Political Quotes

“I rise to speak of my colleague, our friend Senator Baucus, who hopefully will be confirmed by the Senate to his new post in a few hours. I have, of course, known Senator Baucus since I came to the Senate, but even before, one of my first impressions of him was a picture of Senator Baucus in his white cowboy hat on his ranch in Montana. To me, a kid from New York City, he looked like the Marlboro Man. He was handsome and he was in the cowboy hat. So I said: Wow. When I met Senator Baucus, I found his heart, his brain, and his soul were every bit as good as the outside. He was a great leader of the Finance Committee. First, he had great intellect. Max Baucus would see an issue, understand the issue, and get to the heart of the issue quicker than almost anybody else. He understood the vagaries of legislation, and he knew how to try to get things done. He always worked in a bipartisan way. He reached out to Republicans, and many criticized him sometimes for doing it, but given the gridlock in this body, in retrospect, everybody would think: Wow, that is what we should be doing. And he tried and tried. Of course, his crowning legislative achievement was health care. I know there are some--particularly on the other side of the aisle--who criticize it, but I have no doubt that Max Baucus will be regarded as a giant in what he did in coming up with the health care reform bill.…”