Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Daines. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the colloquy with Senator Daines and Senator Capito, who is also here with us today. I spent 8 years as the Governor of South Dakota. One of the titles you carry when you are the Governor of a State is that you are also the head of the National Guard. You are the chief of the National Guard. You get a chance to actually work as a commander in chief with those individuals who put themselves in harm's way. When you start out, you wonder whether this is simply a term of art, whether it is simply one of those nice titles. During the time that I was Governor, there was a case in which we were literally sending young men and women off to do battle for the United States of America. They were volunteering. They were stepping up. They were leaving, hoping to come home. Moms and dads were worried, and with just cause. When they did come home, we would celebrate their safe return, but in some cases, we also mourned with moms and dads because their loved one did not make it home. They gave everything. Yet there seems to be some miscommunication here within the Senate that somehow our actions are not communicated in a way that is impacting what those young people who put themselves in harm's way see. Think about this. As Members of the U.S. Senate, you would think that Republicans and Democrats would put some things aside, and I do believe that we will eventually do that.…”