Lindsey Graham quotes:

Iran is part of the problem, not the solution. And the Russian government is ignoring reality.

Al Qaeda is alive and well in Libya, Iraq, Syria and the wars are not receding.

President Bush has shown great leadership. He has said that the 21st century will not be ruled or dictated by terrorists, dictators, and murderers. He is absolutely right. God bless him for his resolve.

President Obama chose politics over leadership. 'Hope' and 'Change' have become bait-and-switch.

The sooner we get started with alternative energy sources and recognize that fossil fuels makes us less secure as a nation, and more dangerous as a planet, the better off we'll be.

I dare say there may be some men and women in the Armed Forces who are so decent that they would say: Give the Iraqi people money, we do not want to be paid back. That is the strength of our country.

We've got fifty people at Gitmo that are too dangerous to be let go that will never go through a normal criminal trial. Let's create a new legal system, so they'll have their day in court.

Thank God for some Republican control of one branch of the government.

Well, thank God for a media that will ask questions.

The healthcare bill not only is a monstrosity in terms of growing the government and cutting out the private sector, the way it was passed was sleazy. Every old Washington trick was used to pass the healthcare bill.

We need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran; they've been killed a long time ago.

The president of the United States let the consulate in Libya become a death trap.

The legal system in Afghanistan is very immature and porous.

What's going on in the Senate is kind of a politics of escalation. We're getting sort of like the Mideast: pay back everybody when you're in charge.

According to the FBI and the director of national intelligence, Syria's becoming a perfect platform to strike our nation. I've got a very simple strategy as your president against ISIL. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to defeat them.

If you make me your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back.

At the end of the day, Mitt Romney and Ann Romney are two fine people.

This idea of holding the Defense Department hostage to the tax debate makes me sick to my stomach. Knock it off.

Well, the big elephant in the whole system is the baby boomer generation that marches through like a herd of elephants. And we begin to retire in 2008.

We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together.

The Afghan security forces will always have the help of the U.S. American military to ensure that Afghanistan never fails.

It's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally.

A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America - that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts.

Iraq is falling apart.

The American consumer is also the American worker, and if we don't do something to protect our manufacturing base here at home, it is going to be hard to buy any retail goods.

The intelligence community gets hurt through sequestration.

Look how many millions of people are underemployed or have lost their jobs. The last thing I'm going to do is play politics with their future.

If 'Obama-care' becomes fully implemented in 2014, it's going to bankrupt states.

We're being overrun by people who live in poor and corrupt countries who come to the USA to get work. But we got to regain our sovereignty, we're going to control our border, and there will be border security tied to the pathway to citizenship. There will be an earned pathway to citizenship. It will be available to everybody who works hard, pays a fine, passes a background check.

When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America.

What is the environmental policy of the Republican Party? When I ask that question, I get a blank stare, if I'm president of the United States, we're going to address climate change and CO2 emissions in a business-friendly way.

Social Security must be preserved and strengthened. But we need to be candid about the costs and willing to make the tough choices that real reform will require.

Most people are one car wreck away from needing somebody's help. So, I don't take anything for granted much anymore.

My mom's disease, Hodgkin's disease, wiped us out financially. We eventually lost our businesses. I understand we're all one car wreck from needing help. But what it told Lindsey Graham, above all else, is that family, friends and faith really do matter. I'm a lucky man to have had all the support I've had all these years.

In the eyes of the Iranians, they don't respect or fear Barack Obama. He drew a line against Assad when he used chemical weapons and did nothing about it. And our friends, the Arabs and the Israelis, don't trust President Obama.

I think that is the fight that we have to wage if we're to save the middle class. And I do have doubts about whether Hillary Clinton or whether any Republican candidate out there is prepared to take on the big money interests who control so much of our economy and as a result of Citizens United, our political process as well.

The courtroom is a quiet place, Judge Roberts, where you park your political ideology, and you call the balls and you call the strikes.

Conservatives have a different view of a lot of issues versus our friends on the other side. The election determines how that shakes out.

I've got the best job in the world being a senator from the United States, a senator from South Carolina in the United States Senate, representing South Carolina in the United States Senate is a dream job for me, but the world is literally falling apart. And we can't get anything done here at home. So that drives my thinking more than anything else.

The ultimate check against government tyranny is an informed electorate who will elect people who believe in limited government. I don't want to embrace the idea we want people to take to the streets with guns. I want people to go to the voting booth and check an out of control government by electing conservatives.

When it comes to immigration reform, now is the time ... I've never seen a better political environment ... I'm not doing immigration reform to solve the Republican Party's political problem. I'm trying to save our nation from, I think, a shortage of labor and a catastrophic broken system.

