Political Quotes

“Mr. President, you just heard the story from Senator Young. He had the benefit of knowing Richard Lugar more recently. My story is a little different. I am going to have to think back to 45 years ago. I was between my sophomore and junior years at Wabash College. I never knew I had an interest in politics, let alone that someday I would be serving in the Lugar seat. How life drives you in certain directions. I remember that Richard Lugar took on Senator Birch Bayh, who I think had served several terms--he recently passed away himself, another icon of Hoosier politics--and I said that I wanted to get involved. When you have a man like Richard Lugar, who took a risk, stuck his neck out to run for mayor after he had been on a school board--ironically, I was on a school board for 10 years when I decided to stick my neck out to run for State legislator--you think back about how life drives you in certain directions. With Richard Lugar, most notably, during his entire life, he lived with character and integrity. I think back to when I first met him. I was dressed in a white turtleneck with a blue blazer and plaid pants. Wow, I can't believe we even dressed that way back in the seventies. I found those pictures stored away in a box about 4 or 5 years ago. I pulled them out, and my high school sweetheart, my wife now--she and I were looking at Dick as he was preparing to run for Senate. The look on our faces, looking into the face of someone with his stature, really stood out.…”