Political Quotes

“I want to talk about an aspect of the circus that we usually see in the sideshow, but it has moved in here, in the big top. That is the India rubber man who can be bent and twisted all out of shape, no bones, no resistance. One can just make all kinds of shapes out of them. Well, we have about 150 of them represented here. They are, among others, the people that used to be known as moderate Republicans. About a hundred Republicans signed a letter saying they did not like a tax credit for people that made $200,000, but, like the India rubber man, just because they signed the letter does not mean they cannot be twisted into voting the bill. There will probably be a majority of Republicans who will vote for this bill, having told us how much they do not like some aspects of it. Just like the India rubber man, they will start standing up straight, but the leadership will come, and twist them, and move them, and push them, and, by the time they are through, they will be all bent out of shape, but they will vote for it. Actually the circus is probably the wrong institution to talk about when we talk about moderate Republicans. The place where they will be found hereinafter is in museums, because there will not be any more left. The pressures that the right wing is able to generate on Republicans means we will continue to see the kind of ultimate flexibility which leads them to sign a letter saying they do not like the tax bill and then get twisted into voting for it.”