Political Quotes

“I rise this evening just to honor and pay tribute to a dear, dear friend of mine and of the community in my congressional district, Leo Keating. He was the grandfather of my legislative director, Ryan Keating, and of his brother, who is a dear friend of mine, Brendan Keating. Leo was one of these great World War II veterans who knew how to live life. He was a pilot. He was a lawyer. He loved baseball--and he was funny. He was a tremendous guy who helped me at a very, very young age get into politics. Today, as we went through his funeral mass, his son Dan, who practiced law with him, talked about these three Bronze Stars that he earned in the war. Typical of that generation, nobody really knew about it because he didn't talk about it. So I wanted to rise and honor that and honor him because I think, as we deal with a lot of the craziness that's going on here in Washington, D.C., it was a nice example today to see this man who was a hero to his country getting the military burial and what-not and to think he never even talked about it and how beautiful that was. He was just a great guy who knew how to live life. We will miss Leo Keating, and I know his family and his friends will miss him dearly, but he gave us one last gift going out: his family wanted him to have dialysis, and he said no. Come on, Dad. Try it just one time. See if you like it. See if it helps. No. I'm ready. And he was ready. And he gave us one last example on how to live with grace and dignity.…”