Mike Rosen Quotations

Mike Rosen is the host of Denver's most popular radio talk show on 850 KOA (AM) (Monday through Friday 9am to 11:45am) and a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News.

"I don't believe that [blacks in New Orleans immediately prior to Hurricane Katrina]couldn't afford a bus ticket out of New Orleans for a minute- they might not be able to drive out in a brand new Lincoln, but they could afford a bus ticket."
- March 15, 2006 KOA radio

"Television is to news as a bumper sticker is to Shakespeare. I remember hearing an analogy once that went something like that. Your typical nightly, 35-minute TV news broadcast is a headline service with pictures. Five minutes of police-blotter reporting - fires, murders, car accidents, etc. - five minutes of human-interest stories and small talk, five minutes of weather, five minutes of sports, ten minutes of commercials, and maybe a minute or two for business, science, politics, and affairs of the world."
- July 3, 1998 Denver Post column

"Non-supply siders: Concern themselves with 'How to divide up a [fixed] pie'. Supply siders: Concern themselves with 'How to make a bigger pie.'"
- October 22, 1996 KOA Radio

"One of the hackneyed liberal complaints goes something like this: 'Bush is the first president in history to cut taxes during a war.' Nonsense. Bush didn’t cut taxes; he cut tax rates across the board - on income, dividends and capital gains. And that’s precisely why tax revenues have soared. When a department store wants to make more money, it doesn’t raise its prices, it cuts them and announces a big sale. If you want more work and investment, you hold a sale on economic activity by cutting tax rates, thereby reducing the cost of productive activity and increasing the prospect of after-tax returns on work and investment."
- July 22, 2005 Rocky Mountain News column

"We protect the right of pacifists and other anti-war militants to assemble and advance their cause. But I don’t respect such people and I don’t shrink from exposing their ideas as destructive and suicidal. Pacifists are my enemy because wittingly or not, they serve the purposes of my enemy and jeopardize my freedom."
- October 5, 2001 Rocky Mountain News column

Conservatives believe in individual freedom and responsibility. Liberals believe in sacrificing individual freedom for socially desirable outcomes. Liberals believe that one of government's primary roles is social engineering.

Conservatives believe in limited government. Liberals believe in intrusive government when required to achieve societal needs. (Exception: social-issues conservatives advocate government intrusion on matters of abortion, drugs and pornography.)

Conservatives believe in free markets. Liberals believe in government controls and central planning.

Conservatives believe that some problems have no solution, that they can only be mitigated at best. Liberals believe that most every problem has a government solution.

Conservatives are concerned about the production of wealth. Liberals are concerned about the redistribution of it.

Conservatives believe in equality of opportunity. Liberals believe in equality of outcome.

Conservatives believe that human nature is what makes us imperfectible. Liberals believe that human nature can be changed and perfected.

Conservatives are nationalists. Liberals hope for world government.

Conservatives believe in peace through strength. Liberals believe in peace through cooperation and good will.
- March 31, 2000 Rocky Mountain News column

Don’t tell me you are a moderate. Moderate is an adjective. It is a qualifier. You may be a moderate conservative, a moderate democrat, or a moderate drinker but it doesn’t tell me what you believe in. It’s not a philosophy. Unless all you believe in is moderation for the sake of moderation. Grow up! You can’t be a good egg all of your life. Someday you have to either hatch or rot.