Political Quotes

“Mr. President, my colleague has talked about the disease in Washington, but I want to talk about another disease that seems to be running rampant in the House Republican caucus, and that is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. The reason I say that is they say one thing and they mean another. They say one thing and they deceive the American public. Ordinarily, I would not comment on the behavior or the tribal mores of the House Republican caucus, but they have had a field day on TV ridiculing the Senate, ridiculing the Democratic Senate, essentially doing a lot of name calling. I am not doing name calling. I am going to do fact describing. The reason I call it hypocrisy is this: What they say they want to do, which is reduce government spending, they do not. They only do it on particular groups of people. The other is something called the consequences of the shutdown. Let me say this: They want to cut spending, but they are unwilling to cut their own pay. Sure, I am for a government that is more frugal. I am for cuts. But I am not for their cuts. What they propose is reckless and radical, and when they do not get their own way, they say: Cut it or shut it. However, I take this position: If there is a government shutdown, I do not think Members of Congress should be paid. If there is a government shutdown and we tell dedicated Federal employees that they are not going to get paid, that they are nonessential, the fact that we could not stop a shutdown shows we are not essential.…”