Memorable thoughts / quotes from the night:
“We owe the troops more than just equipment and good pay. We owe them our best thinking. People are afraid to criticize the war because they’ll be characterized as disloyal, but we owe it to our troops to make sure they get the best policy and best thinking.”
“President Clinton’s last 2 years produced a surplus, because in ‘93-’94 he had a Congress that put into place a deficit reduction act. We raised taxes on the top bracket, and gas was cheap so we added 4 1/2 cents per gallon tax, and we cut the waste out of federal government. We had tremendous growth during his administration and we produced a surplus. It’s something that we don’t get credit for. We can be proud as Democrats that we did that.”
“One thing I’ll say about Dick DeVos, he said he built a factory in
China because Chinese law prohibits bringing American goods in to
sell there. He said at his Republican convention, ‘I am the only one
who competed in China and won.’ This is something that rubs me the
wrong way. We put alot of energy into tearing down barriers in China
against American goods. They sell here twenty times more goods than
we’re allowed to sell there. They have cheap labor, no environmental
laws, and full access to our market. You see ‘Made in China’
everywhere here, but we’re not allowed to sell there. Michigan has
been hurt by these trade imbalances and restrictions against
Michigan made goods. He had the right to build a factory there, he
had the right to sell there, but to describe that as a victory is
wrong. He is basically saying ‘I succeeded by allowing them to keep
out Michigan made goods.’ ”
“Bush has no sensitivity, no understanding of manufacturing. When manufacturing increases, the median family income increases. When manufacturing decreases, the median family income decreases. Bush has no program for manufacturing.”
“Debbie Stabenow is a superstar as far as I’m concerned. She is the first person I’ve seen in the Senate who has risen to leadership in her first term.”
“The courts could say that what we did is unconstitutional, and I think they will.” Regarding the recent ‘habeus corpus’ bill.
“This country ought to be ashamed of itself. Ashamed of itself that we don’t provide health care .. health insurance to everybody. We’re the richest country in the world.”
“There’s a tide here, we can change, literally, the course of this country.”
“George Bush is on the ballot.”
“I’ve never seen an off year election, like this one, where the President is what the people are voting for or against.”
