On the recordDecember 31, 2012
All right. I thank the Chair. I saw some angst on the face of the Chair, and I thought my time was up. Let me just say this to my colleagues. Many of us who watched the President's press conference--no, it wasn't a press conference; the President's speech--felt we were seeing a rerun of something that took place during the campaign. We have all been watching a lot of football, and for Republicans to sit and listen and watch that, it reminded me of taunting those people on the other team. It stops you cold. It stands over you and taunts. It got so bad that now the NFL has made it a penalty and they throw the flag. It is not something we would expect out of the leader of this free Nation. It is not statesmanship. It is not leadership. It is in your face. It was dismissive, it was insulting, it was belittling, and in the end it was sad. Now, the natural reaction is to get angry and push back and get revenge. But that is not where we are, and that is not where we need to be. We need to set this aside. It is like the coach tapping us on the shoulder pad and saying: What was done speaks for itself; don't stoop to that level. So we need to set that aside now and go forward in the interest of the future of this country, in the interest of America and the families and people we represent in our States, and look at this very carefully.…





