[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 102 (Thursday, July 11, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7267-H7268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PERSONAL ATTACKS DEMEAN THE HOUSE

  (Mr. COBURN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I was going to speak this morning on health 
insurance, but based on the comments of the gentleman from Missouri 
[Mr. Volkmer], I think what we ought to do is take another look at 
ourselves.
  We accomplish nothing, we demean the House, we demean each one of us 
when we use such words as were used by the gentleman from Missouri. I 
would just tell my colleagues, as a freshman Member of this House, that 
we do not do anything positive for our country, for our future 
generations, or for ourselves by vicious personal attacks.
  To name someone a dictator is both inappropriate and demeaning to the 
House. My words would be that we should look at that and say, what are 
we doing when we do that? We have not put forward anything positive for 
anybody in terms of our districts, in terms of the American public, by 
doing so. I would just hope that we would follow

[[Page H7268]]

an example different than that as we talk in the 1-minutes in the 
morning.

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