Byron Dorgan: “this has been fascinating. I came in at Senator Gregg's presentation, nearly at a fever pitch, depending on what appears…”

“this has been fascinating. I came in at Senator Gregg's presentation, nearly at a fever pitch, depending on what appears to be the indefensible. But it reminded me of how one argues in court. You take the best you have and then go at it with volume--if possible, as much volume as is possible--and hope some of it sticks. It reminded me a little bit, too, of the message that Gen. George Armstrong Custer received just before they actually got to Harden, MT, with the 7th Calvary. His scouts came back and said: Things look pretty good up ahead. Things look pretty good. General Custer got that message. It is the message I heard this morning as I walked onto the floor of the Senate from our colleague, Senator Gregg: Things look pretty good up ahead. Let's look up ahead for a moment. On page 28 of the resolution that sits on the desks of Members of the Senate, let's look up ahead, see if things look pretty good up ahead. It doesn't matter how many trees you cut down to produce the charts, how much ink you use to create your bar graphs. That doesn't mean a thing. Let's look up ahead just a bit. In 2011, what is going to happen to this country under the best of circumstances, under the most optimistic circumstances offered by the majority party in their resolution? In 2011, we will be required as a country to borrow over one-half of a trillion dollars. That is how much the debt will increase in 2011.…”