Political Quotes

“I welcome this opportunity to say a few words in memoriam of Speaker Tip O'Neill. Some Members here are aware, others may not be, that I was the last person to be sworn in as a Member of this House of Representatives by Speaker O'Neill before he retired. I was under a rather trying circumstance in 1986, when I won a special election and was not nominated in the primary. As a result, I came to the Congress in late September 1986, not knowing whether I would arrive here in time from Hawaii even to be sworn in before the Congress went into recess and adjourned. I stood in this well just before this podium on that day in 1986, an historic session, sanctions on South Africa, a tax bill that had been discussed and discussed again and again all throughout the year. It turned out that the Congress went on for almost a month. In other words, Madam Speaker, I enjoyed, at that time, one of the shortest tenures in the history of the Congress, scarcely 3 weeks. The Speaker had been here for more than 3 decades. And as the last person to be sworn in before he retired, we developed a special relationship. He literally took me under his arm. Obviously, I am a lot shorter than he was, although almost as broad. And we sat in these chairs. He was down on the floor quite a bit. And he said, 'Pal, let me explain what is going on here.' And I felt that right away, that I was his pal, that he was looking out for me.”