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Willie Brown
Former Mayor of San Francisco
I think that moving into adulthood at 11 or 12 years of age, self-sufficiency, independence, decision making in a responsible fashion, never allowed to be a flake, or never tolerated to be a flake, all constitute qualities that have been of immeasurable value in every aspect of my life. Just the discipline of being able to set your time when you went to school, when you did your homework, when you did the work you had to do, your household chores. And you always had those, every kid in my household was assigned those, and every kid that I knew in the community. Plus the fact that you had to help produce that which sustained the family, and you could not be selfish.
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Willie Brown
Former Mayor of San Francisco
Listening is an art that most people do not possess. Most of us talk. And when we finish talking, we start thinking what we're going to say next. In interviews, I hate to be interviewed where the person interviewing me never listens to what I'm saying. They simply have a fixed agenda, and they're going to get through that agenda no matter what. Now, the agenda may not be relevant to anything that I've said in each subsequent question, but nevertheless, they stay with the agenda, so they're not listening. It takes greater skills to listen than it does to speak.
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George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States
I'm disturbed by the attack on political figures. The assumption that everyone is guilty until proven innocent, is just 180 degrees different than the justice systems ought to be. And I don't know what it takes to change that. I think the attacks that hurt me the most were not those that differed with me on abortion, or guns, or prayer in school, or on balanced budgets, or on taxes. The ones that hurt the most were those that challenged my character. Didn't trust my word. And I think there's an adversarial feeling in the press that "All politicians are going to lie to me, and therefore it's my obligation to get to the truth." It's a very unhealthy view. And some political people do lie all the time, and step over their friend to achieve the objective themselves. But I'm one who believes that one's word of honor is about one of the most fundamentally important things there is.
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George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States
Would an American President, would I, who fought for my country and did my level best, leave an American incarcerated, knowing that we could do something about it? And the answer was, no. It's the attack on character, it's the attack on your very fiber, your being, that hurts. And who's guilty? Well, I think to some degree the press is much more unaccountable and ferociously adversarial. And I think there's some that have accepted the view that, well, this might well be true, the man doesn't have the character. And I did. I made mistakes, screwed things up real bad on a lot of things. Couldn't get things done the way I wanted, but it wasn't because I was a couple of quarts low on character.
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