Political Quotes

“I mentioned a second issue, and that is the 125th anniversary of the American Red Cross. This year is 125 years of voluntarism. We have seen it in our own lives, especially in the Katrina episode over the last year. Yesterday, I had the opportunity of going in front of the Capitol. My office actually looks out over the Mall, and there is a big red tent with the big Red Cross on it. I have been watching that tent for the last several days. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to probably 400 or 500 volunteers who had come from around the country from their various Red Cross entities, I assume from about every State in the country. I mention this because volunteers are the lifeblood of the American Red Cross. I have seen it directly in my own life, both as a doctor, as a physician, of course, as a citizen, as well as a Senator. These volunteers affected my life in a very direct way. I told them yesterday, as I ran the multiorgan transplant center at Vanderbilt, we did heart transplants, we did lung transplants, bone marrow transplants, we transplanted pancreases, we transplanted livers, transplanted kidneys. None of that could take place without the Red Cross because all of the blood that is required in terms of transfusions--liver transplants especially, probably heart transplants, secondly, and lung transplants, all of that blood comes from where?…”