Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, today's Resolution, falsely conflating socialism with communism, is the latest in a long history of Republican scare tactics about Democrats and socialism. In 1935, Republican Representative Robert Rich said here in this chamber, ``Roosevelt is a socialist, not a Democrat.'' In 1946, during the Truman Administration, Republican Senator Robert Taft called a national health insurance bill ``the most socialistic measure that this Congress has ever had before it.'' In the 1960 election, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater called the platform of John F. Kennedy ``a blueprint for socialism.'' In 1964, when Lyndon Johnson passed Medicare, George H.W. Bush called it ``socialized medicine.'' In 1976, Barry Goldwater claimed that Jimmy Carter would bring about a ``suicidal slide toward socialism.'' In 1993, Newt Gingrich called the Clinton health care plan ``socialism now or later.'' Barrack Obama was routinely called a socialist, including by three of the Republican candidates in the 2012 election. And several Members of this House have called Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law ``socialist.'' Having reviewed this history, it's clear that this Resolution denouncing the horrors of ``socialism'' is an attempt by Republicans to trap Democrats on a vote by tying them to socialism. I neither admire nor ascribe to socialism, and the merits of this Resolution are none, in my view.…”