Bill Bennett: “I can't pass up the opportunity to embarrass Bob Kerrey. I know, as we all do, that he did not ask for this and that it…”

“I can't pass up the opportunity to embarrass Bob Kerrey. I know, as we all do, that he did not ask for this and that it is always uncomfortable to come to your own wake, but he deserves it. I want to participate in it and do what I can to not only add to his embarrassment a little, but to let him know how well regarded he is on both sides of the aisle and among those who may disagree with him on all of the great issues that the minority leader just listed. I served in the military at a time when the only shots I ever heard fired were in basic training. After I got out of basic training, I ended up in classroom and spent my time trying to teach surveying to a group of draftees who didn't understand what the word meant. The only reason I was doing that is because my particular military specialty, for which I was being trained, was being phased out in the way the military always does. They train you for an obsolete skill and then make you an instructor to teach that skill to other people who do not need it. I have absolutely no basis for identifying with the group, the very small group of people who have heard shots fired in anger, who have faced the difficulty and the challenge of combat. I can only read about it. I can only hear about it. I cannot identify with it in any personal way. So why am I taking the time to stand here and talk about the contribution of Bob Kerrey when everyone who has had those kinds of experiences has talked about it?”