Dale Bumpers: “if we do not hurry up and get the Presidential race over with, I do not know what will happen in this country. How…”

“if we do not hurry up and get the Presidential race over with, I do not know what will happen in this country. How Senator Dole has voted on the gas tax in the past is not relevant to me. What kind of a country my children and grandchildren inherit is. I happen to strongly disagree with Senator Dole on repealing the 4.3- cent gasoline tax that we put on--not to build highways but to balance the budget--that fateful August day in 1993. That particular deficit reduction package, in my opinion, is still the hallmark of the Clinton administration, the most responsible thing the President has done, the most courageous thing he has done. When we open our mail each day a certain portion of it is hate mail. Some of it is just plain critical. Some of it is very complimentary. When you get to the hate mail it is always, ``Why don't you people screw up your nerve and make those courageous decisions?'' I have said on the floor of the Senate many times the definition of a courageous decision is an unpopular one. The definition of a courageous vote is an unpopular vote. If it were popular, it would not be courageous.”