I do think, however, that there's a very diverse point of view in the African-American community. There's a lot of different voices that need to be heard. I don't claim and pretend to know the thoughts and opinions and ideas of all African-Americans.
J. C. WattsI think Newt Gingrich has a proven track record of changing Washington and getting results.
J. C. WattsConsider in Washington, around the country today we are talking about balanced budgets, paying down our national debt, getting the economy going, defending ourselves, activist judges. Newt Gingrich did all those things when he was speaker. We got tax relief. We got balanced budgets. We got, you know, job creation. We paid down our national debt.
J. C. WattsEducation is a bipartisan issue that concern all communities of color and should be first, last and always about the student learning.
J. C. WattsIn 2008, as a matter of fact, I had people accusing me of being a Senator Obama supporter because I wouldn't slam him. I said, 'Well, consider the fact that I voted for impeachment for President Clinton, but it wasn't a personal vote. I voted based on the facts and the law and the Constitution and what we were dealing with.'
J. C. WattsIn addition, there is one title I cherish a great deal more than Congressman and that is the title of... Dad.
J. C. WattsThere is a direct correlation between education, stable families and incarceration and crime.
J. C. WattsYou take a poor black child. Give him a good education, tell him he's somebody, that God didn't create junk when he created him, and that black child will create his own affirmative action.
J. C. WattsToo many Americans live by Republican principles of faith, family, hope and opportunity, but vote for Democrats out of sheer habit.
J. C. WattsWe need to remember that politics is all about people, not programs. We shouldn't want to take the humanness out of the political arena.
J. C. WattsCharacter is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.
J. C. WattsA Black man voting for the Republicans makes about as much sense as a chicken voting for Col. Sanders.
J. C. WattsThe measure of a man is not how great his faith is, but how great his love is. We must not let government programs disconnect our souls from each other.
J. C. WattsI'm secure in who I am. I don't need the validation of those that would say, you have to be a certain thing in order to be accepted. I'm comfortable going against the grain if I need to.
J. C. WattsI think the Republican Party should be a pro-life party. I am pro-life. I do not apologize for that. On the flip side of that coin, the Republican Party has been big enough to allow pro-choice advocates to be heard.
J. C. WattsWe need to make sure that every child in America goes to a school every day that is safe, will teach them how to read and write, do arithmetic and gain the computer skills necessary to allow them to compete in the global marketplace. If we can get that through the public schools, fine. If we can't, I'm all for parental choice in education to allow that parent to take his/her/their child to a school that is safe and teaches them, even if it is a faith-based school!
J. C. WattsI'm looking forward to the day when America will mature to the point that we are a color-blind society. I'm not so sure that in politics that will ever be reality, because politics has a way of separating us based on skin color.
J. C. WattsRepublicans and Democrats have used accounting gimmicks and competing government analyses to deceive the public into believing that 2 + 2 = 6. If our leaders cannot agree on the numbers, if 'facts' are fictional, how can they possibly have a substantive debate on solutions?
J. C. WattsI was taught to respect everyone for the simple reason that we're all God's children. I was taught, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.... to judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. And I was taught that character...is simply doing what's right when nobody's looking.
J. C. WattsYou always hear 'black Republican,' but you never hear 'white Democrat.' We've got to get beyond the labels and stereotypes. Other people have hang-ups about it. I don't.
J. C. WattsThey said that I had sold out and (am an) Uncle Tom. And I said well, they deserve to have that view. But I have my thoughts. And I think they're race-hustling poverty pimps.
J. C. WattsServing in Congress has been more than an honor; it has been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life ... It has been a wonderful ride. It has been a wonderful journey.
J. C. WattsI think that anybody that stays in school, gets good grades, pays the price, I think we are wealthy enough in the public and the private sector in America to make sure that every child in America that wants to continue their education, they should be able to do that.
J. C. WattsThe more I ponder some of the boneheaded decisions GOP candidates have made of late, I can't bring myself to believe that they are serious about capturing more than about 8 percent of the black vote.
J. C. WattsAmericans are hungry for a discussion on policy solutions to the problems in their communities that work.
J. C. WattsMost of all, however, critics of black conservatives say we've forgotten where we came from. I may forget a federal budget number or, God forbid, to set the alarm clock for my weekly 6 a.m. flight to Washington, but I know exactly where I came from.
J. C. WattsMy father taught that the only helping hand you're ever going to be able to rely on is the one at the end of your sleeve.
J. C. WattsMy views on everything from welfare to a balanced budget to affirmative action can be traced to what Buddy and Helen Watts taught me as a young boy growing up poor but proud in Eufaula.
J. C. WattsThere is a war being waged right now on prayer and religion by liberals who are taking every opportunity to make America as God-less as possible.
J. C. WattsThe Republican Party is terrific at determining how a program will impact the federal budget, but we're not nearly as good as the Democrats in explaining to people how our agenda will directly benefit them and their families.
J. C. WattsI'm not one that believes that affirmative action should be based on one's skin color or one's gender, I think it should be done based on one's need, because I think if you are from a poor white community, I think that poor white kid needs a scholarship just as badly as a poor black kid.
J. C. WattsFor longer than I've been involved in the political process, the Republican establishment has claimed to want to provide an alternative for the black community, yet party elite refuse to show up for the game.
J. C. WattsSome might think that George W. Bush had his shortcomings, but let me tell you something - history's going to be kind to George W. Bush.
J. C. WattsYou saw the exodus of many people on the business council, who resigned, who said those are not my personal values, those are not our corporate values, and those - we don't believe - are the values of our country.
J. C. WattsReparations, I believe, are talked about for political reasons, trying to cater for the purpose of getting votes. If Congress was serious about reparations - in '93 and '94 the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the White House, and not one single Republican vote was needed for reparations.
J. C. WattsThe American dream does not happen by asking Americans to accept what's immoral and wrong in the name of tolerance.
J. C. WattsIn my wildest imagination, I never thought that the fifth of six children born to Helen and Buddy Watts - in a poor black neighborhood, in the poor rural community of Eufaula, Oklahoma - would someday be called Congressman.
J. C. Watts