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“It's a good reminder of the fact that highly rational people can be engaged in a highly irrational purpose, ... I'm reminded what Einstein said: Our wisdom has not caught up with our technology.”
“I am extremely wary of this unnecessary and costly review of settled PTSD cases, ... The veterans who received full benefits for PTSD are some of those who need our help the most.”
“What people want to know is who has a set of concrete plans to help them send their kids to college, or save for retirement.”
“John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.”
“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.”
“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.”
“it ended up not being a very big deal.”
“They are two Illinois companies who want to do business and expand, ... but they are having roadblocks.”
“This budget tells our veterans that if they want increased funding for the VA they'll have to pay for it themselves.”
“We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.”
“These funding cuts will be particularly devastating to communities in Southern Illinois where Byrne grants pay for a large percentage of crucial staff and infrastructure, ... I hope that today the Senate will do the right thing and make sure our law enforcement officials have the resources that they need to keep us safe.”
“we are a couple of U.S. senators.”
“The Russian Federation only allows [international] departures from three airports in the country, not from Perm,”
“All of the workers have masks on. Why don't we? ... This doesn't breed a lot of confidence.”
“Whoever was in charge of planning was so detached from the realities of inner city life in New Orleans ... that they couldn't conceive of the notion that they couldn't load up their SUV's, put $100 worth of gas in there, put some sparkling water and drive off to a hotel and check in with a credit card,”
There are 10 warheads in that one container?”
“We can rattle our sabers all we want but, realistically, we don't have troops for an invasion [Iran] and surgical strikes aren't going to work.”
“To the extent that we've got a fiscal crisis right now, part of it is prompted by a bullheaded insistence on the part of the president, for example, that we should extend all of his tax cuts, make all of them permanent.”
“I think that given how closely divided the court is and given the magnitude of some of the decisions that will probably be coming down during the course of his tenure on the court that I will be flying blind a little bit. There's no way to tell how his judgments will come down on some of these critical issues.”
“I think people feel that we're in a morass. They don't get a sense that there's movement, that there's serious progress.”
“Too many children have needlessly suffered from lead-paint poisoning, and we've already waited far too long to take action to protect them,”
“I think his legacy can be seen in the African-Americans who have achieved success in corporate board rooms, in starting businesses, I think that my own success as U.S. Senator might not be possible had it not been for the shift in peoples' perceptions about what African-Americans could accomplish in this country,”
“don't expect government to solve all their problems.”
“In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, now you have these dispersed power centers, ... They are clearly still working out the kinks.”
“Three months is a lifetime in politics,”
“It's been sort of a whirlwind,”
“I didn't know Lenin was a player,”
“And Illinoisans want a Senate candidate who will attack the problems they and their families face rather than spending time attacking each other. I invite him to join me in such a race.”
“When it comes to issues of security against terrorist threats as well as against infectious diseases, these threats know no borders.”
“This is not one of those situations where I think you can just jawbone industry into making the investment, ... This is not something that the markets alone will correct. We will have to use the government as a market-maker.”
“If anything, the fiasco of last week should underscore the degree to which the vulnerable among us should not be forgotten, ... They should be not forgotten when we're setting budget policy, they should not be forgotten when we're drafting plans for evacuation, and they should not be forgotten when we're crafting constitutional law.”
“It could have potentially that kind of effect.”
“Andy Warhol said we all get our 15 minutes of fame. I've already had an hour and a half. I mean, I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse.”
“I am very impressed with his intellect, ... He strikes me as a good and decent person but he is still following instructions, which is to say as little as possible on some core issues about how he would decide cases.”
“The encouraging thing is that in the aftermath of this fiasco everybody is outraged and the generosity of white suburban Republicans as well as black liberal Democrats indicates that the country wants better from its government and wants better from its politics, ... The burden is on us as Democrats, the burden is on me as a U.S. senator to help bridge that gap.”
“I very much feel like the novice and pupil, ... I'm spending most of my time listening as opposed to trying to interject myself into the process.”
“held no public office, she wasn't a wealthy woman, didn't appear in the society pages, she did not have an advanced degree (but) when the history of this country is written ... it is this small quiet woman whose name will be remembered.”
“None of us wants to see any fraud or waste in government spending, ... But nowhere should we be more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt than with the brave men and women who served our country.”
