Some good speeches

I heard a lot of speeches yesterday during the impeachment. Thought folks might want to repost some that struck them as notable.

Gerry Connolly of VA said this:

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), in a 30-second animated speech from the House floor, addressed his Republican colleagues, asserting that the current hour was a "moment of truth."

"The American people are asking is there any depravity too low? Is there any outrage too far? Is there any blood and violence too much to turn hearts and minds in this body? Instead of the usual justification, rationalization and enabling and false equivalence we have to hear?" Connolly asked, looking across the aisle at Republicans.

"This is a moment of truth my friends. Are you on the side of chaos and the mob? Or on the side of Constitutional democracy and our freedom?"

Following his brief remarks, lawmakers could be heard clapping in the background.

Good points. Four years of explaining away weekly outrages had me wondering the same thing. Where is the bottom? How far is too far? Even one branch of government attacking another wasn't enough to penetrate the hyper-partisan tribalism.

McCarthy's speech was really good. I thought it was self-serving since he was one of the people feeding delusion to the mob and STILL voted to overturn what he now says was a fair election but it was still a really good speech.

One of the things he said that I liked was a quote from John Adams that every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. I would add, not every principle needs to be defended to the death.

Hoyer had a good speech as well. This struck me:


“Madam Speaker, for four years, Donald Trump has made no effort to hide his ambitions or his lacking in Republican principles. He has allowed little constraint on his worst inclinations. His desire for autocracy and his glorification of violence have not been tempered but rationalized by those who sought to profit financially and politically from their proximity to his power.

“Upon the foundations of virtue, reason, and patient wisdom laid down by George Washington as our first President, Donald Trump has constructed a glass palace of lies, fearmongering, and sedition. Last Wednesday, on January 6, the nation and the world watched it shatter to pieces.

“There can be no mistaking any longer the kind of man sitting in the Oval Office or his intentions and capabilities. The curtain has been pulled back in full. The office to which he was elected could not temper or reform him. "

He then went on to say that this is no ordinary vote. History will be very unkind to Trump. Will Republicans want their names tied to his for all time?

197 were just fine with that.