Political Quotes

“about 13 years ago I went to get on an airplane in Phoenix, AZ. I was a Member of Congress. I was late for my plane, as usual. I came running into the airport, went to the United ticket counter, and said: Can I still make the plane? And the lady at the counter said: Yes, I think you can. Hurry up. I said: Can you get me a seat in the nonsmoking section of the plane? It was too late. She said: The only seat I have left is a middle seat in the smoking section of the plane. So I said to her: Isn't there something you can do? She looked down at my airline ticket and at my title and said: No, Congressman. But there is something you can do. So I got on that airplane and sat in a middle seat in the smoking section between two chain-smoking sumo wrestlers and thought to myself: There has to be a better way. When I got off that plane, I decided to offer an amendment to ban smoking on airplanes across America, and was successful, to the surprise of myself and everybody else. No one had ever beaten the tobacco lobby on the floor of the House of Representatives. We did it by five votes. It was very bipartisan. It came over to the Senate. Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey picked up the cause. He was successful on this side. We put into law a ban on smoking on airplanes, which I think was the domino that triggered smoking being banned all across America, in restaurants, in office buildings, in hospitals, and not only on planes, but on trains and buses.”