Political Quotes

“it may well be that in the 20th day of this crisis we are too close to it, have been too immersed in it to think clearly our way out of it. It is actually 25 days, if you consider the 5 days of the previous shutdown. Let us look at what we say we are doing. The other side honestly admits that its purpose is to bring leverage on the President. Examining that proposition, it is clear that the other side has succeeded in bringing leverage as much as they are ever going to do. Let me explain why. The fact is that the President has now signed on to a 7-year balanced budget. He had not done that before. Having done that, it would seem to me that the majority would acknowledge that they have accomplished what they said was their greatest goal. Moreover, the leverage has gone as far as it can go, if I may say so, because, to use the words of the gentleman from Texas, Mr. DeLay, from your side, he was talking about Mr. Dole: The President can't cave, because to simply give in is to reinforce a part of his reputation that he is trying to live down. It is time for the majority to declare victory and let the Federal workers come back to work, because the leverage rationale has been spent. It is over. Declare victory. Indeed, it is worse than that. The leverage has yielded a boomerang crisis, if you will, my friends, an in-your-face crisis. In the beginning the most visible victims were Federal workers, and people shrugged. They had not felt it themselves.”