Cory Booker: “He is going to make it. Congratulations. You are one of the two poet champions of the U.S. page class--the fall page…”

“He is going to make it. Congratulations. You are one of the two poet champions of the U.S. page class--the fall page class. (Applause.) Yes, yes. Don't get an ego. Don't let it go to your head. Don't be like a Senator. OK. The other one, the final champion, is Ms. Pallan. Yes. (Applause.) Yes. Here is your poem. We stand on blue, carpeted floors From AM to PM we open Senate doors Aching heels, and curved backs We feel our composure start to crack But in walks a Senator, and postures correct Pages come together, all hands on deck Excitement overtakes persistent exhaustion As we wait to hear debates on legislation People of power laugh and joke As we watch and realize they're just common folk Against the walls we silently hear Colleagues and officials, but most of all--friends dear Within this room, there stands a central divide But there exists no aisle in our hearts or minds That was fantastic. (Applause.) I am grateful for the poetic effort. I am grateful for our poetry champions, who will forever live in the annals of Senatorial history. But there are a lot of people on this floor right now who have come to anticipate how I will proceed to demonstrate that these page writings are good. But now I will show them by reciting my own original poem. Before I do, let me make at these pages an angry poke. Dear God, you all have been here for 5 months, and you couldn't tell me one good joke? Come on. Come on. Painful. You are the worst joke tellers. Heaven knows. But I am done.…”