Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about my friend Congressman Jerry Costello of Illinois. Jerry is retiring at the end of this session and we wish him well. By the time I arrived in Congress, Jerry was already a senior Member. I did not know him and had never heard of him. We met through our mutual friend, Congressman Richard Neal. We had a fair amount of mutual background--having been elected executive officials from our home states and having a deep respect for the art of politics and government. First and foremost, Jerry serves his constituents. We usually sit together during votes and we discuss most of them. I want to hear his opinion and I want to argue with him because we often see things differently. I know for certain that the most important factor he weighs for every vote is what is in the best interest of his constituents and what they would want him to do. Jerry embraces the concept of compromise. Many newer Members see compromise as defeat--but they are wrong and, hopefully, someday soon they will realize their folly. Compromise is essential to advance any society--our founders knew it, democracy demands it. Compromise does not mean declaring victory on every aspect of every issue--it means having a clear goal and knowing when you cannot achieve it, it means recognition that some progress is usually better than none, it means that you accept the fact that other people have valuable opinions that they hold as dearly as you hold yours.…”