Political Quotes

“reserving the right to object, first, there is no one I have more respect for on either side of the aisle than the Senator from Arizona. He said some nice words about me, and I extend them back to him five times over. He is a fine man. He has great integrity, great courage, great service to our country, and no one has helped defend America more--both when he was in the Armed Forces and here on the Senate floor--than the gentleman. I respect that. I respect that you always try to put yourself in the other person's moccasins. That was one of the great Indian proverbs. I know he is doing that, as he mentioned in his remarks. I would like to make a couple of quick points. First, our Republican leader has chosen this week to proceed with three nominees under regular order. He could have advanced this nominee and a few others from the DOD but instead chose a district court judge in Idaho, a nominee to OMB, Ambassador to Japan. So I say to my good friend from Arizona, given the frustration he remarked on that our side has on healthcare, which is so important to so many--as is keeping a strong and fully staffed Defense Department--I would say to the gentleman that we would be happy to consider the nominee in the regular order. And maybe once things change a little bit on healthcare, with the consent of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, we can move a lot of things quickly. But at this point, despite my great respect for my dear friend, I must object.…”