Political Quotes

“Madam President, a very special thanks to my senior Senator, my great friend, and our former Governor, Senator John Hoeven. In fact, as he went through much of my speech for me, I thought to myself: Why, this is kind of like when I played high school basketball in Kindred, and we would be ahead by 20 points and the coach would get me off the bench and say: Go in and try not to screw this thing up. That is a little bit how I feel right now, but I thank him for the very kind introduction. Most of it was true. The idea of a maiden speech a year into your first term may seem a little odd, but I actually kind of like the idea. It gives me a year's worth of opportunity to reflect, which creates greater clarity about the future and vision. The first thing I want to say to all of my colleagues here is thank you for being so welcoming--and I mean all of them. What they say about the Senate and the collegiality of it is very true. It is not just true. It is really important, and it is something worth preserving. I can honestly say that out of the 99 that I have met, I love every one, individually and collectively, and appreciate all they have meant to me. Kris and I have been married for 33 years. We have five children together, and I am going to talk about one in particular in a little bit. Our children range in ages from 12 to 38, and that is too long of a story to explain, but we love and are proud of all of them. Our five grandchildren are a little closer in range.…”