Political Quotes

“Thank you, Madam President. I rise to speak about the August 2 debt ceiling deadline and the proposal that will be before us very soon, developed by Majority Leader Reid. Here we are again debating legislation that demonstrates our fundamental differences in how we should run our government. I wish to quote from a recent article by Charles Krauthammer that appeared in the National Review. I think it says something I have been saying several times in the last week, which is that this is more than a debt ceiling debate; it is a debate about our views of government that are so different between the parties in our country. Here is what Charles Krauthammer said: We're in the midst of a great four-year national debate on the size and reach of government, the future of the welfare state, indeed, the nature of the social contract between citizen and state. The distinctive visions of the two parties--social-Democratic versus limited-government--have underlain every debate on every issue since Barack Obama's inauguration: the stimulus, the auto bailouts, health-care reform, financial regulation, deficit spending. Everything. The debt ceiling is but the latest focus of this fundamental divide. The sausage-making may be unsightly-- No argument there-- but the problem is not that Washington is broken-- As he describes it-- that ridiculous, ubiquitous cliche. The problem is that these two visions are in competition, and the definitive popular verdict has not yet been rendered.…”