Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I first met Pat Roberts when I was running for the U.S. House of Representatives for the very first time. I had a friend who worked for Pat, and he got me a meeting with him, which, at the time, was a pretty big deal because he was the chairman of the House Ag Committee, and I was in a Republican primary, where I was over 50 points behind. So the prospects weren't really bright that I was ever going to be somebody who would make it through and end up serving there, but nobody could have been more encouraging or kind. I had a great meeting with him. We talked about agriculture. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to get to know him pretty well here during my time in the Senate. One of the reasons we have so much common ground is we both come from States where agriculture is incredibly important. It is the No. 1 industry in South Dakota. I have had the privilege of serving on the Ag Committee with Pat now for more than a decade. I call him ``my chairman'' since he has been my chairman on the Ag Committee for so long. He calls me ``Coop''--a moniker he gave me very early in our acquaintance because he says I look like Gary Cooper. Now, I have to admit that the first time he called me that I had to look up some pictures to see if that were a compliment or not, but I know that he meant it that way. Whenever he introduced me at the Ag Committee, it was always, ``Coop, it's high noon.…”