Political Quotes

“I thought we might start with General Bob Cardenas, who is a quiet man. He is a guy we do not see on a lot of magazine covers, but Bob Cardenas is a great test pilot, great bomber pilot who had his bomber blown apart in World War II, landed on one side of the lake, in fact German side of the lake, other side of the lake was Switzerland. He and his colleague, who also bailed out, swam that lake to get to freedom, and Bob later became one of the great test pilots of this country and he flew the B-29 and was a project manager and flew the B-29 that dropped Chuck Yeager's X-1 out in October of 1947 and watched it break the speed of sound. So Bob Cardenas was a remarkable individual, a guy who came up through San Diego, went to San Diego State. He used to build model airplanes as a kid. He got involved in flying, saw those. He helped local glider pilots with their construction of their planes. He bummed rides with folks who were flying guide gliders. He was a very bright student and went to San Diego State and ultimately joined the United States Air Force; and Robert Cardenas has been just a model of what I would call our first citizens, our best citizens. Today, Bob is a guy who leads veterans groups in San Diego; and if a person has an important veterans issue, Bob Cardenas will be there, never for pay, never for reward, never with a kind of a pronouncement that is designed to attract attention, but the quiet man, with lots of wisdom.”