Political Quotes

“I am standing here at the desk next to the desk of our fallen colleague, Senator Dianne Feinstein. It seems enormously strange that instead of being able to sit here and have her next to me, her desk is covered with a black cloth and a crystal bowl of white roses. We come from the west coast where our States sit side by side, so perhaps it was fitting that we sat side by side here on the floor of the U.S. Senate. One thing, in particular, that Senator Feinstein liked to do was share with me pictures of her dog Kirby, whom she absolutely loved. And she had a lot of pictures on her phone to show Kirby in different moments of delight. And I must say, for me, this was kind of a powerful, personal connection because I enjoyed showing her pictures of my dogs, Roxy and Lila, whom I love dearly. So even as we work on the great issues of international affairs or the big challenges of America, sometimes it is just the personal connections, simple connections in life that can bond people to each other. Very few people's lives are as full of as much history and consequence as Senator Dianne Feinstein's: the first woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco; the first woman to serve as a Senator from California; the longest serving Senator not only from California, the longest serving woman in the Senate ever at just over 30 years. In 2009, during my first year in the Senate, she made a point to invite me as a freshman Senator to meet her friend the Dalai Lama.…”