Political Quotes

“one of the most important votes that I ever cast in the House or the Senate was the result of a challenge from a complete stranger. The year was 1986. I was running late to the airport, heading back to Chicago from Phoenix, AZ. Now, those were the days when you could get a ticket at the airline counter at the last minute, but if you were too late, the good seats on the plane would all be gone. When I was handed my boarding pass in Phoenix, I saw that I was put in a middle seat in the smoking section at the back of the plane. I asked the United Airlines attendant: Isn't there something you can do about this? She looked down at my ticket and my title and said: No, but, Congressman, there is something you can do about it. I thanked her and made the flight. As I squirmed in my seat to try to avoid the smoke clouds, I began to look around the plane. In front of me, only a few rows away, was an older person. Near him was a new mom with a baby. I thought to myself: This makes no sense at all. These people are supposed to be sitting in the nonsmoking section. I am in the smoking section, yet they are just a few rows ahead, breathing the same secondhand smoke that I am breathing. When I got back to DC, I called my House staff together and told them I had an idea: I wanted to ban smoking on airplanes. My staff told me I was crazy. The tobacco industry was the most powerful lobby force in Washington, with support from the top leadership of both political parties.…”