Date: 2005-10-28
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

It is a culture of corruption. A culture is one that is deepseated. one that is the product of an accumulation within groups of people. The administration. various members of the leadership here in our institution. from top to bottom. the people running this country are under suspicion. And we have what I have referred to as the three Cs: the culture of corruption. the cronyism. and the question of competence. Because now. as of today. there is no question that these are people that are not competent to run our government. They are not competent to respond to natural disasters. Look at Katrina and her aftermath. Look at Wilma and her aftermath. which is still ongoing. If they are not competent to respond to natural disasters. what are we going to do when we are hit with a manmade disaster. with a terrorist act? I have talked to Members on both sides of the aisle this week who have privately worried out loud that they are not sure what would happen in their own community if they were hit with either a natural or a manmade disaster because there is deepseated worry and concern about this administrations ability to take care of the American people. And never mind their ability. They are clearly focused only on themselves and their ability to accomplish their own goals and to heck with what anyone else thinks. Clearly. they were willing to take the biggest step that any leader can take of a nation. and that is to send his or her citizens to war. Let us just go over what some other people think. and like the gentleman from Ohio has said. this is not Mr. RYANs opinion. this is not Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZs opinion. What I am about to tell my colleagues is Ed Gillespies opinion. thejplairman of the Republican National Committee. It is not only. the Presidents father. whom we can talk about what he said his op..nion was when somebody reveals the identity of acovert agent. We are..talking about on. September 30. 2003.-Ed Gillespie. who is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. during an appearance on MSNBCs "Hardball." So we are talking Chris Matthews. who said. "I think if the allegation is true to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA operative. its abhorrent and it should be a crime and it is a crime.. Hardballs host. Chris Matthews. went on to ask Chairman Gillespie. "It would be worse. than Watergate. wouldnt it?" Gillespies response: "Itsyeah. I suppose-.in terms of the realworld implications of it. its not just politics." That is absolutely right. it is not just politics. It is not just accusations that were of a personal nature like the previous President of the United States. We are talking about someone who plunged us into war and now we have had the 2.000th casualty of that war. because he is so focused on being right that he will clearly do anything and authorize his cronies to do. anything and say anything to accomplish their objectives. even cause the deaths of our citizens. I had an opportunity to go visit our. troops that have come back from the Iraq war at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital right here in Washington. D.C. and I spoke to a young man whose legs were blown off. who will never be able to walk on his own legs again. whose life has been forever impacted because we have an administration that was hell bent on being right and was willing to do anything to make sure that their agenda was met. Neve mind basic human decency. We all raise our children. and I raise my children. to understand what right from wrong is. to know that we have to tell the truth. to know that we need to do right by people. And in my faiths tradition. we have animportant stress on taking care of one another in our community and giving back. We have the spirit ofwhat is called "tikkun olam." And there is absolutely no hint of any of that in this administration or. quite frankly. among the leadership in this institution. L 1445 Because to a person. the accusations. and I will respectfully say again that these are accusations and that no one has been found guilty of anything or has been accused of anything as of yet. but whether it is the accusations against our former leader from this institution. or all the way up to the Vice Presidents Chief of Staff and the accusations made against him today in the indictment handed lown. we are talking about decisions they made so they 6ould accomplish their own political goals. That is just heinous. and I want to know when the hearings are going to be called. I want to know where the outrage. is. I want to know why the press conference was not held to schedulq the special committee. the bipar-. tisan committee that should beH9416 co brought together to do an investigation. I want to know where the outrage is. I want to know why we are not having impeachment hearings. I am waiting to hear that. because it is a little bit more important. when you send people to war just to accomplish your own goals. than when you lie about personal circumstances. totally. and completely different. It is just disgusting.