Political Quotes

“I live in Texas; frankly, much closer to the Mexican border than the gentleman from Ohio. While I have great respect for the gentleman's interest in fighting drugs, as a father of two small sons who will be raised in Texas near the Mexican border I will absolutely take a back seat to no one in this House in my interest in fighting drugs. Let us be fair in this debate. This is not about who wants to fight drugs and who does not. This is about the best way to do it. There is a right way and a wrong way to accomplish our Nation's goals. The wrong way is to put thousands of U.S. soldiers on the Texas/Mexican border to make our State look like east Berlin during the Cold War. The Army does not want this. Those of us who represent major Army installations, and I represent the largest populated Army installation in the world, Fort Hood, I can speak for thousands of Army soldiers in saying that they came into the Army to fight for our Nation's defense and wars, not to stand on the borders of our States in the fight against drugs, a noble cause, perhaps, but one that is inappropriate because of the Posse Comitatus. What is the next step? I agree that fighting drunk driving fatalities is terribly important. Do we want to station thousands of soldiers on American roads and highways to fight drunk driving? Certainly not. For the same reason, we should not put thousands of Army soldiers on the border of Texas.”