Political Quotes

“I noticed the Senator from Texas was talking about all of those people recently moving to Texas. There was a point in our history in this country when half of Tennessee moved to Texas. In fact, almost every Texan you find has a Tennessee ancestor, whether it is Davy Crockett or Sam Houston or some other person. I wish to follow up on the remarks of the Senator from Texas and his focus on the family budget and his focus on the way this Senate is working. Senator McConnell, our Republican leader, has said often that in the Senate that process is often substance. When I was Governor of Tennessee, I didn't understand that very well because the job of a governor is to see an urgent need, develop a strategy for meeting the need, and then persuading half the people you are right. So I left the process to somebody else and probably didn't show as much respect for the process as I should have. When I was a university president, I was humbled a great deal and learned a little bit more about process. Now that I am in the Senate, I understand even more that the Republican leader is a very wise man when he says process is often substance. So first I wish to comment on the process we saw this afternoon when the majority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat, and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, stood together with others of us and said we are going to work together and try to produce a housing bill.”