Political Quotes

“This is an editorial about the nomination of Senator Hagel to be Secretary of Defense. The Washington Post said: Mr. Hagel's stated positions of critical issues ranging from defense spending to Iran fall well to the left of those proposed by Mr. Obama during his first term and place him near the fringe of the Senate that would be asked to confirm him. The last line is: Mr. Hagel is an honorable man who served the country with distinction as a soldier in Vietnam and who was respected by his fellow Senators, but Mr. Obama can make a better choice for defense secretary. That sort of sums up where I am: a fine man. If it were about friendship, there wouldn't be a problem. This is about the times in which we live. And I want to echo the statements of the Washington Post about him being out of the mainstream. We have had two hearings, and we will have a couple of votes in the next week or so. I would say to my colleagues regarding the cloture vote today, they have every right to say now is not the time to end the debate about Senator Hagel. He was reported out of the committee at 5 o'clock Tuesday. There are some legitimate questions and information we haven't gathered, and we should be able to have an opportunity to look at that, and people not already committed should have a chance to review this information. So the idea of waiting until after the break makes eminent sense. I think we will be better informed regarding our decision.…”