Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it is Thursday, and I normally come down on the Senate floor to give the ``Alaskan of the Week'' speech. And, unfortunately, I am not going to do that today. Actually, last week, I named two Alaskans of the week. We kind of had a two-for-one last week. Just as a little wrap-up for that, it was quite a remarkable thing that took place just last week in Alaska on Memorial Day. My two Alaskans of the week, a 92-year-old artist working with a detective, both Alaska Natives, both from the community of Unalaska out on the Aleutian Islands chain, worked together. Actually, Gertrude Svarny worked for decades to right a wrong and get a military burial on Memorial Day for a young man and also an Alaska Native from Unalaska who died fighting in World War II and was never recognized, no gravestone, no tombstone, nothing--for decades. And we had an amazing ceremony thanks to these two amazing Alaskans--Gertrude Svarny, as I mentioned, and Mike Livingston. And the memory of this young Alaska Native soldier, Private George Fox, was now finally recognized. That was in a Memorial Day ceremony last week. I was trying to get there. Unfortunately, they sometimes get a lot of bad weather out there. I flew halfway out to the Aleutian Islands, and we had horrible weather. We couldn't land. But the ceremony happened. So there were two Alaskans of the week 2 weeks ago that I just wanted to highlight again. It was an incredibly moving ceremony. So I figured that was two for one.…”