Quotes from Emanuel Cleaver

What we don't need to work toward is polarizing America any greater than it is. Look, I'm up here in Washington, D.C., in the Congress of the United States, and we have, all day, a lot of verbal vomit that is doing enormous damage.

I'm not going to vote for Donald Trump. There's no way I would vote for him under any circumstance. However, I think that the protesters may as well send him some money, because I think they're going to push people into his camp.

There are people walking around the streets of Kansas City who are unemployed, while one of our largest employers is not only sending jobs aboard, but then turning around and making a statement about preserving jobs.

God did not burden the United States with a diversity of backgrounds, ideas and religions, He blessed America with them.

Let's do more than say the 'Pledge of Allegiance.' Let us live it!

One thing I've learned - and I've said this to Republicans and Democrats - is, bees cannot sting and make honey at the same time. They have to make a choice. Either they are going to be a stinger or a honey-maker, and I contend that honey is a symbol of legislation and, the nuclear language used by members is the stinger, and you can't do both.

Congressman Lacy Clay and I believe that there's no excuse for shooting at police officers, law enforcement officers who get up in the morning and go out and put their lives on the line to protect us.

I have family in Tanzania. I can't even explain the joy of riding through the Tanzania national park and seeing giraffes run across the road and elephants over in a pond and baboons running.

We talk about the '68 Democratic Convention. I was too young to really know a lot about it, but - and didn't even watch it, but I have read about it, and I know enough about it to know that it damaged the Democratic candidates.

I have, with great intentionality, a demeanor that I hope is welcoming for people to not be afraid to talk to me or, you know, ask me a question.

I can do an hour-long speech about Democrats taking African Americans for granted, and I'd have a line behind me of very prominent African-Americans who would say, 'Amen.'

We can be fervent in our disagreements without being factitious with our beliefs.

You make America great by making America available to a wide variety of people.

Hope is the motivation that empowers the unemployed, enabling them to get out of bed every single morning with unbounded enthusiasm as they look for work.

Community colleges need to be upgraded. We got to have training for real jobs. We've got a lot of jobs that are going unfilled because we don't have the technology in the heads of graduating college students to deal with them.

Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.

We may be a nation of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, but first and foremost we are all human beings and Americans.

The truth of the matter is the tone is toxic here in Washington, and we have been exporting it around the country.

We've gotten to the point now where Republicans and Democrats have nothing in common besides being members of the 'caustic caucus,' and we can't get anything done.

First of all, do I think there's some racists in the Tea Party? Yeah. I'm an ordained United Methodist pastor; there's some racists in the Methodist church. I don't know if there's a body that does not have some racists in it.

We have Democrats saying dumb things every single day, and Republicans as well.

America, I am a strong believer that how we treat each other matters.

Social Security is a covenant that should not be broken.

You would think that if any group in America had 20% to 25% unemployment, it would generate all kinds of attention. The Labor Department would understandably and necessarily begin to concentrate on what can we do to reduce this level of unemployment. Congress would give great time on the floor for debate on what can be done.