Barbara Boxer: “So let's hold people accountable for what they do and say. I admit I was foolish on the filibuster when I was a freshman…”

“So let's hold people accountable for what they do and say. I admit I was foolish on the filibuster when I was a freshman and I came in here. I also wanted everything to go my way. I was wrong. And it is hard for a Senator to say they are wrong. We do not like to admit it. But I was wrong. But how can Bill Frist lead the charge, say that filibusters are wrong, it is terrible, it is awful, it is against the Constitution, and everything else he says--which I do not agree with any of what he said--and then not address the fact that he voted to sustain a filibuster. It does not make sense. We have soldiers dying in Iraq, in Afghanistan. Lord knows where they are going to go in this very dangerous world. And the mission: to make sure democracy thrives. Do you know that when I was in Iraq, we were told one of the reasons the minority groups there, the Kurds, felt comfortable was they knew they were going to copy the model of this democracy, including the filibuster? They said: Oh, we know we are going to have our rights heard because we are going to have the right to filibuster. They even told that to a Republican Senator who went over there. By the way, when I was in the Palestinian territories--this is another interesting part of my trip--the first thing the Palestinians said they want to do is make sure their people get a monthly social security benefit that is guaranteed.…”