Marketers know – no matter how deep the emotional connection or brand loyalty – when a product does not perform, rational thought overtakes emotion, and most consumers make a new choice. – Mark McKinnon
When elected officials and others contribute to a climate and culture that fosters hyper-partisanship, we’ve got to blow the whistle. – Mark McKinnon
I don’t really care how or why Obama got to the right place on gay marriage. I’m just glad he got there. – Mark McKinnon
I’m amazed, as quirky, individual and selfish as most of us are, that anyone stays married for long. – Mark McKinnon
I’m no economist. I don’t even play one on TV. I’m just a husband, a father, a taxpayer. – Mark McKinnon
If we cannot come together to pause, to respect our dead and the heroic lives of meaning they led, then ours is truly a civilization lost. – Mark McKinnon
Democrats love to criticize Republicans on guns, but they are generally mute when it comes to taking on Hollywood or the gaming industry. – Mark McKinnon
The office of the president is the most powerful in the world. It is also, at times, the most powerless. – Mark McKinnon
George W. Bush was president through some of the darkest days of our history and yet his optimism never waned. He is optimistic by nature, but he also understood the importance of always communicating a sense that things will get better. – Mark McKinnon
If you’re running for office, it’s tough to be an incumbent. It’s tough to run out of Washington. It’s better to be an outsider. And Establishment support doesn’t help; it more likely hurts. – Mark McKinnon
The problem with State of the Union speeches is that they are, by their nature and design, alphabet soup. It’s hard to know what a president really cares about when they run down a laundry list and check every issue box under the sun for fear they will offend some constituency if they don’t. – Mark McKinnon
Weary of wily politicians who say one thing and do another, voters and advocacy groups insist presidential contenders commit to the cause du jour in writing, but candidates are foolish to comply. Words matter. – Mark McKinnon
There’s only one way we’re going to change our political climate and ensure we establish some respect in our discourse. And that is to show there is a real price to pay for being a disrespectful partisan idiot. – Mark McKinnon
The job of elected leaders is to deliver results that represent the interests of the citizens who placed them in a position of authority with their voice, their vote. But these days, money talks louder. – Mark McKinnon
Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change. – Mark McKinnon
Defending birthright citizenship is about being on the right side of liberty. The 14th Amendment is a great legacy of the Republican Party. – Mark McKinnon
Ronald Reagan was long thought to be the most conservative of Republicans. And by any standard today he is the most popular Republican in modern history. Yet he raised taxes 11 times, supported a ban on assault rifles and the Brady Bill, which mandated background checks, and established amnesty for 3 million undocumented workers. – Mark McKinnon
Every day I am being told to sign up for Tumblr, Yammer, Friendfeed, Plaxo, Last.fm, ping.fm or the hot social-media tool du jour that happened to get mentioned on Mashable.com. It is like a social-media arms race. Each one of these new tools is like a cool new night club. Hot today, gone tomorrow, replaced with something else. – Mark McKinnon
I don’t buy the argument that there can’t be a successful independent candidacy for the presidency of the United States. People who say, ‘It can’t happen,’ are many of the same people who said we’d never elect an African American. – Mark McKinnon
Social Security and Medicare are necessary safety nets, but they are nearing insolvency as fewer pay in, more take out, and more take out more. – Mark McKinnon
A troubled economy is always the sitting president’s fault. It was when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, when Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush, and when Barack Obama defeated John McCain by running against George W. Bush. – Mark McKinnon
The initial attraction of a political convention was that often the outcome was not preordained. There was at least some element of surprise. But, now it’s like tuning in to a movie where you already know the plot and the ending. It’s just not that interesting. – Mark McKinnon
Sarah Palin is brilliant. She is a media magnet and a media magnate. She creates headlines and draws crowds wherever she goes, whether it’s 98 degrees in the desert of Arizona or below freezing in the snow of Wisconsin. – Mark McKinnon
I took a lot of heat from Republicans when I stepped out of John McCain’s campaign after the 2008 primaries. I still supported McCain, and voted for him, but I just didn’t want to be the tip of the spear attacking Obama. – Mark McKinnon
