Tom Lantos: “my friend from Florida would have heard a great deal about all of those outrages had he been active in the Congressional…”

“my friend from Florida would have heard a great deal about all of those outrages had he been active in the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. The folks who cry crocodile tears for all these people who have been killed and tortured and murdered are nowhere to be seen when we are dealing with human rights issues. Mr. Speaker, the greatness of this country is measured by the moments when we act in a bipartisan fashion. It was the Marshall Plan, it was NATO, and it was all the bipartisan measures passed by our predecessors that created the great moments of American history in the 20th century. In the other body 16 of my colleagues' Republican colleagues, some of the most distinguished members of the Republican party, Senator John McCain, their most credible presidential candidate, Senator Lugar of Indiana, the foreign policy expert, Senator John Warner, head of the Armed Services Committee and 13 others voted for this identical resolution. They have risen to a high level of bipartisanship. Now I have some credentials along those lines. I stood up with President Bush 8 years ago and voted to support that President because I felt the national interest was at stake. It is no less at stake today. The blind hatred that is so apparent on the part of some of my colleagues towards this administration makes it impossible to make rational judgments.”