Scott Walker Quotes

Looking at America's history, ordinary people did something extraordinary. Leaders risked their lives for freedoms that we take for granted today. That's what instills confidence. That's us. We will move forward and prosper because that's who we are as Americans.

- Scott Walker

Political leaders in Illinois kicked the can down the road, raised taxes, and ignored fiscal realities. Now, they're realizing the consequences of their actions: credit downgrades and negative outlooks.

- Scott Walker

The voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent.

- Scott Walker

But I don't want massive layoffs of anyone - public or private. We are planning on shrinking government through attrition and reform, not through random pink slips.

- Scott Walker

We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with NATO to put forces on the eastern border of Poland and the Baltic nations, and I would reinstate, put in place back in the missile defense system that we had in Poland and in the Czech Republic.

- Scott Walker

You look at Governor Romney's record in the private sector, he helped turn businesses around. Certainly a decade ago he took what would have been an international disaster with the U.S. Olympics, and turned it around for America and made us great again with the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

- Scott Walker

We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine - America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf.

- Scott Walker

The unions say 'last hired - first fired,', we say hire and fire based on merit. We want the best and brightest in the classroom.

- Scott Walker

Now things have changed for the better. Our reforms end seniority and tenure so we can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance. That means we can put the best and the brightest in our classrooms - and we can keep them there.

- Scott Walker

I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with.

- Scott Walker

So let me be clear, Collective bargaining isn't a right, it is an expensive entitlement. Once and for all, we are giving the taxpayers a voice in this debate. We put the power back in the hands of the people.

- Scott Walker

One of those promises was to limit the size of government and to have the government serve the people - and not the other way around.

- Scott Walker

I kept my promises.

- Scott Walker

There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages.

- Scott Walker

Mitt Romney turned businesses around in the private sector. He saved the Winter Olympics.

- Scott Walker

It's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And - and that has put our national security at risk.

- Scott Walker

I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms.

- Scott Walker

My kids were targeted on Facebook by protesters.

- Scott Walker

We are the ones looking out for the middle class. Who do think pays for the endless expansion of government? Its middle class taxpayers. Our reforms protect middle class taxpayers.

- Scott Walker

One of the things I get amused by is when my opponent talks about the middle class.

- Scott Walker

I think in the end the big issue is that the private sector still needs more help. And the answer is not more big government. I know in my state our reforms allowed us to protect firefighters, police officers, and teachers.

- Scott Walker

We'll look to the fall and if there is a new president and a new Senate that's part of a Congress willing to change, that's the next step.

- Scott Walker

When we win, it will tell every politician in America that if you are bold, if you do the right thing, if you tackle the tough issues, there will be people standing there right with you.

- Scott Walker

I joke with my kids, who love history, that I'll be the only governor to be elected twice in his first term.

- Scott Walker

People like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington.

- Scott Walker

I've often heard the complaint from both Democrat and Republican voters alike that they hate the fact that politicians get into office and they - and they're fearful, they're fearful to make tough decisions because they think more about the next election than they do about the next-generation.

- Scott Walker

You can make tough decisions that I believe voters for years have asked us to do.

- Scott Walker

I'd like now and into the future to play a bigger role not only in Wisconsin and the Midwest, but nationally. I'd like to have an impact.

- Scott Walker

Let this be our time in history so that someday we can tell our children and grandchildren that we were there, that we changed the course of history for the better.

- Scott Walker

But Mitt Romney understands, like I understand, that people - not governments - create jobs.

- Scott Walker

More people on unemployment benefits is not success in America, fewer people on not because we kicked them off but because they have been able to get a job in the private sector, because government got out of the way.

- Scott Walker

I think most people believe success in government is how many fewer people are in government, not because you kick them off of benefits like unemployment but they've been able to control their own destiny because private sector employers have created more jobs.

- Scott Walker

Like many places across the country, Wisconsin lost more than 100,000 jobs from 2008 to 2010. Unemployment during that time topped out at over 9%.

- Scott Walker

It's time to put our differences aside and find ways to work together to move Wisconsin forward.

- Scott Walker

It is only fair to expect public employees like me and others in the public sector to pay something close to what our neighbors and our fellow citizens do in the private sector.

- Scott Walker

Who is in charge? Is it taxpayers or is it the special interest groups?

- Scott Walker

There could not be a more stark contrast between Wisconsin and Illinois.

- Scott Walker

We could see the Teamsters coming in from New Jersey, the AFL-CIO from Chicago. You could see all of the people being bused in.

- Scott Walker

I have not made any plans for the future, and my wife would kill me if I announced anything before that.

- Scott Walker

I promised to empower the taxpayer - instead of a handful of big government union bosses.

- Scott Walker

My problem with public sector union leaders, the bosses, has been they stood in the way of protecting the taxpayer.

- Scott Walker

Certainly political capital-slash-celebrity attention, whatever you want to call it, certainly is part of the reason why I've been reaching out to CEOs. There's a lot of folks who probably would have taken a call from me before but are even more inclined now and are interested in what we're doing because of all the attention.

- Scott Walker

I believe that smaller government is better government. But I also believe that in the areas where government does play a legitimate role, we should demand that it is done better.

- Scott Walker

I hate big government, but I really hate a government that doesn't work. So when 'they say we either have to raise taxes or cut core services,' it's actually a 'false choice.'

- Scott Walker

In education, they say either property taxes have to go up, or we'll have poor education - that's a false choice.

- Scott Walker

We showed that when we say 'Wisconsin is open for business', we mean it.

- Scott Walker

Elections have consequences.

- Scott Walker

The real bottom line is, the national unions want their hands on the money.

- Scott Walker

So why am I facing a recall election? Simple: the big government union bosses from Washington want their money. They don't like the fact that I did something fundamentally pro-worker; something that's truly about freedom.

- Scott Walker

What has made America amazing has been the fact that throughout our history, throughout the more than 200 years of our history, there have been men and women of courage who stood up and decided it was more important to look out for the future of their children and their grandchildren than their own political futures.

- Scott Walker

What makes America amazing is that there have always been men and women of courage who were willing to think more about the future of their children and grandchildren than they did about their own political careers.

- Scott Walker

I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government, creates jobs.

- Scott Walker

You've got to have a vision. You've got to have a message.

- Scott Walker

And I think Governor Romney has a shot if the 'R' next to his name doesn't just stand for 'Republican,' it stands for 'reformer.'

- Scott Walker

I have unbelievable support among Republicans.

- Scott Walker

A wise governor told me a long time ago, political capital you don't get more of by keeping it. You get it by using it.

- Scott Walker

I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them.

- Scott Walker