Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I go back with Bill before I was on the Ways and Means Committee. My mom is all Italian, so I got involved with the other dagos here in Congress and would go to the Italian events. That is where I got to meet this feisty gentleman who was all Italian. We were very proud of our Italian heritage, as you could tell. Here is a guy that, as I got to know him, was one of those you just couldn't take down. It didn't help that his colleagues kept having his ninetieth birthday for, like, 10 years when he wasn't 90 yet. I thought he was older than he was when I first got to know him, but he was up there. He was up there. I figured by that age--this guy, he just keeps on going-- I mean, he must be immune to everything at this time. Certainly, we were all shocked and saddened when we lost Bill Pascrell. I would hear him pontificating a lot of times, and the chair would often tell him his time had expired. He didn't hear it. If he did, he ignored it. He always had something to say. You could disagree with whatever he had to say out there, and sometimes you disagreed in the Chamber. Other times, though, you would get in the back and nothing was bitter. You had your conversation. That is why I considered him a true friend because you could disagree without any personal anger. That is one of the things I loved about him. No matter what the political difference, it could be discussed in the back room, for sure. We have a common love for our Italian heritage, for sure.…”