A candidate with no experience they would package as a citizen politician, a lifetime hack as an elder statesman.

— Rick Perlstein

A confused and weak man hides his weakness and uncertainty with fiery speeches.

— Rick Perlstein

Almost alone among successful politicians, he took slights personally.

— Rick Perlstein

An anti-politician is hardly an anti-politician once he starts winning and works to close the deal by working to sew up the Establishment.

— Rick Perlstein

Chits knew no ideology.

— Rick Perlstein

Chronicling the mid-1970s up session with Gerald Ford's clumsiness, the author quotes a medieval maxim that the king has two bodies. The head of state has a physical body like everyone else, but he also represents the body politic, either reflecting its majesty or its weakness.

— Rick Perlstein

College was at the heart of his sentimental imagination.

— Rick Perlstein

Computers have cut-and-paste functions. So does right-wing historical memory.

— Rick Perlstein

Do what you are doing. Monastic motto

— Rick Perlstein

Everyone on the Left has a favorite story that allows them to kind of excuse Reagan, explain away Reagan, say he was dumb, but unless we reckon with that kind of emotional intelligence and his ability to kind of speak to the aspirations of the American people, the fewer liberals are going to be able to understand the soul of his appeal.

— Rick Perlstein