Political Quotes

“Right, free speech. You pour everything into it. So I was sitting there, and I was within a point, according to the polls, of pulling off at that time, that year, what was viewed as the upset of the year. I wasn't even old enough, Mr. President, to be sworn in the day I got elected. So I was riding out there. I walked into this room with nice big leather couches. I get offered, like we do in the Foreign Relations Committee, a sherry. That is a kind of foreign relations thing, sherry. I get offered a sherry. I don't drink, so I politely said, ``No thanks.'' These guys are real nice guys, five or six of them, and most of them made a living, God bless them--I don't begrudge them this--by clipping coupons. They came from wealthy families with a lot of money, and they are decent guys. Two of them had already been helping me. They thought this was a nice little revolution, this kid coming up doing this. They sat there and looked at me. The one guy who was the older of this group--I say I was 29, so they were probably between the ages of 32 and 40. One guy looks at me and says, ``Joe, can you tell us your position on capital gains?'' Now, Mr. President, I knew the right answer for $30,000. I knew the right answer. Capital gains had not been an issue in the campaign. I had never spoken out on capital gains. No one had talked about it, but I am not stupid.…”