Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am saddened by the comment from Sherrod that this is his farewell speech. As I said to several of my colleagues, we lose so many good ones here, and after we have lost them to retirement and to election results, the Senate really is an empty place, and it will be in that corner. For as long as I have been honored to serve here, that place has been occupied by Sherrod. What makes such a difference in this man? Why is he viewed so differently? Why have so many showed up to hear his farewell speech? Well, what I am about to say you can say about him and about Connie, his wife. There was a man named Jack Valenti, who used to be an adviser to the Presidents, and he gave President Lyndon Johnson a piece of advice. He said: Every good speech should include six words. Let me tell you a story. Time and again, Sherrod Brown told us a story. It was a story from a picket line. It was a story from a clothes factory. It was a story that you picked from your home State of Ohio and as you traveled around this country. And those stories, much like the stories that Connie has told over and over again in her celebrated writing, really illustrate the values of this country. You can give a sterile speech about political science all you wish, but if you tell a story that touches the heart of the listener, it can make a difference in them as it has made in you. Time and again, Sherrod has told those stories. That canary in a cage is a classic example.…”