Political Quotes

“First, Mr. President, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for bringing forth this proposal that makes so much sense and that, as he points out, has bipartisan support. In fact, I don't know if I have ever heard the Senator make so much sense twice in the same time of being on the floor--about this bill and about Senator Alexander. He is right on both counts. We are certainly going to miss the Senator from Tennessee, but like the characters in ``The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,'' when Tom and Huck were in the attic of the church during their own funerals, he is still here. He is going to be here for another 2 years, and we are going to get a lot done. I had a very formative experience as the Governor of Maine. Every year, we used to go to New York to talk to the rating agencies about our bond issues and the bond rating. Of course, the desire of any Governor of any State is to have a good bond rating so that you will pay less interest. At one point, I was making a presentation to the bond council and the rating agencies in New York, and I said: We have low debt, and we don't take on much in bonds, and we pay them off in 10 years. We are really keeping the bond indebtedness down. Then one of these green eyeshade guys stopped me. He said: Governor, when you are not fixing things, it is debt just as if it is on your balance sheet. That is what we are talking about here.…”