Jon Kyl: “I want to get to the matter I came to speak on, the PATRIOT Act. The Senator from Massachusetts spoke to us about having…”

“I want to get to the matter I came to speak on, the PATRIOT Act. The Senator from Massachusetts spoke to us about having respect for one of our colleagues in the other body who is, in fact, a patriot and who certainly should never be called a coward. I also want to ask that same deference to those in the Defense Department and others who were doing their duty for our country, who could have been in the private sector making a lot of money and taking care of their families but chose to serve their country in another way in later life by acting on behalf of all of us in matters of national security. The Secretary of Defense, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Fife, who headed the office I spoke of, these are patriots. And for anyone to suggest that someone like Doug Fife or Don Rumsfeld or Paul Wolfowitz were misleading anyone is, frankly, about as low as you can get. And even loose words such as ``unlawful'' have been thrown about. This is a very bad state of affairs that we have come to when that is the kind of discourse we have in talking about people who have served our country honorably. I hope my colleagues will join me in trying to elevate the rhetoric rather than taking it down further. And that applies to everybody--Democrat and Republican Members of Congress, or the administration. I came to talk about the PATRIOT Act.…”