Political Quotes

“I would like to talk for a few minutes about Senator Lautenberg and what he brought to this body and what he brought to public service. I represent Missouri in the Senate, and in the House I represented southwest Missouri. Many times in the last 2\1/2\ years, Senator Lautenberg wanted to talk about going to basic training at Camp Crowder near Neosho, MO, as a young man barely on the edge of his twenties--I am not sure which edge of his twenties it was, but he was serving in World War II, first as a teenager and then as a man barely in his twenties--and what it was like to be surrounded by small communities, all of which were smaller than the camp at which the enlisted men were training, and what it was like when they had some free time and could go to any of these communities where they probably outnumbered the community. He always remembered that part of his training with some pleasure. The story was always different from the story before, but I am sure all the stories happened. But what he was really talking about to me every time was that commitment to service that particularly our World War II veterans brought to this body. And we all know, after the reflections of the last 2 days, that he was the last of the World War II veterans to serve here and likely to be the last of the World War II veterans to ever serve here, and the spirit of service they all brought was reflected in Senator Lautenberg in lots of ways.…”