The best deal that Barack Obama can get will not be the best deal to be had because he's weak and indecisive.

I would love to have a good deal to end the nuclear ambitions of the Iranians, but I don't trust the Iranians. They've been lying and cheating.

Marco Rubio, I think, will be president some day. Whether 2016 is his time, time will tell. He embraced immigration reform. He seems to have backed off. I'll let him explain why.

I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the Earth to bring him to justice.

What is the environmental platform of the Republican party? I don't know either.

I think most Americans understand that radical Islam can't be compromised with or appeased. And the only way we can be safe is to form partnerships over there that will protect us over here.

I think the American people pretty well understand that radical Islam has an agenda that includes us.

I think our nation's at war with radical Islam. The primary goal of these groups is to attack our nation. Washington's a prime target.

Im the ranking Republican on the foreign aid appropriations subcommittee, so I know Tunisia well.

What I want to do is protect the religious liberties of those who believe that opposing same-sex marriage is part of their faith.

If you increase taxes now on - at any level, it's going to make it harder to create jobs And we've lost 2 1/2 million jobs since the stimulus package passed. We're at 9.6 unemployment. So I don't think we tax too little, I think we spend too much.

We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck.

I think no one has ever been re-elected with unemployment over 7.6 percent.

There's something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers

Do not give the terrorists, the enemy combatants, the people who blow up folks at weddings, who fly airplanes into the twin towers, the ability to sue our own troops all over the country for any and everything.

We cannot win this war on terror if people are undercutting us. And one way to undercut us is to empower Iran.

I think the worst thing in the world is to have the courts decide who to target in the war on terrorism. And courts are not military commanders.

Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could.

I don't think it's rational for a country to try to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in a restaurant in Washington.

You know, the commander-in-chief's first responsibility is look out for those in uniform who fight the wars.

It puts limits on criminals' rights to destroy unborn children without the permission of the woman.

I'm the ranking Republican on the foreign aid appropriations subcommittee, so I know Tunisia well.

Why did we go to war? Why did we pick people from South Carolina, California, and all the places in between to go to a foreign land and risk their lives and have some die? To make sure that Saddam Hussein could do no more damage to the region or us than he has already done.

Detainee policy in this war is hard, it's complicated, but we must get it right. We would be better off as a nation if we could close Gitmo safely and start a new prison that he could use that the world would see as a better way to doing business.

We will never win this war until we understand the effect that Guantanamo Bay has had on the overall war effort. And we'll never get the support of the American people if we can't prove to them that these folks that we're dealing with are not common criminals. We're going to keep them - keep you safe from them.

We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States.

The politics of judges is getting to be red hot.

As to freedom, it is cherished, it is hard to come by, it is hard to hang on to. But freedom without responsibility is chaos, so to those who push the idea that freedom would allow an individual to do anything, anywhere, at any time, I reject, your freedom ends where my ability to raise my family safely begins. So I would urge every American to vaccinate their children and I would reject any effort to stop vaccinations until someone can show me a scientific reason to do so.

At the end of the day, I think I understand the dynamic that we face. And I'm best prepared to be commander in chief on day one, with all due respect to my other colleagues, including Hillary Clinton.

Dishonest, which is Hillary Clinton in the eyes of the American people, beats crazy. Dishonest loses to normal. So, let`s just pick somebody out of the phone book if we have to.

Donald Trump has gone from making absurd comments to being downright dangerous with his bombastic rhetoric.

Every state and the federal government have laws that protect people from acts of violence, and those laws should be enforced. What I want to see in America is that if you hurt a human being and you bring pain in their life, that's all we need to know. If you did it illegally, you should be prosecuted.

For 40 years, the American middle class has been disappearing. Millions of people are working longer hours for lower wages despite a huge increase in technology and productivity. And what we have seen during that period is a massive transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent of America

Free speech is a great idea, but were in a war.

From a policy point of view, I don't think it's the right approach. I don't like the idea of having millions of people here for their entire life without being able to assimilate into America...From a political point of view, we've got 55 Democrats sent and a 72 percent support for a path to citizenship. It's just not practical to think we'll be able to pass any bill in the United States Senate without a path to citizenship.

I am confident - very confident - that if I help solve this problem in a way that we won't have 20 million illegal immigrants 20 years from now, not only will I get re-elected, I can look back and say I was involved in something that was important.

I believe climate change is real, but I reject the cap and trade solution of John - of, you know, of Al Gore. He's made a religion. It's a problem.

I don`t think most people would want me to have a business relationship as a senator where my business partners can reap the benefit of my position and I one day get the share the profits.

