WASHINGTON—Key quotes from President Bush's State of the Union address and reactions from other leading political figures in the nation's capital follow:
_Bush: "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. ... The best way to break this addiction is through technology."
_Bush: "In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting—yet it ends in danger and decline."
_Bush: "Abroad, our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal—we seek the end of tyranny in our world. Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future security of America depends on it."
_Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, in a national TV address on behalf of the Democratic Party: "The federal government should serve the American people. But that mission is frustrated by this administration's poor choices and bad management. Families in the Gulf Coast see that as they wait to rebuild their lives. Americans who lose their jobs see that as they look to rebuild their careers. And our soldiers in Iraq see that as they try to rebuild a nation."
_Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.: "The president and his party have failed every test of competent, compassionate, honest government. They have sent more than 2,200 Americans to their deaths on a mission that has done nothing to make the United States and its people safer. They dithered and delayed while a major American city drowned. They believe in fiscal restraint only for the powerless and for the vulnerable ... while the privileged and the powerful help themselves to lavish tax breaks."
_Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif.: "America's economy is strong, and it is in large part thanks to recent tax relief. President Bush rightly focused on two key items in his speech that are essential to maintaining and increasing this economic growth: continuing efforts to reform the tax code for Americans and providing solutions to rein in rising health care costs."
_Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, on behalf of the Democratic Party, in a Spanish-language broadcast over various Hispanic media outlets: "Today, 6 million children are on the verge of failing out of school, and 11 million Americans can't read a bus schedule or fill out a job application. It is time to put the issue of fixing our public schools to the front and center of the national debate."
_U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue: "The president's common-sense, market-based reforms will lead to dramatic improvements in health care, and Congress should move swiftly to implement them."
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(c) 2006, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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