Christopher Shays Quotations

Tom's problem isn't just this. It's continual acts that border and go sometimes beyond the ethical edge, ... They may not be illegal, but he's always pushing that ethical edge to the limit.

Tom's problem ... is continual acts that border and go sometimes beyond the ethical edge,

We're going to let the facts go where they go,

Wow, ... If ever there was a time for bipartisanship, I didn't hear it in that last speech.

What we know from World War I is that some of our troops had acute symptoms of exposure to chemicals, had bad health and died because of chemical exposure in World War I.

We need to make sure FEMA is helping communities sort out how they will deal with these pets,

Some day he may be the next prime minister of Iraq, so it seems to me you want to start a relationship,

More is going to rest on his (Hastert's) shoulders,

No. You didn't do a good job. That's why you were let go.

I would be inclined to support gas tax relief on the House floor, but I would prefer the reinstatement of the gas tax be based on price, not an arbitrary time frame,

If we don't have a vote on September 11th, it will be my feeling that the president didn't weigh in strong enough,

If they don't get help, they are going to just freeze,

If this bill goes down, it will be the fault of my own party, and that's where the blame will lie,

I have been pushed to anger by the pervasive moral and ethical minimalism of this White House,

I don't have the same level of conviction (against impeachment) I had a week ago, ... I'm willing to reconsider this issue, especially in light of the fact that I'm having a community meeting.

I'd like people to listen to our soldiers. They were there. They heard the alarms go off. They tasted the substance in the air. They spit up blood. They had rashes on their bodies. They got sick.

I don't get a sense that your heart was in this, frankly,

Basically the DOD just, without any hesitation, said, This is not due to their experience in the Gulf War. And so the DOD was just totally in denial.

I have a feeling that makes me very uneasy that the Department of Homeland Security is dysfunctional,

I don't think she can be objective because, frankly, I would want to know what was she doing in that time, before the storm, during the storm, after the storm. She is going to be one of the people that, in a sense, is being investigated. So I'm not sure that she's the logical choice.

I get the feeling you were a little detached from this. I don't get a sense your heart was in it. It's like Pontius Pilate washing his hands of responsibility.

He ended up being the most outspoken against steroid use and even this guy is in a situation where he's been suspended. It just blows me away. Obviously, it calls into question every accomplishment he's had.

I was looking for a nonpartisan discussion that would help me understand better how I could help get our troops out sooner and win this war,

Katrina taught us the hard lesson that, as we prepare for future emergencies, it's important we include in our plans ways to protect our pet owners and their pets.

I think we have a shot given the intuitive recognition that it is going to be a lot harder for people to survive,

I think it's pretty astonishing that you said you didn't have the resources necessary to do your job and then to describe coordination in such a feeble way.

I will just say to you that I think it's really outrageous that we at least don't warn passengers that the cargo on a passenger plane has not been checked,

Our waterways are crucial to the economy in our region, so we need to take every step to keep them secure,

My party is going to have to decide whether we are going to continue to make excuses for Tom to the detriment of Republicans seeking election.

Like small cities, cruise ships experience crime ? from petty to profoundly tragic.

I will tell you, I fly less because my knowledge of the system is better than the general public. And I think we endanger the general public by not checking the cargo in the belly of an aircraft.

I think he's hurting the party because he's just gone too far too often, ... He doesn't know the bounds of what's appropriate. He goes well beyond them. It's not that he may have broken the law, it's that he has continually pushed what is proper conduct to the very edge, and it's the accumulation of this.

We got elected basically by saying we would live by a higher moral standard and I don't think recently we have,

We're not resolving our energy needs because we're not conserving,

Upon the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer that question,

We only have eight months left until the general election, and so we've decided it's just crazy to think that we can implement this bill and have it work, especially when we have to send it back to the Senate.

This report demonstrates the United Nations lacks the institutional red lights and alarms necessary to warn of misconduct,

We knew shortly after the war that our troops were becoming ill.

There are a number of reforms that make sense and the gun lobby, which is very powerful, was able to kill them,

We will come and make a longer trip soon,

But I would argue that a longer war it's more difficult to keep records than a shorter war.