“In the end, ... that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?”
“It's puzzling, given his immediate response during 9/11, that he did not feel a greater sense of empathy toward the folks that were experiencing this enormous disaster, ... This Week.”
“A thorough, multifaceted nonproliferation strategy is essential to fully defend the American people. We urge you to keep these critical initiatives foremost in importance and funding allocation.”
“Let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely,”
“I also think the media's presence simply raised the question: If the media could get to these places, why couldn't the federal government?”
“Only a handful of men and women leave an imprint on the conscience of a nation and on the history that they helped shape, ... John Johnson was one of these men.”
“People can sort of put it off, and it's not confronting you day-to-day in an immediate sort of way. The consequence of inaction can be enormous, but I think it's one of those issues where until it's too late, you don't see a problem.”
“It is way too simplistic just to say this administration doesn't care about black people,”
“I would like to see him (Bush) reach out to a broader circle of leadership in the African-American community and indicate that what he saw woke him up,”
“John Kerry believes in America.”
“I find it unbelievable that the EPA would continue to drag its feet despite the fact that their own analysis found that these rules could prevent 28,000 lead-related illnesses each year,”
“What remains is the need to review claims that might have been denied, particularly in Illinois, so that we can close that imbalance,”
“You can't fight a war in Iraq that's costing upwards of $200 billion and rebuild New Orleans ? and try to deal with all of the other domestic needs that we have and then cut taxes for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, ... Face the Nation.”
“When students participate in debate, they learn to study issues in depth and from perspectives, a skill I use everyday in the Senate.”
“We were in a lounge with a locked door at one point,”
“Instead of having a set of policies that are equipping people for the globalization of the economy, we have policies that are accelerating the most destructive trends of the global economy.”
“It gave you a sense that strong, capable black men were out there and you didn't have to assume that your fate was automatically working in some menial job or getting involved in crime,”
“You don't have to choose sides. Clearly, there were failures on the part of the state and local government as well, ... To speak the truth is incredibly powerful.”
“We can't accomplish what we need to accomplish by across-the-board cuts, because some of those across-the-board cuts would mean 5 percent cuts in food stamps or 5 percent cuts in Medicaid precisely at a time when the poor are being burdened,”
“I think that the entire country felt shame about what had happened,”
“without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace and earn the respect of the world.”
“With the changing economy, no one has lifetime employment. But community colleges provide lifetime employability.”
“We as Democrats have not been very interested in poverty or issues relating to the inner city as much as we should have. Think about the last presidential campaign: It's pretty hard to focus a moment on which there was any attention given.”
“Mr. Bennett should immediately apologize to the nation for making a statement that clearly crossed the line.”
“We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this.”
“I hope you invite me (back) before then.”
“As Mr. Keyes begins to travel the state, he will see that families here are concerned about quality jobs, making health care more affordable and ensuring our children get the best education possible,”
“We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.”
“These shells behind us, these casings, are a testimony to the decades that have been spent creating weapons of destruction, ... The hopes in the programs that have been discussed today are that we can start using our resources to dismantle these arms and create a more peaceful and safe future for the people of Ukraine and for people all around the world.”
“There are differences in this (Democratic) caucus as to how conservative he is.”
“Just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and secure.”
“My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation,”
“My first job is to say thank you to those who voted me. Those who didn't, I'm going to get your vote next time.”
“Some of that means that in your public statements, ... you end up trafficking in public platitudes more than you'd want to do at home.”
“a judicial philosophy that ignores the possibilities of racial discrimination or gender discrimination, a political philosophy that typically errs on the side of the powerful.”
“Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.”
“When disaster strikes, it tears the curtain away from the festering problems that we have beneath them,”
“lift this candidate up.”
“I almost expected the guy to complete his speech by saying 'And I accept your nomination...' He rocked the house.”
“I teach constitutional law, [and] I'm getting to the age now that I actually know some of the people that they are appointing to these courts, ”
“But they sense ... that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, ... They know we can do better. And they want that choice.”
“We don't teach our children that healthy relationships involve drunken, naked parties in a hot tub with strangers - but that's what they see when they turn on `The Real World,' ... When they're fed a steady diet of these depictions over and over again from the time they're very young, this behavior becomes acceptable, it even starts seeming normal.”
