Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak to the Hoeven-Blumenthal resolution, and also, in addition to requesting 10 minutes, I request that my cosponsor on the resolution, Senator Blumenthal, be allowed to engage with me in this discussion. We have submitted a resolution calling for free and fair elections in Iran. Those elections will be held tomorrow, March 2. It is the first time the Republic of Iran has had parliamentary elections since June 12, 2009. I thank Senator Blumenthal for joining me in this resolution and also Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Joe Lieberman, and Senator Kelly Ayotte. As I say, I think we have now over 60 sponsors on this resolution, working to see that it can pass the Senate here very quickly. It expresses a sense of the Senate clearly calling for open, free, and fair elections in the Republic of Iran. The problem is that the elections they will be holding tomorrow are neither free nor fair. They are certainly not consistent with international standards. As I said, these will be the first nationwide parliamentary elections since June 12, 2009. Those elections were neither free nor fair, and they provoked widespread protests throughout Iran. Those protests were brutally repressed, put down by the regime, Ayatollah Khamenei and Prime Minister Ahmadinejad, trampling human rights and taking political prisoners who remain in prison to this very day.…”