Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much, Larry. Larry King, there's a great Italian-American for you. [Laughter] And congratulations on your…”

“Thank you very much, Larry. Larry King, there's a great Italian-American for you. [Laughter] And congratulations on your new baby. Paul Polo--yes, let's give him a hand. That's great. [Applause] I want to thank Paul Polo and Phil Piccigallo and all of you for giving me another chance to come by here. And I think Congresswoman Morella is in the audience, and Ambassador Salleo, who does a wonderful job for his country and for ours. I want to congratulate Andy Giancamilli of Kmart and Tony Bennett for their awards tonight. We have the president of one of our great retailers and America's greatest living pop singer; that's a pretty good representation of the gifts that Italian-Americans have given to our Nation, and you should be proud of them. I'd like to say a special word of thanks to Tony Bennett for being a good friend to me and to my wife and our family. I wanted to be here for you tonight; you've been here for our country for a long time. God bless you, and thank you, my friend. Thank you. You know, there have been so many years when I have spoken to you or other Italian-American groups, and I've been almost embarrassed by the number of Italians in my administration. Secretary Cuomo was waiting for me tonight when I got here. You know, I've had two Italian-American Chiefs of Staff, Leon Panetta--who introduced me in Rome, in Italian--and John Podesta.…”