Emanuel Cleaver: “I sat in my office and listened to this debate; and the one thing I know is that neither side is listening to each…”

“I sat in my office and listened to this debate; and the one thing I know is that neither side is listening to each other. Everybody's just trying to say something. The people at home are probably trying to figure out if there is any sanity anywhere in Washington. We're having fact-free debates, and the truth of the matter is that we're putting ideology over logic. I'm not going to be here on Christmas. You can get whatever people you want. You can send all kinds of things into my district. We're on the verge of the second holiest holiday in my religious tradition. I'm going to be home. I'm going to be in church. This is sick. This is sick. And the people all over the country, the people in the gallery, they know that they are watching dysfunctionality at its best. I'm ashamed, ashamed that this kind of thing is going on and the world is watching. All we need to do is wait until a better season so that we don't look as bad. Every minute we debate, our poll numbers drop. It's probably at a point now where they can't drop any further. But can't we stop this and start trying to rationally deal with the business of the public? We're not listening to each other. The media just wants to listen to see if anybody's going to say anything that's caustic. The red meat crowd is waiting for somebody to say something insulting to the other side. We ought to be listening to our better selves.…”