Political Quotes

“every week, I have been coming to the floor to talk about the wonderful people in my State. A lot of people have visited Alaska. If you haven't and you are watching on TV, we really, really want to welcome you to come. It will be the trip of a lifetime; I guarantee it. What we like to do when we talk about our Alaskan of the Week is talk about someone who has made a real impact, someone who doesn't get a lot of attention, someone who has made an impact on his community or country, and let people know we are thinking about them, let people know we are proud of them. Before recess, I want to do that for a couple of Alaskans today, and I would like to start by talking about a gentleman who has gotten a little press lately in Alaska, but I want the country to hear about it. It is really a remarkable story--Mr. Mark Braudis. Let me tell you a little bit about Mark. Mark came to my attention through a recent column by Charles Wohlforth in the Alaska Dispatch News. Mark is originally from Pennsylvania. When he was just 17 years old, he joined the Navy, like a lot of Alaskans. We have more vets per capita than any State in the country. He was deployed in 1972. Mark said: When I was in high school, everyone had long hair and were anti-government. That's not the way I was. I was for God and country. If my brothers were over there in Vietnam, I wanted to stand with them. So he went. When a lot of people were avoiding service, he went.…”