Quote

You have to be careful how you're using the word boycott.

I can say unequivocally that the boycott does not work. It's never complete enough to have impact unless it's backed by force, and I don't think anybody in America seriously proposes that.

Boycott is not a principle. When it becomes one, it itself risks becoming exclusive and racist. No boycott, in our sense of the term, should be directed against an individual, a people, or a nation as such.

A boycott is directed against a policy and the institutions which support that policy either actively or tacitly. Its aim is not to reject, but to bring about change.

As is now painfully obvious from my Twitter ban, boycotts tend to make the shunned more popular.

A boycott is, inherently, a blunt instrument. It is an imperfect weapon, a carpet bomb, when all involved would prefer a surgical strike.

Unfortunately, more and more Muslim voices are calling for boycotts of the United States and its products.

I say to the Occupy protesters - you're occupying the wrong place, you're protesting the wrong thing.

I as an elected official would never recommend anybody to boycott any city or state.