Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, shortly after I came to Congress, I learned through the grapevine that a couple of my staff members wanted nothing more than to meet the great John Lewis in person. So with some trepidation, and very cognizant of the demands on his time, I approached him as a freshman Member on the House floor to inquire whether I could make an appointment with his staff. And in his usual warm and gregarious manner, Mr. Lewis said: ``Of course. Of course.'' A few weeks later, I took these staffers on a mystery field trip to the Cannon House Office Building. And the look on their faces when they realized we were about to enter John Lewis' office was priceless. I figured it would be a quick handshake and a photo op, and then we would be on our way back to our office. But no. Mr. Lewis greeted my 6- foot-4-inch legislative counsel Zach and my speechwriter Yann with: ``Hello, young brothers'' and took them into his office where he proceeded to give them a narrated history of the civil rights movement with the aid of large photographs that were stacked all over his office. Zach and Yann and Sara, another member of my team, asked many questions, and he answered them all. We took the obligatory photos for which I am thankful, because now they have the treasure of those memories forever. A full hour-and-a-half elapsed, and our meeting with him ended only because my team needed to get back to work, so we had to break away.…”