Political Quotes

“I can remember events 12 years ago so clearly. I was not far from here at the time. I was in S-219, which is a meeting room. That is where Leader Daschle held his leadership meetings every Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. I was the first one in the room. Senator John Breaux from Louisiana came in and said: Flip on the TV. There is something going on in New York. We turned on the TV, and it looked as though something happened in New York. We just thought an airplane had malfunctioned or something had gone wrong to cause the plane to hit that tower. So the meeting started and the TVs were off. We were doing our business of the day when suddenly a group of police officers came in and grabbed Senator Daschle and took him outside. He came back very quickly and said: There is an airplane headed for the Capitol. We have to get out of here. There was a lot of confusion, to say the least, as staff and Senators were ordered out of the buildings--plural. As we left S-219, we looked out the window toward the Pentagon, and smoke was billowing out of it. We could see it so very plainly. At that time we didn't know what was happening; we just knew we had been ordered to get out of the building. Of course, we all have memories of what took place that day. I was the assistant leader, as was Senator Nickles from Oklahoma. Senator Lott was the Republican leader, and Senator Daschle was the Democratic leader.…”