Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have great affection for my friend from Wyoming. He is a fine man. I enjoy working with him. I am not going to nitpick what he said, but I am going to direct my attention to one thing he said: Why didn't we do our appropriations bills? Mr. President, please, I would not expect that coming from him. We have tried. We were filibustered. We tried one here. Remember Transportation appropriations? We got one Republican vote. Susan Collins. They killed that. So do not come and lecture us on why didn't we do the bills last April. I have often said I sympathize with John Boehner, and I do. He has a very difficult job. Even when the Speaker would prefer to be reasonable, when he would prefer to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives--the whole House, Democrats and Republicans, because that is what he is--instead of just Speaker of the Republicans in the House of Representatives and sometimes appearing to be the Speaker for a minority within his majority--he seems to be kowtowing to everything they ask. This is the tea party. These voices in his caucus push him further and further to the right and over the cliff. It can be difficult to balance the responsibilities of remaining true to one's party's core beliefs and doing the right thing for the government as a whole. I would like to give a personal example. I try not to do that often, but I will give one today. The Presiding Officer was not here during the Iraq war.…”