Menendez's Remarks are Interesting

I stood up for what was right years ago in Union City, when I saw a mayor I once respected corrupting his office and abusing the public trust for his own personal gain. It wasn’t easy to lead the fight against him, and testify against someone who I once considered a friend and mentor, but it was the right thing to do. And when people threatened my life for standing up to corruption, I did not back down. I put on a bulletproof vest, and I stood up and made my voice heard.

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So if you want to know what kind of United States Senator I’ll be… just look at my record on the toughest issue anyone can face, the decision on when to send our sons and daughters into war. I pledge to you that I will never send New Jerseyans into a war that I would be unwilling to send my own son or daughter to fight. So I voted for liberating Afghanistan and bringing the killers of September 11 to justice, but when faced with the prospect of supporting a war of choice in Iraq, I stood up to the president and voted no. And I’m proud of that vote, because despite the administration’s efforts to manipulate the justifications for war, I did my due diligence. We now know that the war in Iraq has overstretched our military, drained our treasury and cost far too many of our bravest Americans. You see, I know how to say No to a Washington that betrays our trust, and I will work hard everyday to say Yes to the hard working families of New Jersey

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My mother, who made everything in my life possible, is not able to be here today. She suffers from a debilitating disease that makes it impossible for her to even recognize her own children sometimes. She has Alzheimer’s. But as I think about her struggles to raise her children to be able to walk through the doors that were closed to her, I look at my own children, and am filled with pride by their success and thrilled by the enormous possibilities the future holds for them. These intergenerational challenges – caring for our parents with dignity and honor while preparing our children to succeed in their own lives – these are the challenges New Jerseyans face, and it is our responsibility in government to give them the tools to meet them.