Political Quotes

“Thank you. I am proud to be a cosponsor of Senator Dodd's resolution. What a curious footnote in the history of this world that this Senate Chamber would focus its debate and the attention of the media in this country on a little 6-year-old boy from Cuba. But if you scan history, you will find similar cases where one person being caught in the vortex of controversy becomes the focal point. In this case, the focal point is a 6-year-old boy named Elian Gonzalez, and at issue is the foreign policy between the United States of America and the Nation of Cuba. Yesterday, Senator Dodd was kind enough to invite me, as well as three other Senators, to meet with the grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez. I sat and listened for an hour as they explained their family circumstances and answered our questions. It really brought me back to that moment in time many years ago when I was a practicing lawyer in Springfield, IL, and spent many days involved in family law. It was not the most enjoyable part of my legal practice. In fact, many times those cases, involving divorce and child custody and child support, unfortunately, brought out the very worst in people. Those battles over children became proxy battles over a failed marriage. It saddened me, as I am sure it saddens many who are involved in this. As I listened yesterday, I understood that these two grandmothers were basically making the case that they had a good family to offer in Cuba, a good family for Elian Gonzalez.”