Trent Lott: “let me begin tonight with a quote from Federalist Paper No. 37, January 11, 1789, by James Madison. It is misfortune…”

“let me begin tonight with a quote from Federalist Paper No. 37, January 11, 1789, by James Madison. It is misfortune, inseparable from human affairs, that public measures are rarely investigated with that spirit of moderation which is essential to a just estimate of their real tendency to advance or obstruct the public good. James Madison believed then it would always be very hard to investigate events and do it in such a way, in moderation and without partisanship, that the public would be able to find out what really happened and then determine what should be done in the future to keep it from happening again--to advance the good or obstruct the bad. Another quote goes from an anonymous source goes something along the lines of: If God had created a commission to establish Heaven and Earth, we wouldn't be here today. Mr. President, my own experiences with commissions over 30 years in Congress have not been good. I view Congressional commissions as an abdication of responsibility. What are we for? Why do we have an Armed Services Committee, an Intelligence Committee, a Governmental Affairs Committee, or a Foreign Affairs Committee? It seems to me that we in Congress should do the work of reviewing the laws and overseeing the agencies and the various departments. Are they serving the public the right way? In a responsible way? Or is there an abdication of responsibility and duty by the various administrations in charge of running our government?”