Political Quotes

“I have said to the Senator from Oregon on more than one occasion, if I believed hate crimes were a proper crime for the Federal Government to be passing on, I would vote for this as well as the others, but I do not believe, as the Senator from Alabama stated, we should be criminalizing thought, and that is what this does. I have always said the greatest of the freedoms we have in this country is the freedom to believe what we want to believe and the freedom to think what we want to think. I know there are lots of motivations for people to do things and there are lots of bad thoughts out there in people's minds, but we do not criminalize those. We only criminalize them if there are actions taken. We criminalize the action, not the thought. I think protecting the freedom of belief and the freedom to think the way one wants to think is an important concept in our country, somewhat unique in the American Constitution, and I believe this hate crimes amendment violates that very premise. So I will vote against this amendment.”