Political Quotes

“Well, certainly I have not. Indeed, perhaps the first laws enacted in the world are laws against murder, therefore the oldest, certainly laws we ought to respect before any other. The notion that an old law is due less deference than a new one is, on its face, absurd. Actually, the existence of a law for a long period of time establishes that it truly embodies the consensus of the society. Clearly, these are searched-for excuses by the White House to try to get out from under what they have done. A fascinating parallel is the line, ``Everybody else does it.'' Another one is, ``Well, we certainly thought we were complying with the law.'' I love that one with regard to the issue of phone calls by the President himself from the White House, because if my colleagues recall the sequence of events, his first story on phone calls from the White House was, ``I don't recall making any.'' And then his second story some several weeks later was, ``Well, I know that at the time we did this, whatever it is we did, we believed we were complying with the law.'' Now, spare me, and maybe my colleagues can help with this. I have problem with the logic that says, ``I do not remember doing it, but if I did it, I remember that I thought I was complying with the law.'' That one is tough for me.”