Political Quotes

“This is not a matter of debate. This is not a matter of due consideration. This is a matter of not allowing a qualified judge, a justice of the supreme court of the largest State in this country, who was elected by 76 percent of the people in the State of California, who is now being assailed as not being within the mainstream. How small is the stream? How small is the stream that 24 percent of Californians are in compared to the rest of America? That is not mainstream? That is extreme. We are not talking about the mainstream judges. We are talking about fighting to only put on extreme judges. This is a travesty. If this woman were nominated 10 years ago, we wouldn't even have had a vote on the floor of the Senate; or 5 years ago, she wouldn't have even been voted on. We would have confirmed her with a voice vote, and everybody in this Chamber knows it. This body was once a place where sense of history and duty and responsibility meant something, to be a steward of this incredible body, this famed institution. It used to mean something to be a Senator to uphold the tradition of this body. That is why for 214 years no one put their partisan whim, their short-term political gain in front of the process that kept this institution whole. But tonight in this session of Congress we are throwing that all away. What is so important? What is so sacred to those who would contort the rules of the Senate as never done in the history of this Senate? Senators have a chance to do it.…”