Don Nickles: “I read the President's comments. You only read one line. I read three paragraphs--he never said, ``The Democrats in the…”

“I read the President's comments. You only read one line. I read three paragraphs--he never said, ``The Democrats in the Senate are not interested in national security.'' That was the maddening quote. He never said it--never said it. Yet it was accepted that he said it. That is wrong. It was stated on last night's TV, stated in this morning's floor debate. I heard one or two people say he impugned the integrity of the entire Democratic caucus. No, he didn't. Read what the President said. He even complimented Democrats. He said both Republicans and Democrats are working hard to pass a good bill. There are consequences to words. Words are important. I read the President's statements both at the Forrester event and the Thune event. They were not offensive, and they never stated what was said on the floor of the Senate. They were misconstrued somehow, some way. That is unfortunate because there are consequences to our words. There are some people who listen. There are headlines. I haven't read what the European papers have said, but I don't look forward to that because I am afraid it sends the wrong signals. I do agree with my colleagues, we should improve the quality of debate in the Senate. If we ever quote anybody, we should quote them accurately.”