Thomas Daschle: “the other matter I wanted to come to the floor to discuss is the reaction to some of the comments that I made this…”

“the other matter I wanted to come to the floor to discuss is the reaction to some of the comments that I made this morning. A number of our colleagues have come to the floor and, as I understand it, the administration has stated that if I had understood the context in which the President made those remarks--the remarks that Senate Democrats are not concerned about national security--that I probably would not have been so critical. In fact, they criticized me for having criticized the President. Mr. President, what context is there that legitimizes an accusation of that kind? I don't care whether you are talking about homeland security, I don't think you can talk about Iraq, you can't talk about war, you can't talk about any context that justifies a political comment like that. This is politicization, pure and simple. I meant it this morning and I mean it now. I don't know what may have motivated those in the White House to make the decision to politicize this debate, but it has to stop.”