Political Quotes

“I rise this evening as one of the Senators from the home State of Admiral Kelso, and I rise to ask my colleagues to join me in judging a man on the basis of a long history of positive accomplishments, rather than what some say is an incident, and I would say serious incident, of failure to perform. I ask you to join me in judging him on what he did rather than what he failed to do. As a former Navy man, I followed the repercussions of the 1991 Tailhook convention with some concern and at times with considerable distress. The professionalism, character, and behavior of the Navy's officer corps are not small matters to me or for the Nation. The Senate does not make a judgment that reflects on the professionalism, the character, and behavior of the Navy's seniormost officer, and that, too, is not a small matter. There is not a Senator among us who condones or excuses the repugnant events of Tailhook '91. Admiral Kelso was present at that event. Testimony by the admiral's superiors before the Armed Services Committee concluded, however, he did not personally witness any misconduct. Nevertheless, Admiral Kelso is a 38-year veteran of the Navy. He knew the reputation of the Tailhook Symposium, or certainly he should have known. The men involved were active-duty officers, and I suspect that the admiral himself wishes he had taken more direct personal control of its goings-on.”