Great Throughts Treasury

"People are looking at Iowa... Iowa's going to have an extraordinary opportunity to set the direction for this country and to have an important influence on the nominating process."

"President Bush constantly talks about the ?progress? that is being made in Iraq against the insurgency, but he?s looking for good news with a microscope. All anyone can see is ?Mission Mis-accomplished? and the continuing losses of American lives, the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the torture scandal, and the ominous decline in our nation?s moral authority in the world community. We know the Administration had been planning to invade Iraq for many months before the invasion actually began. We know the Administration twisted the intelligence to make the facts fit their plan. We know that the Administration never really intended to give the U.N. weapons inspectors a reasonable chance to succeed. The Downing Street Minutes demonstrate that the Administration knew their case for war was paper thin, and that in order to go into war with the support of our allies, we had to demonstrate some willingness to go along with the UN inspection process. But the Administration continued to misuse its intelligence, distort the facts and pay only lip-service to the UN?s role in disarming Iraq. "We never should have gone to war for ideological reasons driven by politics and based on manipulated intelligence. The Downing Street Minutes provide even more proof that this is exactly what happened on Iraq. The Administration?s dishonesty, lack of candor, and lack of planning have brought us to where we are today, with American soldiers dying, Iraqi civilians living in constant fear, and with no clearer picture of our strategy for victory in Iraq than when we started."

"Result of blunder after blunder after blunder."

"Ronald Reagan must love the poor; he is making so many of them."

"Sadly, there is ample evidence in John Roberts' record to indicate that he would turn the clock back on this country's great march of progress toward equal opportunity for all,"

"Separation of church and state cannot mean an absolute separation between moral principles and political power."

"Shamefully we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management."

"Sometimes a party must sail against the wind. We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail. The party that tore itself apart over Vietnam in the 1960s cannot afford to tear itself apart today over budget cuts in basic social programs."

"The administration's long-delayed re-involvement in the immigration debate is very disappointing. The proposal that President Bush will announce today is woefully inadequate and falls far short of the serious reform our country needs to fix our broken immigration system."

"The burden on him is especially heavy, because the administration, at least so far, has chosen not to allow the Senate to have access to his full record... We can only wonder what they don't want us to know."

"The CEOs who do this are people who have never failed at anything."

"The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference. The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream that all Americans can advance together."

"The Constitution does not just protect those whose views we share; it also protects those with whose views we disagree."

"The contents of the Downing Street Minutes confirm that the Bush Administration was determined to go to war in Iraq, regardless of whether there was any credible justification for doing so. The Administration distorted and misrepresented the intelligence in its attempt to link Saddam Hussein with the terrorists of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden, and with weapons of mass destruction that Iraq did not have. In addition, the Downing Street Minutes also confirm what has long been obvious ? that the timing of the war was linked to the 2002 Congressional elections, and that the Administration?s planning for post-war Iraq was incompetent in all its aspects. The current continuing crisis is a direct result of that incompetence. Many of you have worked hard for the American people, the media and those in government to speak out about the Downing Street Minutes and the Iraq war. You can join me in speaking out as well. "The policy of ?shoot first, ask questions later? took us into an unjustified war, and without a clear concept of what ?winning the war? actually means."

"The demand of our people in 1980 is not for smaller government or bigger government but for better government. Some say that government is always bad and that spending for basic social programs is the root of our economic evils. But we reply: The present inflation and recession cost our economy $200 billion a year. We reply: Inflation and unemployment are the biggest spenders of all."

"The great adventures which our opponents offer is a voyage into the past. Progress is our heritage, not theirs. What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to win."

"The insurance companies want freedom from accountability."

"The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side."

"The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side? In short, I hope for an America where neither ?fundamentalist? nor ?humanist? will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls. I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt ? or religious belief. I hope for an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly, but where no modern inquisition of any kind will ever light the fires of fear, coercion, or angry division. I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity."

"The policy is ridiculous."

"The Republican program is the profit-protection program for the insurance industry It's a bill of goods, it's a bill of wrongs. Ours is a patients' bill of rights."

"The Republicans are looking after the financial interests of the wealthiest individuals in this country."

"The separation of church and state can sometimes be frustrating for women and men of religious faith. They may be tempted to misuse government in order to impose a value which they cannot persuade others to accept. But once we succumb to that temptation, we step onto a slippery slope where everyone's freedom is at risk."

"The state of a family's health should never depend on the size of a family's wealth"

"The tax system is stacked against the average taxpayer."

"The torture and other sadistic abuses of prisoners in Iraq have done immense damage already to America's reputation in the world, and the worst may be yet to come. Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management: U.S. management."

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die."

"There is a new wave of change all around us, and if we set our compass true, we will reach our destination -- not merely victory for our Party, but renewal for our nation. And this November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."

"There is no morality in the mushroom cloud. The black rain of nuclear ashes will fall alike on the just and the unjust. And then it will be too late to wish that we had done the real work of this atomic age, which is to seek a world that is neither red nor dead."

"The task of leadership in 1980 is not to parade scapegoats or to seek refuge in reaction, but to match our power to the possibilities of progress. While others talked of free enterprise, it was the Democratic Party that acted and we ended excessive regulation in the airline and trucking industry and we restored competition to the marketplace. And I take some satisfaction that this deregulation was legislation that I sponsored and passed in the Congress of the United States."

"There has been no one in this body that has defended the Constitution of the United States more vigorously, tenaciously, and with greater understanding, awareness, and belief in the words of the Constitution,"

"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud."

"This [law] is not about marriage... This is about real people."

"There is no safety in hiding. Like my brothers before me, I pick up a fallen standard. Sustained by the memory of our priceless years together, I shall try to carry forward that special commitment to justice, excellence and courage that distinguished their lives."

"This debate is about making sure patients get the protections they deserve... It's about whether we are going to stop HMOs from making medical decisions."

"This administration manipulated and misused intelligence information that rushed us to war."

"This is far more than an indictment of an individual... It is an indictment of their vindictive efforts to discredit anyone who challenge their misrepresentations."

"This disaster reminds us that we are all part of the American family and we have a responsibility to help members of that family when they are in need,"

"This hearing is John Roberts' job interview with the American people."

"This legislation removes the unfair barriers that currently hinder the ability of battered immigrants to escape domestic violence safely and prosecute their abusers."

"This should be a matter of clear concern."

"Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world."

"This one has a lot of horsepower and a lot of firepower behind it in terms of the membership that are in support of it."

"This is the greatest lesson a child can learn. It is the greatest lesson anyone can learn. It has been the greatest lesson I have learned: if you persevere, stick w/it, work @ it, you have a real opportunity to achieve something. Sure, there will be storms along the way. And you might not reach your goal right away. But if you do your best and keep a true compass, you'll get there."

"Thus, the controversy about the Moral Majority arises not only from its views, but from its name - which, in the minds of many, seems to imply that only one set of public policies is moral and only one majority can possibly be right."

"Today, we say the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush."

"To the highways and byways of this country and to the senior citizen centers and nursing homes where the senior citizens gather."

"Try as I might, I cannot find the evidence to conclude that John Roberts understands the real world impact of court decisions on civil rights and equal rights in this country,"

"Until Iraqis are going to fight for their own country, we are going to have a very, very dangerous situation."

"Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized ? the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old....When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."