Political Quotes

“I find myself here in the Chamber transfixed and moved by the statements of all of my colleagues today, and very proud that I have an opportunity to pay tribute to our two fallen friends. In my previous career as a journalist, I was so proud of my friendships with police officers. I had been in that career only 3 years when, in 1972, two Penn Hills police officers were gunned down. They were shot to death in the parking lot of a shopping mall just east of Pittsburgh by, of all people, a suspected shoplifter. I thought I would never see such a scene as that again, and I thought that I would never feel those feelings again, to see two keepers of the peace struck down suddenly, unexpectedly, needlessly; to think of the wives and the children and the community left behind as those officers made the ultimate sacrifice. But here now we have this tragic shooting of two police officers here in the Nation's Capitol inside the Capitol building. It shows us again that that thin blue line that protects each and every one of us bleeds red, and that the hearts of those peacekeepers beat bravely, beat courageously on duty, and now they are silenced. They will beat no more. Except they will beat in our unending love for them, our memories of them, and our appreciation for the sacrifices that they made on our behalf. Our sympathies and God's blessing on their families, and our prayers that their souls may know enduring peace for all eternity.”