Robert Torricelli: “in the days and hours that remain in this session, many of us on each side of our respective aisles will say a great…”

“in the days and hours that remain in this session, many of us on each side of our respective aisles will say a great deal about the colleagues we have worked with and admire from our own political parties. Indeed, I am no exception. For years, the contributions of the Moynihans, or the Bob Kerreys, or the Dick Bryans, or the Frank Lautenbergs have been extraordinary in the life of our country and in the workings of this Senate. I will join those voices in praising each of them. But at this moment I wish to say a word as well about our colleagues from the Republican Party who are leaving this institution. Having chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for these years, I have known some of these Senators as friends and colleagues but also as adversaries. It is a peculiar and even awkward thing in the American political process that with people you like and admire, you can nevertheless have philosophical differences; you can have a political contest but nevertheless deal with them civilly. I admire many of these men and rise today to praise their contributions to the Senate and the country; and, as many other Americans, to thank them for their service even though it was my responsibility to help wage campaigns against them. That is our system. It is not personal. It is borne only in the struggle of ideas, the competition of proposals, and the free market of American politics that have served our country so well.…”