Joe Lieberman Quotations

My friends, 10 days ago, with courage and friendship, Al Gore asked me to be his running mate,

If we reorganize and reform the enormous human and technological intelligence assets America has, as the commission has recommended, we will be able to see, hear and stop the terrorist attacks against us before they occur,

Let's say for now, that I'm hopeful that Al will not run that kind of campaign,

Shortchanging vital investments in education and training, medical care and community development means that kids in Connecticut and across the country will suffer at school, families will have to scrape by to own homes and doctors and hospitals may have to think twice before providing care to senior citizens.

He joked that we'd probably have plenty of opportunities because with a 50-50 tie in the Senate, he expected to spend a lot of time in the chair,

He didn't get away with it tonight. Gov. Bush tried a lot of the stuff that he has gotten away with in the campaign so far, and Al Gore was right there on target with the facts. The fact is that it is Governor Bush who's overspending the projected surplus, and Al Gore is staying within the surplus.

I am humbled by this nomination and so grateful to Al Gore for choosing me, and I want you to know, I will work my heart out to make sure Al Gore is the next president of the United States.

I think what we've learned is that when growth occurs, it occurs in the private sector,

Remember that we're all Americans, ... We have a higher interest than our partisan interests -- the national interests.

Our responsibility is to determine whether the nominee is fit for the position ... and whether the nominee, in our judgment, will serve in the national interest, ... Dr. Condoleezza Rice meets that standard at least and much more.

It gives America's native ingenuity and private-sector entrepreneurship the help they need from government that will enable them to build a new century of progress and upward mobility for the American people.

We have the largest economy and the strongest military in the world. Our core values of freedom and opportunity are ascendant around the globe.

I was beginning to hope someone would attack me.

You know, I respect what Howard Dean has been able to do. It's good for our party. But I've got to tell you this: If money alone decided presidential nominations, Phil Gramm would have been nominated in '96.

We definitely have a majority in the Senate for McCain-Feingold, ... Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.

did what he has to do in this speech and in the ones that will follow in the next weeks, which is to shore up American support, to remind the American people why we must win this battle against the terrorists.

I urge the Bush Administration to rethink its priorities. We can't talk about community values without being prepared to invest in those very same communities.

acts of one-sided diplomacy on the part of the Bush administration.

This is an American tragedy of enormous proportions and it's going to take a long time to bring it back to where it was let alone better.

This is an exciting time. I believe we stand at the edge of a new age - a Golden Age - of freedom that will rival any of the great eras of world history because it will be the entire world itself that is changing.

In some sense, not just the Gulf Coast was attacked but America's self-confidence.

The content of many cutting-edge games is becoming more and more vivid, violent, and offensive to our most basic values.

I hope that all of us in both parties who have said that we have to stay in Iraq and finish the job in pursuit of our own values and of our own security will pull together and make it happen and not be part of a chorus of doubters that will undermine the support of the American people more,

As every faith teaches us -- and as presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan to Clinton have reminded us -- we must as Americans, try to see our nation not just through our own eyes, but through the eyes of others,

A short-term economic stimulus to help lift us out of this economic slowdown has to be followed by business tax credits and smart investments to sustain longer-term growth,

It's not in their interest to continue this standoff. They have nothing to gain,

There's clearly a Democratic dilemma, ... But while other Democrats are debating how to change the Bush tax cut, we're changing the debate entirely. Instead of just talking about what Bush has done, we are focusing on reforming the income tax system as a whole, ensuring fairness and integrity for middle-class taxpayers.

I am personally committed to creating a chief information officer in government to coordinate our efforts,

In this era of uncertainty and conflict, the United States - blessed with the world's strongest military, most ingenious economy, and most tolerant society - remains a model and leader to the world.

Hollywood has glorified adult premarital sex, and that is unhelpful if your goal is to reduce teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock births.

Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record - not in these tough times for America. In the Senate he has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party.

I think a lot of people feel that they are just not listened to, and that the politicians in Washington are just playing games with each other and forgetting about their constituents.

I have a reputation for giving unpopular answers at Democratic debates. I never used marijuana. Sorry!

[Religion is a way of reconstructing] what has come to feel like a crumbling moral framework in the life of our nation.

John Adams, second president of the United States, wrote that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.... George Washington warned us never to indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.

Most people want their representatives to get something done.

We must not condemn to frustration those whose job it is to protect us by failing to provide them with the necessary resources to meet the threats they face.

It (Lewinskygate) has...compromised his moral authority

We need to ensure our men and women in uniform are equipped with the very best money can buy. We also have to make sure critical military technologies are developed in America and that the U.S. defense manufacturing base remains healthy and strong.

I'm a Harry Truman, JFK, Scoop Jackson and Bill Clinton Democrat.

The promise of education reform can never be fulfilled without adequate funding, and by shortchanging our schools, President Bush is breaking his promise to our children.

We have reached an important milestone and achieved a new momentum in reaching a goal all Americans should embrace - building a secure, peaceful, democratic Iraq that is no longer a threat to the United States or the international community,

Dear Mr. President: ... We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraq sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.

I am genuinely an Independent. I agree more often than not with Democrats on domestic policy. I agree more often than not with Republicans on foreign and defense policy. I'm an Independent.

The American military will never lose the war in Iraqif lost, it will be lost by a lack of political will.

When Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990, I felt America's post-Cold War commitment to national principles and international leadership was on the line. I was dismayed by the wide opposition among my fellow Democrats. To me, their position was wrong.

[People of faith must] reassure them [atheists] that we share with them the core values of America, that our faith is not inconsistent with their freedom and our mission is not one of intolerance, but one of love.... I stand before you today as a witness to the goodness of God. For me, like you and like my running mate Al Gore, faith provided a foundation, order and purpose in my life.