Yes, there is a story about Agent Orange, and we knew that it harmed our troops and we knew how long it was to get the medical community to accept that, the military to accept it, the VA to accept it.

Tom DeLay should not be in a position of authority. He should not be calling the shots or driving the agenda, and if he is, that would be unfortunate.

What Mr. Brown didn't realize was that this was such a unique circumstance, he needed to step in, be extraordinarily aggressive, fill in the void left by the incompetence of the state and local government, ... He should have taken charge if no one else was.

What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate.

You gotta be a fool, frankly, to go on New Year's night to Times Square, ... I mean, I can't understand why people do that. Just one hand grenade thrown in the air and people panicking. It's just too tempting a target.

Ethics is everything, ... If you don't have a strong moral standing, if you don't have an ethical foundation, you just crumble.

First off, we've had sworn testimony from soldiers and testimony before our staff that wasn't sworn, that said these alarms rarely went off, that they went off after the war in most cases and went off a lot.

The (Veterans Administration and Department of Defense) and the bureaucracies in general still have a tin ear and a very cold heart and a very closed mind,

These e-mails are from some very interesting people,

No. What I want you to do is do your job of coordination,

No. What I wanted you to do was do your job of coordinating,

a real sense of arrogance. Loyalty and never admitting a mistake matters more than the truth. It has a Nixon feel to me.

The bottom line is that the president made it clear we're in it for the long haul,

The bottom line is that the CIA knew before the war, during and war, and after the war where most of these chemicals were and most of these biological agents.

The bottom line to this is, there are few doctors who have any expertise in chemical exposure.

Awesome. This wasn't about Connecticut. This was about the security of the United States. & It was an overwhelming vote by the commission.

You've got to tell the truth, ... And if you don't tell the truth, then everything else you say goes into question.

This absence of basic oversight has allowed individual corruption to flourish system-wide.

This is a bittersweet day for me, ... I would have liked my Republican Party to be in the forefront of this issue.

Amazingly, he knew lives were in danger but he believed he didn't have the authority, therefore he didn't act. That to me is what is outrageous,

This president had a right to rejoice. But it was just a compassionate, wonderful speech,

There's a huge incentive to ... sail on. Is going on a cruise the perfect way to commit the perfect crime?

There's another issue here - and I have some limits as to what I can say - but there's some real question as to the viability of the chemical masks, the protective gear used by our soldiers.

It really is a Northeastern and Midwestern issue.

It's kind of like Pontius Pilate washing his hands.

No, because you didn't do a good job, ... Because you were clueless about what was happening and because you allowed the department to be eviscerated without publicly speaking out.

It obviously was disappointing and a little unsettling that the one person so emphatic about not taking steroids was one of the first since then to be disciplined.

It's hard for me to reconcile that someone doesn't know that they have steroids in their body. I'm extraordinarily skeptical,

Oh it's clearly a cover up. I mean, I have no reluctance in saying that.

The volume and impact of these pseudo-classifications is growing, ... inhibits the free flow of critical information.

There's this pent-up feeling that we've been working too hard on the president's agenda and not enough on what we want.

The costs have gone off the charts. If ever there was a time to need assistance, it is now.

I have no illusions, but I think he is extraordinarily intelligent and has a very clear assessment of the Middle East,

I'm happy you left. That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job.

I'm happy you left. Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job.

I know and you know people who would not leave without their pets. They will stay. They did stay in New Orleans,

Chemical exposure can heighten and quicken other illnesses and make them more acute.

By calling sham issue ads what they truly are - very real campaign ads - we enforce the 1907 and 1947 laws and prevent corporate treasury and union dues money from funding campaigns.

He's lost his office. He's lost his staff. And he's now basically a rank-and-file member who has a lot of friends and will still have influence.

I don't see any change in fiscal policy.

The irony is that the (Department of Defense) can find documents that prove their case ... but can't find documents that would prove the arguments of the veterans,

The important thing is that we clean it up and elect officials who will respect their office and honor their constituents,