Byron Dorgan: “This Chamber, given some of the dialog--and especially the dialog I heard a few minutes ago--only lacks the balloons…”

“This Chamber, given some of the dialog--and especially the dialog I heard a few minutes ago--only lacks the balloons, the buttons, and the brass band for being a political convention in a full-scale support of a candidate in a Presidential operation, a Presidential campaign. It is not my desire nor my intent to talk about the Presidential race. But when I hear people come to the floor and decide to talk about John Kerry's record on energy as a Member of the Senate, I think it is important to respond. There are a great many allegations being made about Senator John Kerry's record and many--most that I have heard recently--have been flat out untrue, just wrong. One of the great things about the First Amendment in this country is you can say whatever you want to say and, in politics, you can misrepresent someone's record and nobody seems to care very much. Let me talk for a couple of minutes about these issues. First of all, let's talk about the energy bill. We don't have an energy bill right now. Do you know why? It failed by two votes in the Senate. I voted for it. So did the minority leader.”