Angus King Quotes
If it's necessary to join a caucus and get a committee assignment, I'll do it.
King, Angus. Interview. Meet the Press, NBC, 11 Nov. 2012.
Califano was referring to his appearance on a special television broadcast on CBS on September 9, 1965, to inform New Yorkers of the administration’s actions and concern after a power failure had blacked out 80,000 square miles and 30 million people in the Northeast including New York City as well as parts of Ontario, Canada. People were initially concerned that the blackout might have been a Soviet attack
The Governor, Grey Davis, was generally very unpopular with even members of his own party. The Governor was facing a recall petition where one outcome was that Bustamante would get position. However, Bustamonte and other Democrats were officially opposed to and campaigning against the recall. The Governor, never very friendly with them, was particularly suspicious of all his “supporters.” Bustamante’s diplomatic response was in response to a question from the press as to how his relationship with the Governor was holding up.
Abramoff had bribed over 100 Congressional offices by a combination of campaign donations, paid golf junkets all over the world, free elegant meals at his own fancy Washington Restaurant, free tickets for the Congressmen, their staffs and their major constituents, to Concerts and sporting events including his own Skyboxes, and promises of future employment at very high salaries. Ironically, we was convicted of cheating some of his lobbying clients and did a jail term, but his “bribery” was technically usually legal. In addition to Abramoff, only one Congressman was charged and convicted of corruption, when many if not most had engaged in these corrupt practices. Congress makes the rules with loopholes so that what is bribery and corruption in any other setting is often not against the law if Congress is involved.
Republican Party primary elections had become very contentious. The radical right and the Tea Party, though a minority of the party, had the power to destroy almost any Republican candidate’s chances. So those Republican political candidates were forced to pander to the extreme right and then try and backtrack to the center for the general election. As a result, few people believed the statements of Republican office seekers as no one knew what they really believed including members of their own party, Bush, no longer running for any political position, found himself with much more credibility and influence in the party than those who were running for office. The problem of appealing to party extremes was not unique to the Republicans at that time, but the degree and extent was unprecedented accounting for the distrust.
This memo was sent before he was nominated as a Supreme Court Justice. The Senate did not know of this memo at the time he was ratified otherwise he might not have been. Powell saw every serious critic of the American Economy or the existing government policies as “attacking” the American Free Enterprise System. Surprisingly, he thought that business executives were rather helpless when it came to supporting the status quo.
Angus Stanley King Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who is the junior United States Senator from Maine since 2013. A political independent since 1993, he was the 72nd Governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003.