Political Quotes

“I would like, first of all, to thank the Speaker of this House and the other Members who came to Charleston last month to help us with the ongoing ceremonies for Senator Clementa Pinckney. I would also like to thank especially my colleagues--Senator Tim Scott, Senator Lindsey Graham, and Congressman Mark Sanford--for joining with us as we stood with the Governor of South Carolina and called for removing the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the statehouse. This afternoon, at 4 o'clock, as a result of a very definitive vote early this morning of 94-20, the Governor is going to sign the bill, and tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock, the flag will be removed from the statehouse. I regret that I am not going to be able to accept the Governor's invitation and be there this afternoon because, around 4 o'clock this afternoon, we are going to be voting here on this floor. I understand there will be around 25 votes, and 24 of them, I might not feel all that bad about missing, but one of them, I cannot afford to miss because that one vote, the Calvert amendment, will reverse votes taken by this body to join with South Carolina, Alabama, and activities going on in Mississippi to get rid of any official application to this flag, the Confederate battle flag. Now, I think it is important for us to point out that this is not the Confederate flag. The Confederacy had three flags. This was never one of them.…”