Political Quotes

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, first of all, let me say to my dear friend from New Jersey, I fully agree with the five nominees he has put in front of the Senate. Indeed, we had good confirmation hearings on all five of those, and none of these five--other than the one I am going to the talk about in a second--are political appointments. These are career people who have had long and distinguished service with the Secretary of State, and they are all very legitimate appointees to the places they are appointed to, which I am going to reiterate here in just a minute. In any event, one was left off the list. I know Senator Booker had some issues with that, but I think, in the spirit of cooperation and in the spirit of bipartisanship, he offers five, and I will offer a compromise of one more. I think that is absolutely fair--five for one. But I object, and indeed I would ask unanimous consent that we do as suggested by Senator Booker, and that is discharge from the committee and approve the following six nominations: PN1938, Mr. Kevin Blackstone, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste; PN2024, Ms. Cynthia Kierscht, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania; PN2101, Mr. Brian D.…”