Political Quotes

“I rise with a real heavy heart. Our friend, Dan Inouye, just died. I have never known anyone like Dan Inouye. No one else has. The kindness he has shown me during my time here in the Senate is something I will cherish always. He was a man who has lived and breathed the Senate. If there were ever a patriot, Dan Inouye was that patriot. A week ago last Friday he and I spent some time together in his office, just the two of us alone. We spent an hour together, and we ended the meeting with both of us saying: You know, we need to do this again. Well, I won't be able to do that again. He won't be able to do that again. He was a wonderful Senator, brave soldier, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He left an arm in Italy. He said to me at that last meeting together, when I asked him: Dan, did anything else happen to you, other than your arm? He said: Yeah, I got shot in the gut--that is what he said--and the leg a couple of times. We will all miss him, and that is a gross understatement. I wish I were capable of saying more, but that is all I can say. I have talked to his wife Irene. She is there, with his son. We have known for a few hours this wasn't working out well for Senator Inouye. But he was certainly one of the giants of the Senate. I remember what he said when his son asked why he fought the way he did after having been declared an enemy alien. He said he did it for the children.…”