Joe Cunningham: “I listened intently to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) yesterday in his opening remarks. Many of the things he…”

“I listened intently to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) yesterday in his opening remarks. Many of the things he said were true. And then I listened to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha) on the Defense appropriations committee and many of the things he said were true and I agree with. One of those things is it is time to get our kids home. Many of us have served in combat and away from our families. I was critical of President Clinton, 216 deployments, and our kids were tired. Our equipment was getting worn out. And it was time to get our kids home to be with their families. But now it is also approaching the same thing under President Bush in the amount of time that our people are gone. The only way to get them home is to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan and that is what the President's goal is. I have been with the President. I have seen him get teary when he talks about the losses that we have of our men and women overseas and the principles that he is guided upon that my mother and dad, who were Democrats, talked about the reach for freedom and outreach to the rest of the world.”