Political Quotes

“like so many here today, I rise to honor John McCain and to sing John McCain's praises. There are many here--most here--who knew him longer than I did. I will admit that when the Presiding Officer and I first got here in 2014, I knew John McCain as somebody from the history books. I knew John McCain as somebody destined for the history books. I knew John McCain as an American hero, but I didn't know John McCain, the man. I didn't know John McCain, the flesh and blood, genuinely hilarious guy, but over the past 48 months, I had the privilege of actually getting to become friends with John McCain. It is sort of weird to say, when you are roughly our age--I am 46 and John McCain was an octogenarian--that he befriended me. I went on many overnight flights with John McCain. I have been to refugee camps with John McCain. I have been to war zones with John McCain. I have been cussed out by John McCain lots of times. He called me a stupid bastard on a regular basis--and he meant it, affectionately. I am convinced he didn't use the term ``stupid bastard'' lightly. He reserved it for those he really cared about. I have laughed and cried with John McCain. I have wrestled policy with John McCain. I got to grill hamburgers and serve them to troops in Afghanistan on the Fourth of July with John McCain. As we in this body praise John McCain today and for the rest of this week, as we rightly should, there will be a lot of people talking about his time in the Hanoi Hilton.…”