Bill Nelson: “Mr. President, I wanted to come to the floor and announce that I had voted for Dr. Gates in the committee because I was…”

“Mr. President, I wanted to come to the floor and announce that I had voted for Dr. Gates in the committee because I was impressed by a number of these attributes that the Senator from Rhode Island and I have discussed. And among them, clearly, are that this Senator grew up in an era in which it was understood that partisanship stopped at the water's edge. In other words, when it became matters of the defense of this country, that partisanship was over, that we came together in a bipartisan way. Sadly, I can say that I do not think that is the way this war has been conducted with regard to reaching out across the aisle and involving both sides, who all have the constitutional responsibility of reflecting and representing the will of the American people. It is very hard to sustain a war unless you have the support of the American people. If that is not done in a bipartisan way, then sooner or later that good will is going to run out. That is one of the things I was impressed with and pressed Dr. Gates about yesterday in the hearings: not only what appeared to be refreshing candor from him but also his approach, in a nonpartisan way, to these issues of war and peace.”