Pete Domenici: “I rise to speak about my friend, Senator Strom Thurmond. I do not have any prepared remarks but I want to speak for a…”

“I rise to speak about my friend, Senator Strom Thurmond. I do not have any prepared remarks but I want to speak for a few moments about Senator Strom Thurmond. Senator Strom Thurmond spent many, many years sitting in the seat, for those observing the Senate Chamber, right next to the seat where the distinguished majority leader is sitting right now. I have eight children. Senator Thurmond, as everyone knows, lived a very long life with his first wife without children. I don't know if that had anything to do with his huge interest in asking people such as me how my children were, and I am not one who is very loathe to tell people about my children's successes. So he used to say to me, and to anyone around, he would point at me, and say: 'There is the Senator with all the smart kids.' Of course, I was embarrassed, and I would bend down and say: 'Senator, there are lots of Senators with smart children.' Then he would say: 'Well, you told me about one' . . . and he would explain what I told him. He would ask, 'how is that one doing?'”