Project Vote Smart has dedicated itself to looking beyond the politics and the spin and reading into the specific language of bills, legislation, and politicians. This is no truer than in the speeches department of our program. We examine statements from the congressional floor or the conferences held after an intense day of meetings. We also look at press releases by individual politicians and their earned media attention on major networks.

Speeches is a department dedicated to making sure that readers can see exactly what their representatives are saying, without seeing just a clip. We want you to see the whole story instead of getting a pigeonhole-size view of what your congressman is up to. You need to decide whether you agree or disagree with the words and language of your representative. Sometimes, what they say may make us all chuckle but other times it makes us raise our voice in agreement or debate. We continue to cut through the politics and look at the words.

The speeches department will continue to keep you up to date on everything your senator, representative, governor, cabinet and president are saying so that you can stay up to date on their actions and stances. Because that is our stance.

Politicians and journalists can turn a phrase, spin a word, cover the truth, speak a lie, dabble in the consequences of a rumor, participate in hearsay, deem second and third person accounts worthy and judge the ins and outs of eavesdropping. We cannot and will not. That is the dedication and fight of the speeches department and of Project Vote Smart.

-Trevor Shalon (Peru State College, 2010, Secondary Education In Social Science, from Columbus, NE), Speeches Intern