Political Quotes

“this past Friday, I was in Cincinnati. I had some business to conduct there, but my plane got in early, and I had some time on my hands. My staff said: Would you like to go to a new museum that opened in August of 2004? I said: Sure, I will be happy to. It is a museum that is dedicated to forcing us to remember what went on in the dark days of the history of this country dealing with slavery. The museum is done so well. You walk in, and the first thing you see is this large facility--big, tall--and it is a facility that was used in the late 1700s, 1800s for holding slaves. The upper story--using that term loosely--was for the men and the bottom for the women. They still have the shackles there, the chains that were used to hold these people. They have the writing on the walls used to describe what these human beings were worth, how much money, and for what they could be used. So it is very appropriate that I returned to Washington today since we are going to debate some legislation that is very pertinent. In this body's two centuries of history, we have done many great things. We sent men to the Moon, created schools for our kids, fed the hungry, and lent a helping hand to struggling families. But today I rise to speak about one of this institution's great failures--its shameful refusal to enact antilynching legislation in the first half of the 20th century.…”