Political Quotes

“Because, Mr. Speaker, it is tempting for politicians to come up with more programs, to have more pork barrel projects because the news media puts them on the front page, the television covers them cutting the ribbon for the new jogging trail. So what has happened is you increase the probability that you are going to get reelected if you come up with new programs to help someone with their problems. And once you start spending, if you spend that money for a certain project or a certain arena for a couple of years, it almost becomes an entitlement because they develop the interest and they hire a lobbyist that starts saying, boy, we are really going to scold you if you decide not to continue our funding. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett) for joining me tonight in this Special Order. And I would like to begin with some of my particular concerns on the war on Iraq and, of course, the 48 hours are up now; and that means in the next several days I presume there is going to be a more military aggressive insistence that Saddam Hussein gives up those weapons of mass destruction. Let me start out by saying that Bonnie, my wife, and I will be remembering our troops every night in our prayers and I hope, Mr. Speaker, that everybody in America does the same. These are the best soldiers in the world. They are courageous defenders of our freedom and worthy representatives of the United States of America.”