While so much of our economic life is thriving, too much of our moral life is still stagnating. As a people, we need to reaffirm our faith.

I'm worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don't appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us -more evil or as evil as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet communists we fought during the long Cold War.

Shame on us if 100 years from now our grandchildren are living on a planet that has been irreparably damaged by Global Warming, and they ask, 'How could those who came before us, who saw this coming, have let this happen?'

Senator Barack Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who I think can do great things for our country.

Republicans can't run their normal playbook on me that they try to run on Democratic candidates. They can't say I flip-flop because I don't. They can't say I'm weak on defense because I'm not. They can't say I'm weak on values because I'm not. They can't say I'm a big taxer and a big spender.

Some in my party threaten to send a message that they don't know a just war when they see it, and more broadly that they're not prepared to use our military strength to protect our security and the cause of freedom.

In fact, five years ago, after Saddam ejected the UN inspectors, John McCain and I gave up on containment and introduced the Iraqi Liberation Act, which, when it became law, made a change of regime in Baghdad official US policy. You might therefore say that, when it comes to Iraq, President Bush is just enforcing the McCain-Lieberman policy.

It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander in chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril

Whether or not Saddam is implicated directly in the anthrax attacks or the horrors of September 11, he is, by any common definition, a terrorist who must be removed.

...the stronger our gun control laws are, the fewer acts of violence....

Global warming is not a conqueror to kneel before - but a challenge to rise to. A challenge we must rise to.

... Sometimes, we try to stifle that fact or hide it, ... But the profound, and ultimately most important, reality is that we are not only citizens of this blessed country, we are citizens of the same awesome God.

I believe the president wants this bill, and I know he's taken some steps to bring it about, ... The reality is that with a majority of the members of the House ready to vote for this bill, the speaker refused to call a roll call.

I support such a review, ... But the reality is that we don't need the results of a strategic study to know that there are some pressing problems in our military that demand our attention and our assistance now.

Every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States.

Community means engaging constructively with like-minded nations to build strong, sustaining institutions and alliances - and bringing emerging powers into this community so future conflict becomes less likely.

Every day, first responders put their own lives on the line to ensure our safety. The least we can do is make sure they have the tools to protect and serve their communities.

Today, we can see with our own eyes what global warming is doing. In that context it becomes truly irresponsible, if not immoral, for us not to do something.

'This is America,' my father used to say to me, 'and in this country, a smart young fellow like you can grow up and do just about anything.' My dad, no doubt, was thinking doctor, lawyer, teacher, scientist or businessman. I was thinking second baseman, New York Yankees.

If they prescribe pain killers that may increase the possibility of death so long as their specific intention was not to end life." "Doctors should do everything they can to reduce pain, but not to administer drugs to end life, I think we go over a line then.

There are extensive contacts between Saddam Hussein's government and al Qaeda.

The difference in this town - here in Washington - on the war is not between Democrats and Republicans; it's between people who believe essentially we've already lost in Iraq and it's time to get out - and most of the rest of us who believe not only have we not lost, but we're winning.

If the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill.

I've spent the last year listening to Americans, and the state of the union that George W. Bush lives in is very different from the state that most hardworking Americans are living in.

I support development and deployment of a limited national missile defense. Few if any of our duties surpass our obligation to provide for the common defense of our nation.

I share the anger, but, ultimately, to govern this country, it takes more than anger. It takes experience. It takes positions that reflect the best values of the American people.

I believe that our national security lies not just in protecting our borders, but in bridging divides.

The threat of nuclear terrorism is growing faster than our ability to prevent an attack on our homeland.

We cannot fulfill that purpose [environmentalism] if we are heaping contempt on God's creation.

Let us break through some of the inhibitions that have existed to talk together across the flimsy lines of separation of faith, to talk together, to study together, to pray together, and ultimately to sing together His Holy name.

The essential facts are known. We know of the weapons in Saddam's possession: chemical, biological, and nuclear in time. We know of his unequaled willingness to use them. We know his history. His invasions of his neighbors. His dreams of achieving hegemonic control over the Arab world. His record of anti-American rage. His willingness to terrorize, to slaughter, to suppress his own people and others. We need not stretch to imagine nightmare scenarios in which Saddam makes common cause with the terrorists who want to kill us Americans and destroy our way of life.

I also know that there have been many times in our history when the proximity of an election has induced exactly the kind of leadership and consensus-building that produce progress in our democracy.

The way we're really going to grow the economy is to invest in people, to invest in innovation, to have the federal government put money in the kind of research that will create the new high-technology, biotechnology industries that will create the millions of new jobs.

I mean, accidents happen. You learn from them and you try to make sure they don't happen again.

The anti-tax-cut, soft-on-defense, big-spending Democrats will take the Democratic Party to the edge and maybe over.

I also urge the Obama administration - both on its own and in cooperation with other responsible governments around the world - to use all legal means necessary to shut down WikiLeaks before it can do more damage by releasing additional cables. WikiLeaks' activities represent a shared threat to collective international security.

I have supported affirmative action, I do support affirmative action and I will support affirmative action.

Wes Clark put forward a middle class tax plan, but it only helps a quarter of middle class families, none without minor children at home, .. And mine helps 98 percent of the middle class.

If you voluntarily label a product as being unsuitable for kids and then turn around and market it directly to kids in contradiction of your ratings system, then you should be held accountable just like any other company in America that misleads consumers, .. That's not censorship. That's common sense.

The danger of terrorists and rogue states is compounded by the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons.

We know that the Constitution wisely separates church from state, but remember: the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

I miss the days when faith was discussed in public and not the most intimate details of our personal lives.