Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here on the floor today to ask unanimous consent for a long, long overdue resolution. It is a resolution that I guarantee most Americans are going to be like: What? Wait. What? We haven't done that yet? The Senate, the Congress, hasn't done that yet? It is a resolution on this: recognizing the heroic service of our Vietnam veterans and finally issuing an apology--yes--for the way in which tens of thousands of them were treated when they came home after serving their Nation. So that is what I am going to do right here. I was told a couple of minutes ago that someone was going to object, and I was like: Whoa. Really? Let's have that debate. Let's have that debate. But good news: no objection. So what I wanted to do briefly is just explain the reasoning behind this resolution. I think, as a country, when you look at the broad sweep of American history, we have always rightfully respected, lionized, and celebrated America's veterans--think about it--in the last several decades. The World War II generation--we even have a name for them: the ``greatest generation''--sacrificed over 400,000 Americans killed in action, saving the world from dictatorships in Europe and in the Pacific. The ``greatest generation'' literally defended freedom all over the world. When they came home--and to this day--we celebrated them, and we lionized them with ticker-tape parades, as it should be. At that moment in our history, the respect for our veterans was sky- high.…”