Louie Gohmert: “I marveled at Mr. Lantos's good comment that this could have been, as I understood the quote, could have been a day for…”

“I marveled at Mr. Lantos's good comment that this could have been, as I understood the quote, could have been a day for celebration. And I would submit it is a day for celebration. It should be. It is. This is a great day. A great thing happened yesterday in the cradle of mankind. They elected permanent leaders. Now, there are those Americans who have said that it was quagmire in Iraq. We had to get out. It was a mistake to be there. Some made these statements out of personal heartache and tragedy, but some were made purely from partisan political motivation. So when the question is asked, why should the leadership politicize the Iraqi situation, that is exactly the question I have been asking. Why? Why? Why, leading up to this election for the last 6 weeks, the yabbers got more shrill, more hysterical that we have to withdraw? And surely there are some people that are smart enough to know that that risk, the election that people who saw the fliers that said, ``you vote, you die,'' might actually take it more seriously if they thought we were going to withdraw quickly before the ink went off their fingers. So I say to those who said the freedom, democracy and liberty we were fighting for and the evil that we fought against was not worth it, it is worth it. And the soldiers that have been there know it. That is why the retention among the soldiers that have been to Iraq is way up. I have talked to them.…”