Emanuel Cleaver: “I thank the gentlewoman. I actually have read George Washington's book on civility. Russ Carnahan, my colleague from…”

“I thank the gentlewoman. I actually have read George Washington's book on civility. Russ Carnahan, my colleague from Missouri who is from St. Louis, gave me that book shortly after we arrived because I was talking all the time with many of the freshman Members about the issue, and so he very kindly gave me that book. I think neither of us are likely to change our opinions on the tax cuts, and I think that people who watch, particularly Members of Congress, hopefully realize that talk does not have to be toxic, and in many instances, that is what has happened on this floor. The more convinced we are that our position is sound and moral and ethical and right, the less hostility we need to speak of it. To give you an example, Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Junior, both believed so deeply in what they were doing and the moral world coming to their side that they were so civil that they were willing to be beaten and to even go to jail. They did not respond in kind to the things that were done, and so on this floor, if we believe deeply in what we are saying, that is even more reason to be civil. When I was elected to this body, and my father and my sisters and my wife and our 4 children and nieces and nephews all came to Washington, I was very excited over the fact that I was elected to this body. Only 18,000 people in the history of this republic have been able to sit in this Chamber and debate, and we are the only office in the United States that must be elected.…”