Political Quotes

“I first met Ronald Reagan through a local leader in our State, Faith Whittlesey, who was one of Ronald Reagan's earliest supporters in the eastern part of America for the Presidency. And it was a glorious day in 1984 when Ronald Reagan came to my home county, stood on the steps of the courthouse where I was then the vice chairman, and held my hand up alongside of another famous American, Tug McGraw, and endorsed me for the congressional seat. I did not win that year, Madam Speaker, but I came within 412 votes of unseating a 10-year, very popular incumbent. I won the seat 2 years later and have been here ever since. But I took up two of Ronald Reagan's key issues: his work with the Soviet Union, now Russia, and his work on missile defense. And over the past 18 years that I have been in Congress, it has been my pleasure to try to live up to the expectations and to the role model that Ronald Reagan established for all of us. Madam Speaker, he was someone who understood the Russian people, and he was someone who taught us in America that in the end, if we would simply trust but verify, if we would simply stand up and be candid with them, that in the end they would respect us. On the issue of missile defense, it was Ronald Reagan who said that we should not leave America unprotected and vulnerable.”