Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for eloquent remarks. I particularly want to thank my colleague from Oregon for putting together this time to speak on issues so important to our State, as Senator Warren has noted, and issues important to our country. In the context of talking about Ryan Bounds, I am going to talk about how, unfortunately, the handling of the Bounds nomination moves the Senate even further away from what I think the Senate has always been about, which I would describe as principled bipartisanship. As I indicated, Ryan Bounds, an important judicial nominee, is being considered as a candidate from my home State of Oregon, and we will vote on him before the end of the week. As I have indicated, I believe the debate about Ryan Bounds is not a typical debate on a typical nomination for reasons I am going to outline tonight. In my view, it is vital that the Senate look at this nomination in a broader context, particularly as it relates to what I call the decline of principled bipartisanship in the Senate. I want to be clear about what I mean when I mention the words ``principled bipartisanship'' and the reason I describe it that way--bipartisanship born of principle. Bipartisanship is not about taking each other's bad ideas. I see my friend from South Dakota in the chair of the Presiding Officer of the Senate.…”