Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Minnesota, my friend. Mr. Speaker, 29 prominent policymakers and experts who understand Iran and international relations, which includes former CENTCOM Commander, Ambassador Tom Pickering, stated in a letter to President Obama just 2 weeks ago: ``No further sanctions should be imposed or considered at this time.'' There were 131 bipartisan Representatives who also urged the President to test the opportunity presented by Iran's recent election to avoid actions that could delegitimize the democratic election that just took place in Iran, because the fact is that the Iranian people rejected the very cleric of government that we have all opposed that has been defined by hostile actions against the United States. In fact, when Mr. Rouhani was running, the people of Iran knew he was a former nuclear negotiator, and he promised greater nuclear transparency and to pursue, in his words, peace and reconciliation with the outside world. Isn't that just what we are looking for? I can't imagine we are looking for another war of choice, that we want to escalate the rhetoric. This is the best opportunity we have had in at least 8 years, if not more. Why throw that away? Now, some will say, ``Well, what we do in the House doesn't really matter. The Senate isn't going to do anything,'' but that's a nuance. We may understand why the House is acting, but the rest of the world doesn't likely understand what's going on here.…”