Political Quotes

“Mr. President, on behalf of some of the 400 Senators with whom Senator Leahy, Chairman Leahy, has served, I just wanted to rise as one of the most junior to have served with him to express my gratitude for what he has done for so many of his colleagues as a mentor, a role model, and a friend. Annie and I are so grateful to you and Marcelle for the warm welcome you gave us when we first arrived a dozen years ago, and I will never forget our first encounter. Some know that when I was elected in 2010, I was nicknamed ``the accidental Senator'' because I had an opponent who had said something awkward on television about being a witch, and I won by a decisive margin, despite being initially viewed as a real, real long shot. So, when I had been here just a few weeks, I was summoned to the office of the chairman of the Judiciary Committee--the President pro tem. As I sat there, he had a fire burning in the fireplace of this majestic office. He thundered at me for a few minutes: I am thinking of an obscure county-elected official--someone no one thought could win, someone with none of the qualifications or experience for a U.S. Senator, someone 99th in seniority. Who am I thinking about? I shrank back in my chair and said: Why--why, Mr. Chairman, clearly, you are thinking of me. He goes: No. Me. When I first got here as a 33-year-old former county prosecutor, everyone said I was an accidental Senator. Today, you call me chairman and President pro tem.…”