Political Quotes

“we have too many people on the floor here to pay tribute to Johnny Isakson, and we all have to go quick. I will be back again, talking about my buddy from Georgia. Let me make a couple of points. One is--and this is a little straight talk because I heard so many great things about him--we ought to know something else about him, which is, yes, he is a gentleman; yes, he is a nice guy; but he has the velvet hammer, as I have said. That velvet hammer has driven a lot of nails in around here and ended up with a lot of great bipartisan legislation. It is not just because he is a nice guy. It is because he is intense, and he is committed and determined for the people of Georgia as an independent voice for his constituents and for the great country that he loves so much. Let me give you one example. We are working on energy efficiency legislation right now. I work with Johnny on a number of different legislative projects. In this particular case, he is the author of something called the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act makes good sense policywise. It helps people reduce their energy costs and saves them money on mortgages, but it is not supported by everybody around here. There are some powerful groups against it. Once again, you will see in the Portman-Shaheen energy efficiency package, the SAVE Act is in there, and it is in there for one reason and one reason only, and that is because of the persistence of Johnny Isakson, a real estate guy who gets it.…”