Political Quotes

“Well, one thing I'd like to say at the very beginning: One, it's good to see you, but secondly--one of the great Iowans, respected well beyond the borders of Iowa for his knowledge of agriculture and his promoting of great values--but let me simply say this: On the environment, we have a good, sound record. We've done well in forestry. We've done well in assisting in cleaning up the beaches and in the ocean. We've done extraordinarily well in wilderness, setting aside more acres. We've done far better than any previous administration in enforcement of EPA. But what I've been unwilling to do is go to the extreme. And what we have to do in this country is to say we've got to find--and we're striving to do that every day--the balance between growth and sound environmental practice. So I think the record is a good one. We will continue to be good stewards of the land. But I am not going to go to the extreme that says to a farmer, if it rains and you've got a little puddle there, a tiny one, that means you can't use your land. We've gone too far under regulation and too far under interpretation on some of these statutes. So I think of agricultural--we've got a good conservation set-aside program--I think of farmers as conserving. They've got their families coming along. They don't want to ruin, rape, pillage, and plunder on their own land. It's ridiculous to start with that assumption. I'll tell you something. Governor Gore--Governor Gore--[laughter]-- if you read the book on Mr. Gore's proposals, I'll tell you, it would screech this country to a halt. We cannot go to the extreme. He's out there talking about the protection of this feathery little owl. Yes, I love little owls. I think they're wonderful. But we've got to also protect the 30,000 families that are trying to work for a living. The extreme groups will not vote for me; sound environmentalists will vote for me. Education”