Political Quotes

“Madam President: Right now, we are on the precipice of a constitutional crisis. We are about to step into the abyss. I want to talk for a few minutes why we are on that precipice and why we are looking into the abyss. Let me first ask a fundamental question: What is the crisis that calls for the undoing of two centuries of tradition? . . . Are . . . Senators merely doing their jobs as legislators, responding to a generalized public calling for the abolition of the filibuster? Clearly not. It is not the American people at large who are demanding detonation of the nuclear option. [T]he nuclear option is being pushed largely by the radioactive rhetoric of a small band of radicals who hold in their hands the political fortunes of the President. Constitutional scholars will tell us that the reason we have these rules in the Senate--unlimited debate, two-thirds to change the rules, the idea that 60 have to close off debate--is embodied in the spirit and rule of the Constitution. . . . That is what the Constitution is all about, and we all know it. It is the Senate where the Founding Fathers established a repository of checks and balances. It is not like the House of Representatives where the majority leader or the Speaker can snap his fingers and get what he wants. . . . On important issues, the Founding Fathers wanted--and they were correct in my judgment--that the slimmest majority should not always govern. . . . The Senate is not a majoritarian body.…”