John Kerry: “Thank you, Mr. President. Talk Has Consequences Mr. President, several of us in the Senate have run for the office of…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. Talk Has Consequences Mr. President, several of us in the Senate have run for the office of President of the United States. Two of us have been our party's nominees, and dozens of others have played major roles in tough campaigns. So none of us in the Senate are strangers to the rough and tumble of American politics. I think we all understand on a personal level what the humorist said at the turn of the century when he wrote: ``Politics ain't beanbag.'' One has to have a thick skin and a strong backbone to survive in this business. One has to be able to take a punch and deliver one, and we all understand that. So it is not as an innocent that I come to the floor today to say that I was troubled--deeply troubled--to read an op-ed in this morning's Washington Post by the likely Republican nominee for President Mitt Romney. It was an attack on the administration's Iran policy, and it was as inaccurate as it was aggressive. Every candidate for the Oval Office has the right to criticize the President. But, particularly this week, while Prime Minister Netanyahu is in Washington meeting with the administration to determine the road forward that might mean the difference between war or a diplomatic solution--particularly at that moment when so much is on the line, we all ought to remember that the nuclear issue with Iran is deadly serious business, and it ought to invite sobriety and serious-minded solutions, not sloganeering and fiction and sound bites.…”