Intellectual Integrity

"I don’t think you beat Democrats by assimilating – let me speak from my point of view. If I were to all of a sudden change my positions based on the possibility of seeking a higher office, number one, I would lose the support of people who have supported me for years and number two, I would lose the respect of the people I am attempting to woo my way. Nobody likes that.
I believe one of the things that President Bush did so well in the campaign was he communicated, "You may not agree with me on every issue, but you know exactly where I stand." And that I think is leadership, and I admire that in him. I think Congressman Hyde was the same way. You know, people could disagree with him. The old phrase is that you can disagree without being disagreeable. . . I think most voters would rather have somebody they can look in the eye and know where this person is coming from. I may agree with him X percentage of the time, but he’s got a process, he’s got a rationale, I can live with that. I’ve had that feedback. I‘ve had people say to me, I disagree with you on this or that issue, but I’m going to vote for you."