Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New York for that enthusiastic endorsement. I like how she took on some of these criticisms that have been lodged against Solicitor General Kagan. I also understand that at least one of my colleagues who spoke out in opposition has stated that, in his words: ``I believe she does not have the gifts and qualities of mind or temperament that one must have to be a Justice.'' Well, anyone who sat through those hearings or watched them on TV, as Senator Gillibrand has pointed out, would have to disagree. Anyone would have seen an incredibly smart, intellectually engaged person who answered Senators' questions astutely and whose energy never seemed to flag. Neither did her sense of humor, I will add. She had immediate recall about every single case or constitutional doctrine that she was asked about, and to say she doesn't have the gift or quality of mind is simply ridiculous. This is a woman who is a trailblazer: the first woman dean of Harvard Law School, first woman Solicitor General. To say she does not have the gifts or the qualities of mind to be a Justice is nothing short of ridiculous. I next will yield for someone who knows something about having a good temperament and a good quality of mind, the Senator from New Hampshire, who is also a trailblazer in her own right: the first woman to serve as both a Governor and a Senator, Mrs. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.”