Political Quotes

“I come today because tomorrow is the formal start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. We certainly wish all of our athletes well. We have a few from Florida. Believe it or not, the Sunshine State has contributed a number of athletes to the Winter Olympic efforts of our country. We wish them all the best. We pray for their safety. We have all read media reports of the potential for attacks. We pray that does not happen. Of course, our government has tried to be as cooperative as possible with the Russian Government in providing some level of security assistance. They have been less than open about that. So we hope and pray things will go well there. Let me just say at the outset, Olympics should never be politicized. I hope these are not either. So my comments are not about the Olympics per se, but I do think it is an important time, given where they are occurring, to take a moment to reflect on the nature of and our Nation's relationship with the host country, with Russia, because they are going to be in the news a lot over the next few days. We have all heard the debates about some of the more extreme examples of intolerance that exist within Russia, particularly as a result of President Vladimir Putin and his government. I want to take a moment to describe where I think the relations between Russia and the United States stand and particularly how Russia views itself--the government, I should say--in the world.…”