Quote of the Day: Everybody Does Not Do It

"I must say regretfully that ... what I have heard is a statement I can
only describe as arrogant, unrepentant, and a smear on this
institution.  Everybody does not do it.  Members of this body
attempt, by word and deed, publicly and privately, to take great care
with their personal conduct as it might be perceived by the American
people.  That is equally true for Democrats and Republicans,
liberals and conservatives.  I have found that to be the only
unifying thread in this body.  For the senator from California to
rise and give a speech on this floor, after accepting this admonition,
this serious reprimand ... and to blame it on campaign finance and
everybody does it, and you should all be in fear of your lives from the
ethics committee, is poppycock.  I repeat, regretfully, that the
statement is arrogant, it is unrepentant; it is unworthy of the senior
senator from California."<br>
<br>
Senator Warren Rudman about Senator Alan Cranston after the latter was
reprimanded by the Senate in the Keating Five matter (1991), quoted in
Robert S. Bennett, <i>In the Ring: The
Trials of a Washington Lawyer</i> (Crown, 2008)<br>