Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am thrilled to join with Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman in an amendment dealing with missile defense. This is a subject that has been discussed ever since this treaty was first presented. I cannot think of a better way to end this debate. I thank Senator Kerry for having the patience of Job, having worked through this. Somebody mentioned deals and where they have been taking place. They have been taking place on the Senate floor. We have been working on this for a long time. We have gone through intelligence briefings. We have gone through incredible numbers of hearings. I think this has been done exactly in the right way. I thank the Senator for his leadership. I thank Senator Lugar for his leadership on nuclear armaments in general. The Senator has been pursuing that for years. So we have before us an amendment on missile defense. Again, it has been discussed in great detail. This says three things. Senator Lieberman certainly talked about much of the detail, but the President the other day sent us a letter declaring, in very strident ways, his commitment to both the phased-adaptive approach to missile defense, which will take place in Europe, and our ground-based interceptors. He has said that absolutely in strident terms. What this amendment does is certifies to Congress--he certifies to Congress--that he is going to continue those efforts. He will continue those efforts on phased-adaptive approach and ground-based interceptors.…”