Edward Kennedy Quotes

"must also determine whether (Roberts) has demonstrated a commitment to the constitutional principles that have been so vital in advancing fairness, decency and equal opportunity in our society."

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

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, (and) rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids,"

"If President Bush can make his own rules for domestic surveillance, Big Brother has run amok."

"[The confident, Harvard-trained lawyer who became wealthy arguing cases before the Supreme Court also declined to express regret for certain memos he wrote as a young, wise-cracking counsel to the Reagan administration. At one point, Kennedy told Roberts that his writings on voting rights lacked an appreciation for problems related to racial discrimination.] I'm deeply troubled by a narrow and cramped and perhaps even a mean-spirited view of the law that appears in some of your writings, ... you have not accurately represented my position."

"a victory for common sense."

"It's a response to the president's very legitimate concerns, and it ought to be the basis of a sound compromise,"

"No action -- criminal, administrative, or otherwise -- has been taken against the high civilian officials responsible for the authorization of torture and mistreatment by U.S. officials."

"Our troops deserve better, Mr. Secretary. I think the American people deserve better, ... They deserve competency, and they deserve the facts. In baseball, it's three strikes and you're out. What is it for the secretary of defense?"

"You can't separate safety and security in schools from the issue of the availability and the accessibility of guns. The public understands that school violence prevention is a complex issue. The American people are increasingly demanding that we take action."

"The nation lost a courageous woman and a true American hero. A half century ago, Rosa Parks stood up not only for herself, but for generations upon generations of Americans."

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

"In these continuing circumstances, she should not be promoted to secretary of state."

"During Senator Ashcroft's quarter-century of public service, he has taken strong positions on a range of important issues in the range of the Justice Department, ... Unfortunately and often he has used the power of his high office to advance his personal views in spite of the law of the land."

"We are determined to have these issues debated in Congress this fall,"

"If Congress passes this resolution it will have destroyed in 10 hours what it took the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 10 painstaking years to create."

"This debate is certainly not over."

"America will not be America until we free ourselves of discrimination and bigotry,"

"The president's economic report is an insult to every hard-working American. It's unpatriotic economics, and he should apologize for it."

"Dad, I'm in some trouble. There's been an accident and you're going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things."