Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we have just voted to confirm Mike Pompeo to be the next Secretary of State for the United States--an essential member of the President's Cabinet. There has been a tradition of sorts in this deliberative body to give some deference to the President on his pick for chief diplomat, recognizing that foreign governments view the chief diplomat or Secretary of State as being the personal representative of the President himself, the thought being that whoever wins the election deserves the ability to assemble their own team and build a Cabinet with top brass whom he respects and can work well with. That is how the system has worked. The party that lost the election accepted Cabinet nominees--absent some glaring or egregious reason not to--and agreed to leave ongoing political battles for another day. This is not just some ancient history, by the way. In fact, this week I have discussed at length many modern-day instances of it. For example, Condoleezza Rice passed with 85 votes. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton passed with 94 votes. Secretary Colin Powell sailed through the process, needing only a voice vote--not even a rollcall vote--to be confirmed. All of these men and women were confirmed because all of them had the qualifications to do the job, and so does Mike Pompeo. It is absolutely clear that he has both the credentials and the character required to be a successful Secretary of State.…”