Political Quotes

“I thank my friend Mitch, and I thank my friend Chuck for their remarks. I will have more to say to them later. On March 9, 1967, Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr., the newly elected Senator from Tennessee, made his maiden address, his first speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. He spoke for too long. The Republican leader of the Senate, who was also Baker's father-in- law, Senator Everett M. Dirksen, walked over to congratulate him and then said, ``Howard, occasionally, you might enjoy the luxury of an unexpressed thought,'' which is good advice for a farewell address as well. As Senator Baker's legislative assistant, I was also his speech writer for that maiden address, or at least I thought I was. He had developed a bad habit of not saying what I wrote for his speech. So I asked to see him, and I said: Do we have a problem with our relationship? He said: No, we have a perfect relationship. You write what you want to write, and I will say what I want to say. I learned a couple of other things about ``saying what I want to say.'' One came from Alex Haley, the author of ``Roots,'' who heard me speak once and called me aside afterward and said: May I make a suggestion? He said: If, when you begin a speech, you would start by saying, ``Instead of making a speech, let me tell you a story,'' someone might actually listen to what you have to say.…”