I don't have kids, but I do understand family, and I understand how precious family is.

I don't see any coronation coming my way

I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander-in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to win a war that we cannot afford to lose.

I think as people find out about my foreign policy, what they're going to find out is that I'm right in the mainstream of the Republican Party. I believe the number one priority of the federal government is national defense.

I think comprehensive immigration reform while securing your border and dealing rationale with 11 million is the only way we're going to solve this problem.

I think concerns with a member of Congress with a cabinet official being active in business. I don`t see why it wouldn`t apply to the president.

I think I've done more right than wrong on foreign policy. I've criticized the president for being weak and indecisive. I've been a problem solver in Washington and I think I've got something to offer the party and nation.

I think the best thing, if you can't get an air-tight deal with every "I" dotted and every "t" crossed is let the next president have a chance to deal with the Iranians.

I want a president who'll look out for American interests. Every treaty we sign has a provision that a president of the United States , if he or she concludes that it's no longer in the interest of the country should step back from it.

I would love to end the nuclear ambition of the Iranians without firing a shot, but you have to know who you're talking to and what they actually want, this is North Korea in the making.

If [President Obama] does not go on the offensive against ISIS...they are coming here. This is just not about Baghdad, this is just not about Syria, this is about our homeland. And if we get attacked because he has no strategy to protect us, then he will have committed a blunder for the ages.

If Barack Obama cannot appreciate that our troops are winning in Iraq, he should not be their Commander in Chief.

If the Egyptian people can create a democracy in the heart of the Arab world, it will be a more significant contribution to civilization than the great pyramids.

I'm for eliminating deductions and taking some of the money to buy down rates and put it on the debt. That's not raising taxes. That's solving a problem.

I'm from South Carolina, so I know what it's like to be accused of being a conservative from the South. And I know that to some people that means more than you're a conservative from the South.

I'm glad that the NSA is trying to find out what the terrorists are up to overseas and in our country. I'm glad that activity is going on, but it is limited to tracking people who are suspected to be terrorists and who they may be talking to... Yes, I am sure that that's what they're doing.

I'm not going to throw my state under the bus. That's never going to happen.

I'm running because I think the world is falling apart.

In my view, Democrats and Republicans work together too little, and I would try to change that if I got to be president. And when it came to radical Islam, I would go after them before they come back here again.

Is any blogger out there saying anythingâ??do they deserve First Amendment protection? These are the issues of our times.

I've been a military lawyer for 33 years. A member of al Qaeda or their affiliate group can be detained under a law of war as long as their threat to our nation without a trial.

I've been elected numerous times in South Carolina. If I'm on the ballot, I'm going to win South Carolina.

My party is going bat (EXPLETIVE DELETED) crazy.

No employer is going to hire robustly until they know what the health care cost is going to be.

Nobody in the Senate on a bipartisan fashion trusts the Iranians. They lie. They cheat. They're a murderous regime. They've been trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Our government has a responsibility to defend our borders, but we must do so in a way that makes us safer and upholds all that is decent and exceptional about our nation.

Our most important allies in the fight against ISIL are the vast majority of Muslims who reject its apocalyptic ideology of hatred.

Philanthropy is lost. The human spirit is suppressed. Most people want a legacy; they want to give something back, a library, a hospital wing, a donation to their church. This is a form of socialism that must go.

Ronald Reagan would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today.

Some people say I'm too blunt and I'm too direct, too straightforward. I think we could use some of that in Washington, D.C.

Tea Party to establishment from social conservative to libertarian, we all - what people want more than anything is they don't just want a fighter. They want someone who fights and wins.

The Iranians have shared every weapon they've ever developed with terrorist organizations. I fear they would share nuclear technology with a terrorist organization that would one day come here.

The Lindsey Graham via foreign policy is going to beat Rand Paul's libertarian view of foreign policy. It will beat Barack Obama's view of foreign policy. It will beat Hillary Clinton's view of foreign policy.

The next president of the United States needs to figure one thing out quickly - how to be commander in chief. And I think I could do that.

The world we live in takes a multifaceted approach. To the American taxpayer: We need to be investing in improving people's lives before the terrorists try to take over.

The worst nightmare for al Qaeda is to come into a community that feels supported and has hope.

The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction.

There will never be a bill without a pathway to citizenship signed by the president...And in turn there will never be a pathway to citizenship without a new immigration system replacing the current one.

There's a lot of things we can do to balance out what Obama's done and going forward show the American people the Republican Party can govern. I want a coalition of tea party people, independents, moderate Democrats trying to find a way to move this country forward before we become Greece.

We don't have enough American troops inside of Iraq to destroy ISIL any time soon.