Quotations

«He had a vision for changing our Medicare system, for bringing more people into the reality that our government should be a partner in preventing people from getting sick ... and that was part of our motivation for changing the Medicare system, and we are in the midst of a revolution in Medicare that will, for many, many generations have real results that will be good for America and good for American citizens,»

«Harriet is an outstanding person ... I look forward to her hearings and I look forward to her confirmation and I look for to her taking that oath. It means so much to all of us,»

«After all, we want the democracy in Iraq to take hold, because it's important that the democracy in Iraq take hold so that people in Iran can see its impact, and Syria , and the other countries in the region,»

«I know that the Iranian people are looking with great excitement to see what happens in Iraq because the Iranian people love democracy, ... And they certainly would love to have a chance to have a democracy that wasn't run by a theocracy. And I think that they would like to have a government of, by, and for their people.»

«If we don't find that happening, all of the progress expected under the trade agreement could disappear. So an excessively weak yen would jeopardize success under the auto agreement.»

«There are consequences to jobs in the United States and they are already starting to show up. We know that the passenger car market share for the domestic manufacturers dropped in the last quarter last year.»

«They spend quality time together, just the two of them, ... I'll walk into the Oval Office and they're talking, and I'll walk out and shut the door.»

«I expect that whoever is named commissioner, either acting or confirmed, will know that it's not possible to give the FDA the kind of strong new leadership that is needed to reinvigorate the agency on a part-time basis.»

«We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election with at least 286 electoral votes.»

«[But Card wasn't there to prepare Bush for his meetings in Europe. Instead, he presented the President with a 1.5-in.-thick binder of eight policy options for reorganizing the Federal Government to guard against terrorist threats. Included was an idea Bush had resisted for months: the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the first new Cabinet-level department in more than a decade. Card walked Bush through the proposals and showed him a case study of how Harry Truman created the Pentagon in 1947. One option Bush rejected, Card says, was to move the National Guard from the Defense Department to the new department. And the overhaul did not encompass the agencies most in need of reform--the FBI and the sprawling U.S. intelligence community. Taking on those powerful bureaucracies would have meant a bigger war than Bush was ready to wage.] The options were gradations from do nothing to do it all, ... pretty close to do it all.»