Political Quotes

“Many speakers have preceded me today in speaking about Mr. Murtha--and I will always call him Mr. Murtha because that's how I referred to him here in the House and that's how I will refer to him in memory. I only had the opportunity to serve with him for 3 years, and I feel certainly inadequate in being the last person to speak, but this man was my friend. He was like a father figure to me. When I was thinking about running for Congress, I came up here to view Congress and think about it. I wasn't sure if I was going to run or not. I went up in that gallery and I sat on this left side of the aisle, Madam Speaker. I looked at the floor and all the people down here and I thought about whether or not I wanted to run. But coming up here, I was in Rayburn, and I walked up by the train that comes from Rayburn to the Capitol. And this man came up to me, this gentleman--I didn't know him--and he put his arm around me and we talked on the way up and walked all the way down the path. And he said, Young man, this is going to be like 1974. It's going to be a great year for Democrats. We got up the elevator--and I was so proud to be in this building-- and we got to the top and he went to the left where you enter the Speaker's lobby and come onto this floor and I went around the way to this gallery where visitors go. He said, Next time you come up here, I hope you can come in here with me. And it was the next time I got to come in here with him.”