Speech: Ann Richards (1988)

And, for eight straight years George Bush hasn’t displayed the slightest interest in anything we care about.

And now that he’s after a job that he can’t get appointed to, he’s like Columbus discovering America. He’s found child care. He’s found education.

Poor George. He can’t help it—he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.

Well no wonder, no wonder he can’t figure it out. Because the leadership of this nation is telling us one thing on TV and doing something entirely different.

They tell us, they tell us that they’re fighting a war against terrorists. And then we find that the White House is selling arms to the ayatollah [Ruhallah Khomeini, of Iran].

They tell us that they’re fighting a war on drugs, then people come on TV and testify that the CIA, and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), and the FBI knew they were flying drugs into America all along. And they’re negotiating with a dictator (Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega) who is shoveling cocaine into this country like crazy. I guess that’s their Central America strategy.

Now, they tell us that employment rates are great and that they’re for equal opportunity, but we know it takes two paychecks to make ends meet today, when it used to take one. And the opportunity they’re so proud of is low-wage, dead-end jobs.

And there is no major city in America where you cannot see homeless men sitting in parking lots holding signs that say, “I will work for food.”

Debt and Defense: A Bum Deal Now, my friends, we really are at a crucial point in American history. Under this administration, we have devoted our resources to making this country a military colossus, but we’ve let our economic lines of defense fall into disrepair.

The debt of this nation is greater than it has ever been in our history. We fought a world war on less debt than the Republicans have built up in the last eight years.

You know, it’s kind of like that brother-in-law who drives a flashy new car but he’s always borrowing money from you to make the payments.