Rep. Stark Apologizes For Anti-Bush Tirade
October 23, 2007, 8:23pm
Rep. Fortney (Pete) Stark today apologized to President Bush, U.S. troops in Iraq and his House colleagues for saying last week that Bush “just likes to blow things up” and that Republicans in Congress want “kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”
Stark, D-Calif., made the emotional apology on the House floor after a majority of his Democratic colleagues killed a resolution that would have reprimanded Stark for last week’s speech. In that instance, Stark accused Republicans of choosing to fund a war that kills children rather than authorize more money for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The vote to table the resolution was 196-173. All 168 Republicans present voted against tabling it, as did five Democrats. Eight other Democrats voted “present” rather than side with Stark.
“I hope that with this apology I will become as insignificant as I should be and that we can return to the issues that do divide us but that we can resolve in a better fashion,” Stark said.
Here are the original speech and the apology:
Categories: California, Producer's Picks, Iraq, Health, Ethics, Fortney (Pete) Stark
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October 25th, 2007 at 2:30 am
Interesting clip. “As insignificant as I should be.” What is this to mean. I appreciate the humility and emotion. Very rare in politics today.