Bob Dole: “during a speech in the 1968 Presidential campaign, Senator Edmund Muskie, who was the Democrat nominee for Vice…”

“during a speech in the 1968 Presidential campaign, Senator Edmund Muskie, who was the Democrat nominee for Vice President, told his audience, ``you have the God-given right to kick the Government around--don't hesitate to do so.'' That remark was pure Ed Muskie. Blunt. To the point. And leaving no doubt that Americans should expect the best of their public officials. And the best is just what the people of Maine and America received from Ed Muskie during a public service career that spanned five decades. Along with all Senators, I join today in mourning the death of Ed Muskie, who passed away here in Washington early this morning. The son of a Polish immigrant, Ed Muskie grew up knowing about the blessings of freedom and democracy, and he spent a life time standing up for those blessings, beginning with serving for 3 years in the Atlantic and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters in World War II. After the war, he returned to his beloved Maine, and soon began his political career as a Democrat in a State that for over a century had rarely elected anybody but Republicans. Ed Muskie changed all that.”