Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Senate is going to miss Lamar Alexander. Listening to his farewell address right now made the fact that he is leaving all too real. I don't like to think of a U.S. Senate without Lamar. He is a Senate institution and a Senate leader, and his leaving is a loss for this body and for the American people. Any tribute to Lamar has to mention his incredible career, which a lot has been alluded to already: his walk across the State of Tennessee, his 8 years as Tennessee Governor, his time as Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush, his stint as president of the University of Tennessee system, and his time as a professor at Harvard. Then, of course, are his 18 years in the U.S. Senate, marked by significant legislative accomplishments on everything from education to opioids. All that, and he makes a plaid shirt look good, although these days he has switched to a plaid face mask. I first met Lamar, like our colleague from Maine, Senator Collins, mentioned, when he attended a Lincoln Day Dinner in South Dakota in 1995, when he was running for President. I really started to get to know him a little bit when I came to the Senate in 2005. Lamar had already been here for a couple of years by that time. Of course, he already had an extraordinary career behind him. I know I was not the only young Senator who regarded him as something of a mentor and a role model.…”