Political Quotes

“I wonder if I might pose one more question to the Republican leader after making a short statement. I came to this body as a young lawyer-legislative aide to Senator Howard Baker a long time ago, in 1967. I remember very well Senator Baker's story about how the civil rights bill of 1968 was passed. I have discussed this with the Republican leader before. He knows that era as well or better than I do. But there was a time when Senator Baker said he was in Everett Dirksen's office--he is the man who had the job that Senator McConnell now has. He was the Republican leader then. He said he heard the telephone ring. He heard only one end of the conversation, but Senator Dirksen was saying: No, Mr. President, I cannot come down and have a drink with you tonight. I did that last night, and Luella is very unhappy with me. And that was the conversation. About 30 minutes later there was a rustle out in the outer office of the Republican leader's office--the very office that Senator McConnell now holds. Two beagles, followed by the President of the United States, came in. Lyndon Johnson, the President, said to the Republican leader: Everett, if you won't have a drink with me, I am down here to have one with you. And they disappeared in the back room for 45 minutes. The point of all that is not their socializing. The point was it was in that very office, the Republican leader's office, that in 1968, the next year, the civil rights bill was written and enacted.…”