“I don't have a litmus test, but I do expect that there's a core of constitutional values that are going to be upheld in these next series of appointments, and I suspect that I will have something to say about who's going to shape the legal landscape for the next 40, 50 years.”
“There is not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America -- there is the United States of America,”
“There's been this argument, somehow, that we can pay for (Hurricane) Katrina entirely by (spending) cuts, across-the-board cuts,"
“We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.”
“I see no evidence of active malice, but I see a continuation of passive indifference on the part of our government toward the least of these,”
“Do they have forest fires around here?”
“When I was growing up, basically the only black men on television were criminals or Flip Wilson dressed in drag as a character called Geraldine. But you rarely had black professionals portrayed in the culture.”
“When the federal government would actually save millions of dollars by forgoing the status quo and actually sending evacuees on a luxurious six-month cruise it is time to rethink how we are conducting oversight. A short-term temporary solution has turned into a long-term, grossly overpriced sweetheart deal for a cruise line,”
“I don't understand how you could have a situation where you've got several days' notice of an enormous hurricane building in the Gulf Coast, you know that New Orleans is 6 feet below sea level. ... The notion that you don't have good plans in place just does not make sense,”
“They are going to have to find immediate work, immediate housing, immediately get their kids into school and that probably will change the demographics of the region.”
“couldn't find anyone out of the 12 million people in Illinois to run against me.”
“There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.”
“I think the bigger question is going to be 'How do we provide longer term housing and employment opportunities?”
“We thought it was wrongheaded and the amount of anxiety caused by this review was significant. We stopped the VA from going backward, but we still need to move forward.”
“I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible,”
“I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren't just abandoned during the hurricane, ... They were abandoned long ago—to murder and mayhem in the streets, to substandard schools, to dilapidated housing, to inadequate health care, to a pervasive sense of hopelessness.”
“As Americans, we can take enormous pride in the fact that courage has been inspired by our own struggle for freedom, by the tradition of democratic law secured by our forefathers and enshrined in our Constitution. It is a tradition that says all men are created equal under the law and that no one is above it.”
“In the absence of dogs and hoses there is no immediate, obvious enemy before us, so it's harder to mobilize a sense of outrage, ... Rosa Parks did not just sit down on her own initiative. She was part of a movement.”
“Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career.”
“It was apparent on the first day that blacks were disproportionately impacted, and I felt it was important to help frame how we think about that issue, ... I was outraged and heartbroken by what happened and felt anxious. I felt like I needed to do something.”
“I didn't see the weapons of mass destruction at the time, I didn't think there was an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.”
“The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.”
“You've got 300,000, 400,000 people, many of them low income without a lot of means, who are not going to have the ability to wait out a year or two or three years for the region to rebuild.”
“That solves about 95 percent of the cases but the cases that get to the Supreme Court are the five percent that aren't easily answered and that's where you fall back on judgment and perspective,”
“In the African-American community, there's a sense that the passive indifference that's shown towards the folks in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans or on the West Side of Chicago or in Harlem ... is as bad as active malice,”
“It is very important to recognize that the money that we spend now will not be wasted even if this particular strain of the virus, H5N1, ends up not becoming a pandemic flu, ... We know that over the next two, three decades there will be a pandemic flu. That's almost certain."
“Today, we recognize the simple truth that John Johnson was a part of all of us,”
“I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse.”
“The knee-jerk unbending and what I consider to be unfair attacks on Sen. Leahy's motives were unjustified,”
“My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.”
“If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.”
“I think a good place to start would be for both Democrats and Republicans to say ? we are willing to experiment and invest on anything that works,”
“We could have a nuclear bomb going off in the middle of the Chicago Loop, ... Without fear-mongering, if we don't keep nuclear devices out of the hands of terrorists, it could just kill hundreds of thousands of people.”
“Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.”
“We thought it was wrongheaded and the amount of anxiety caused by this review was significant, ... We stopped the VA from going backward, but we still need to move forward.”
“It's one thing when you're reading about a nuclear site in a book. It's another thing to be able to describe what I've seen, ... You realize as a senator there are so many issues out there tugging on people, you've got to make things vivid for them in order to capture people's attention.”
“I have absolute confidence that if everybody works hard for the next 24 hours, we're going to see Freddy come out on top,”
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