Political Quotes

On the recordJuly 21, 2010
In the space of just a short period of time, that colleague turned this into a debate about courage, about integrity, about character, and about easy versus hard choices. In other words, he took all of his time to use attacks on those who do not share his version of economic policy and where our country should go. Rather than making the arguments, he made the personal attacks. He also said something that struck me as right-on, which is that often when people are using personal attacks, they are trying to camouflage and only give half the story and trying to set up a straw man. That is certainly accurate. What is the real debate we are having on the floor? Well, on one side, there is the argument--an argument I would weigh in favor of-- that says we need to put this economy back on track, put families to work, and that it is through jobs for American families, and that we will restore the financial foundations not only of families but of our communities and of our Nation as a whole.
Said by
Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon
Source
govinfo.gov
Jul 21, 2010

Editor's note · Context

Merkley addresses the importance of focusing on economic recovery and job creation amidst personal attacks in debate.

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