Political Quotes

“I rise in support of censure because while I do not find that the President's behavior constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors requiring removal, I do believe that it compels us to record for history our recognition of the damage we all acknowledge he has inflicted upon the Office of the Presidency and the Nation. Acquittal must not be the last word. And while I have felt that it would have been more appropriate for the Senate to issue findings of fact in the impeachment case against the President, I am now prepared to support censure so that there is no mixed message for posterity about what the Senate thinks of the President's actions. As I said yesterday, the President's behavior is indefensible, and I for one have no interest in seeing another shameless 'Rose Garden Jubilee' after today's vote by the Court of Impeachment. Acquittal is not exoneration. Nothing we do here today in any way absolves the President's responsibility for the harm he has inflicted--and the President must know this. Indeed, this has been a sordid chapter in the history of the Presidency, and it deserves to be closed with a stern warning and a strongly worded rebuke that will leave no doubt to future generations that this process was not simply much ado about nothing.”