Political Quotes

“I was reminded of the fabler, Stephen Leacock, who wrote the story about the fleas riding on the back of a chariot. They looked back and said, ``My, what a fine cloud of dust we have made.'' It seems to me that Bill Clinton's crowing about the latest GDP figures is analogous. If it were not for the Republican Congress, as Senator Roth just pointed out, ensuring that the budget deficit went down to the extent it did, we would not have these GDP figures that begin to show some promise. As Senator Roth pointed out, if the President had not vetoed the balanced budget we sent up, the figures would be even better. So I don't think this is the time for the President to be crowing. There is another point here, too, Mr. President. We should be very leery of these preliminary statistics. It has been pointed out that the first-quarter GDP figures this year were actually overrated by 21 percent. The correct number was 2.2 percent growth. But they were originally estimated at 2.8 percent. So we need to be a little cautious about bragging too much about the figures before they are verified. Third, as has been pointed out before in this debate, the overall economic performance during the Clinton administration is very poor. It is an annual growth rate of 2.3 percent, compared, for example, with 3.7 percent growth the year before the President took office.”