Political Quotes

“we here in the Senate have a tradition of mutual respect among our fellow Senators. We have a spirit of comity. It is a tradition that I hold in high esteem. Last night that tradition was violated, and the Senate went in a very bad direction. I believe my Republican colleagues were far too zealous in trying to enforce that tradition and in doing so were guilty of the exact same thing they were trying to police. My friend the Senator from Massachusetts was reading a letter written by Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the Judiciary Committee--her testimony about the nomination of then- Judge Jeff Sessions to be a Federal judge. For that, the Chair and my friend the majority leader interrupted her remarks, invoked rule XIX, and forbid her from continuing. The Chair directed the Senator to take her seat. In my view, it was totally, totally uncalled for. Senator Warren wasn't hurling wild accusations; she was reading a thoughtful and considered letter from a leading civil rights figure. Anyone who watches the Senate floor on a daily basis could tell that what happened last night was the most selective enforcement of rule XIX. My friend the Senator from Massachusetts was here when one of her colleagues called the leadership of my dear friend Senator Reid ``cancerous'' and said that he ``doesn't care about the safety'' of our troops.…”