's reluctance to more fully really consider or give her heart to the notion of the vice presidency is she knew that it would require a legal vetting of her husband, and she he couldn't pass it. … If she wants Obama's fundraising prowess, if she wants contributors to help erase that enormous debt that she's got, she needs to quickly get back in the fold and get with the program, and I think that's what she's doing now. I really don't think it's about the Veep thing because the Obama people have pretty much already said as of today that they're really not interested."

"Hillary Clinton is a clear and present danger to the Constitution, the rule of law, and international peace and security."

"If you crave presidential lawlessness, war crimes, and international mayhem, you should adore Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton."

"In December of 2012, Clinton suffered a concussion and then around the New Year had a blood clot (in her head). Based on her doctor's advice, she could only work at State for a few hours a day and could not recall every briefing she received."

"Thank you Hillary Clinton for possibly becoming the first f— president. I would have said “female” but someone deleted the email."

"As candidate in 2016, now President Donald J. Trump repeatedly asserted his unwillingness to take nuclear first-use threats “off the table” in any conflict, including with ISIS, or in Europe. (He also said that he would be “the last to use nuclear weapons”—unless, evidently, he were the first.) In the first debate of the presidential campaign, he was asked: “On nuclear weapons, President Obama reportedly considered changing the nation’s long-standing policy [i.e., changing it to no-first-use]. Do you support the current policy?” Given two minutes to answer, Trump said, among other things: “I would like everybody to end it, just get rid of it. But I would certainly not do first strike. I think that once the nuclear alternative happens, it’s over. At the same time, we have to be prepared. I can’t take anything off the table.” In her two minutes, Hillary Clinton managed not to repeat Trump’s words about the table, or to respond to the question at all except to “reassure our allies … that we have mutual defense treaties and we will honor them.” But clearly if she had been pressed, the former secretary of state would have given substantially the same answer as Trump did in all his interviews. Our mutual defense treaties have never excluded U.S. first use of nuclear weapons. (As a candidate in 2008, rebuking Senator Barack Obama for saying he would not use nuclear weapons against Pakistan, she said that no president should ever say what weapons he or she would or would not use.)"

"It's a tough voice to listen to for four years. It could be a tough one. If she's just gonna follow what we've been doing, then I wouldn't be for her. ... I'd have to go for Trump ... you know, 'cause she's declared that she's gonna follow in Obama's footsteps."

"As First Lady, she successfully balanced the tensions between activism and traditionalism that challenged many First Ladies in the twentieth century. She is outspoken and passionate about her projects, such as military families and childhood obesity, but they stay within a conventional female sphere of interest...Despite the significant successes of women in politics, the nation's top offices, the presidency and vice presidency, remained elusive.In her campaign for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination, New York Senator Hillary Clinton dramatically challenged the political "glass ceiling." Throughout the primary season, Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama were locked in a tight and contentious race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The contest between Clinton and Obama raised troubling questions. Their campaigns traded charges of sexism and racism, in a conflict reminiscent of the Stanton/Douglass disagreements over the Fourteenth Amendment. Despite Clinton's Senate experience, the active role she took in the presidency of husband Bill Clinton, and her forceful campaign style, pundits talked about her clothing and speculated about how she responded to key events-charging her with lack of emotion in some cases and too many tears in others. For both candidates, the issues were at times subsumed by questioning about whether the American people were ready to elect either a woman or an African American to the presidency."

"Without nepotism, Hillary would be running for the president of Vassar."

"Yes, I think it's an obscene amount of money. You know we had some protesters last night when we pulled up in San Francisco – and they're right to protest, they're absolutely right, it's an obscene amount of money. The Sanders campaign, when they talk about it, is absolutely right, it's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics, I agree."

"I can't make her younger, taller, or change her gender. I can't do anything other than to tell you who she is."

"I could tell that she was well prepared to serve as president. I'd never met anyone with deeper knowledge about policy than Hillary, and she seemed unflappable and genuinely interested in using the power of the office to benefit the lives of those who don't often have a strong voice in our democracy. She also had a reputation for being politically cautious."

"Hillary’s 2016 presidential run resembled nothing so much as a counterinsurgency campaign, designed to beat back challenges to existing authority, specifically herself. She collaborated with party bosses to undercut her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, who posed a threat precisely because he was more popular with the party's younger, idealistic voters."

"The cab's idling out front, and she's opening a new bottle of wine."

"When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs."

"When I'm at the bottom, she's Hillary Rodham!"

"Hillary Clinton is now poised to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, but she simply lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office."

"I am watching Hillary Clinton in her victory speech in New Hampshire… they just threw a bunch of college kids behind her, and had her talk about student loans, and had her daughter come out for a long awkward hug… does anyone actually buy it? Surely young people are too media savvy to be fooled by this kind of shit. Do we live in a democracy so we can just keep electing the same families? Barack is the first candidate in my lifetime to strip some of this bullshit away, and I just hope we don't blow this chance. Man if we miss this opportunity we don't deserve it… how bad does it have to get?"

"Former Secretary Clinton has dedicated her life to serving and engaging people across the world in democracy. These efforts as a citizen, an activist, and a leader have earned Secretary Clinton this year’s Liberty Medal."

"The candidate Hillary Clinton had come to St. Louis and told us that "All lives matter," while we chanted and marched in the streets every day demanding justice for Mike Brown Jr."

"I support Clinton for president because she is well-qualified for the office and would be a competent, skilled president and commander in chief."

"Hillary Clinton is a centrist Democrat who is more hawkish than President Obama and far more principled and knowledgeable about foreign affairs than Trump, who is too unstable and erratic to be entrusted with the nuclear triad he has never heard of. Even in his prepared foreign policy speech couldn't pronounce "Tanzania." For all her shortcomings (and there are many), Clinton would be far preferable to Trump."

"We need a bitch facing down terrorists, Iran and Congress."

"My accomplishments as Secretary of State? Well, I'm glad you asked. My proudest accomplishment in which I take the most pride, mostly because of the opposition it faced early on, you know. The remnants of prior situations and mindsets that were too narrowly focused in a manner whereby they may have overlooked the bigger picture and we didn't do that. Very proud. I would say that's a major accomplishment."

"I knew it. I knew this would happen to me... They were never going to let me be president."

"I want to defend fracking under the right circumstances... I want to defend this stuff. And you know, I'm already at odds with the most organized and wildest [of the environmental movement]. They come to my rallies and they yell at me and, you know, all the rest of it. They say, 'Will you promise never to take any fossil fuels out of the earth ever again?' No. I won't promise that. Get a life, you know."

"We discovered Japan for Heaven sakes."

"My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders."

"We will make sure that the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted."

"But if everybody's watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position."

"Can't we just drone this guy?"

"Fuck off! It's enough that I have to see you shit-kickers every day. I'm not going to talk to you too. Just do your goddamn job and keep your mouth shut."