Political Quotes

“But--it is hyperbole that I am engaging in now, it was just pointed out by my friend from New York. But let me tell you what is not hyperbole. There is no historical precedent for this. There is no logical rationale as to why this would, in fact, facilitate NATO membership down the road, because we all know farm policy will prevail over foreign policy. And lastly, I respectfully suggest that it bears no relationship, no relationship whatsoever, to anything anyone in the past has thought was necessary to strengthen NATO--none, zero, none, historically, politically, economically, socially, in any way. It may be a good idea, and I have been battling the Europeans, in my capacity as the chairman of or the ranking member of the European Affairs Subcommittee, for years, to ``do the right thing. Do the right thing. Let your brothers in.'' Let me point out, if tomorrow you went to the Russians and said, ``I have a deal for you; here is what we are going to do: All those European countries or former satellite states will become part of the EU and you will never be a member of the EU; or they will not be members of the EU, but they will be members of NATO, which you may be able to do; you choose''--there is not an economist, there is not a democrat, in Russia who would choose the former over the latter, in my humble opinion, not a one.”