Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise tonight to speak about the conflict in Afghanistan from one perspective; that is, of those who have given their lives in the service of our country. I do so, knowing we have a lot of work to do this year, to debate and discuss and spend a good deal of time this year talking about the policy, what is happening in Afghanistan, whether it is our policy as it relates to security or governance or development. But tonight I just wish to focus on those who gave, as Lincoln said, ``the last full measure of devotion to their country.'' At times such as this, we have to ask maybe one threshold question. For me, it is this question: How do we adequately pay tribute to our fighting men and women serving in Afghanistan or anywhere around the world? I guess the other part of that question is, How do we adequately express our gratitude for those who are serving, those who served and came back with no injury or were able to get back to some semblance of a normal life, those who served and came back but are suffering grievously from an injury, and finally how do we adequately express our gratitude to those who were killed in action and express gratitude to their families as well? The answer to all those questions is we cannot adequately express our gratitude. But even though it is inadequate, even though it falls short of what we hope it could be, we still have to thank them--we still have to--and should express our gratitude.…”