Helmut Kohl said that I reminded them of a rug merchant. I was always trying to get people to do what I wanted.
Goodness, no…What we’re asking to do is much harder than what Ronald Reagan asked to do, which was to cut taxes and increase spending…We’re asking to do the reverse…We’ve had to do it with the Republicans on strike, with essentially no help from them. I think that makes it even tougher for the Democrats, but it looks to me like we’re going to get there.
You’re talking about the Western grazing fees. That’s nickel-and-dime stuff. Give me a break! I’ve got these people up here and they are willing to walk the plank for their country, for a $500 billion deficit-reduction package. You find one or 1 or 2 percent of them not going along or 1 or 2 percent of the program has been changed and you make it like this is the end of the world–that’s the lawmaking process. Some of the things that they put in this program improved it. It has been harder for a lot of them to vote for it because the Republicans have gone on strike and because all they’ve done is shout tax, tax, tax. I never expected to get 100 percent.
Tell Ross Perot to talk about how much harder his plan was on the middle class. He’s now on a totally new thing…Tell Ross Perot every time Ross Perot runs an ad he ought to be required to tell the American people what he proposed, and let them decide whether they wanted his plan or mine. I’ll tell you what, I’ll win 2-1–not I will, they will. They will choose that.
