Our leaders are stupid, our politicians are stupid, and the Mexican government is much smarter.

To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up in, if I stood here maybe, maybe — just maybe — I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand. I’m not here, though, because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.

No matter what the aggressor intends to do, when the world is truly united, it is then the world, not the aggressor, determines how events develop.

So the 20th century taught the world not to use nuclear weapons and not to proliferate. This is not a good strategy because recent history has shown that wars could erupt with equal devastation.

[Angela Merkel] showed what can be achieved when politicians take the right course of action and work to find solutions to the world’s challenges rather than simply shift responsibility to others.

The hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic Congress that I so deeply respect.

Voting whether or not to remove a sitting President has been a truly difficult decision, and after listening to the arguments presented by both sides, I have reached my conclusion reluctantly. For the reasons above I must vote yes on the articles of impeachment. I take no pleasure in these votes, and am saddened this is the legacy we leave our children and grandchildren. I have always wanted this President, and every President to succeed, but I deeply love our country and must do what I think is best for the nation.

Invention, discovery, and empires are built of chances taken with high degrees of failure.

We must cease being participants in our own oppression.