David Vitter: “I rise to pay great tribute to Trent Lott. Similar to so many on the floor, I felt compelled, had a great desire to come…”

“I rise to pay great tribute to Trent Lott. Similar to so many on the floor, I felt compelled, had a great desire to come to the floor because of my deep respect and affection for Trent. I mean that. It is probably a great testament to Trent, given those very deep and sincere feelings of mine, to remember how we were introduced politically. I was running for Congress and he endorsed my opponent. For a lot of people, it would have meant that person would never have built a strong working relationship with the other or it would have taken a long time. For Trent, it took about 5 minutes. After I won, he called me and congratulated me and explained that my opponent was a former colleague of his and a friend and he felt loyalty and affection for the person. But the past was the past and the future was the future and he wanted to build that same friendship and sense of loyalty with me. So that was that. It wasn't just words. He put that into action and made it perfectly clear from the beginning he was sincere. That is Trent.”